Mother's Day at Ward Reservation

This morning Ethan woke me up with a lovely homemade card to inform me that breakfast was ready. Steve had made crepes with different fruits and such for filling. The card was very sweet and he drew our family and wrote his whole name. There was an extra person in our family and he said it was a cousin. I asked which cousin and he gave me a blank stare so I asked if it was Emma or Maya. He then told me it was one of the big cousins so I asked if it was Heather or Bekah and he said it was Heather and that she had a belly ache. I don't know where he comes up with this stuff!

I really wanted to do something as a family away from the house so that we were focused on each other and not on the never ending list of chores that haunt us. We decided to go to Ward reservation for a hike and a picnic! It was a very nice day and Ethan was so excited for our hike. He took off on the trail and we were a bit nervous that he would burn out because we first went up Holt Hill and the whole trail is uphill. First you pass through an apple orchard, then a big grass field, then into the woods and then up the hill to the solstice stones. We used to hike here quite a bit when Ethan was younger but it had been a long time.

Ethan was as cooperative as ever with the camera. There was way too much fun to be had to be bothered to pose.

Once we set up our picnic he was a little more into it. I tried to guilt him into it with reminders of it being my special day. Jacob didn't sleep for long after Steve stopped moving. Besides...he needed a new diaper if you know what I mean.

After the picnic, there was much to do...like look for snakes in the rock wall...

Play hide and seek in the tall grass...

Do a little yoga...

And of course, heed natures call.

And then it was time to move on, so down the hill we went.

After Holt Hill, we hit the bog trail. We'd never been this way and we really enjoyed it.

Ethan was starting to get a bit tired at this point.

But he made it the whole way with minimal complaining!

He almost didn't make it all the way to the car, but we decided to go out for ice cream from there and that perked him up a bit.

After ice cream, we dropped of Steve and Jacob at home and Ethan and I headed to the playground on the town common. He was disappointed that none of his friends were there and that there weren't any kids his age to befriend so we didn't stay long. We did, however, stay long enough for him to venture into the gazebo, lean himself over the top and get both knees stuck between the spindles. I went running over and it took me and another mom to get him out. He was surprisingly ok about it and played a little more after that.

It was a great day for this lucky mom!