A Spontaneous Hike

J & I went outside this afternoon to play in the front yard.  But within minutes I knew that the great outdoors was calling us to venture past our sandbox.

We headed across the street in hot pursuit of a dragon that was heading down our neighbor's driveway.  Before I knew it, our dragon hunting led us through our neighbor's backyard & onto the nature trail that encircles our neighborhood's 53 acre lake - full of geese, ducks, egret & more.

As we tracked the dragon, I had occasional thoughts of turning back.  J is only 3 and our sponataneous hike had us without water, snacks, or my handy dandy Ergo for those times when a 3 year olds legs need a good long break.  But there was no stopping us.  We had found so many spots where the dragon had been destructive & these 2 brave knights would not be stopped.

Finally, the dragon dove down into the water, disappearing for quite some time and J & I decided that was ok, we wanted to walk the whole lake tonight - really!  My legs & patience were game - and I hoped J's were too.

Along the way we had visits from unicorns, dogs, geese, and more.

About half way around the lake I found jewelweed abounding!  I had been on a secret mission for this all along & while I had found some, this was the mother load.  I knew I would be returning in a few weeks to harvest the jewelweed & wildcraft myself some jewelweed salve for future encounters with poison ivy.

Then I turned around & looked across the lake - a huge Mimosa tree in full bloom.  Something else I had been on the hunt for - so I could make a calming mimosa tincture.  Yay!

As we were coming into 90 minutes of our adventure, we visited some of our favorite blackberry bushes for a snack to keep us going.  The dragon liked the blackberries very much.

Then it was back in civilaztion for awhile as we passed the pool & tennis courts.  We visited the water fountain.  Then sat down to watch a little tennis.

Soon we were delving back into the woods & the sun was setting.  We stopped by the mimosa tree & harvested some flowers.  J played in the creek.

Then lightning bugs led us the rest of the way home.

And all this started with just stepping outside for a minute.  I love my neighborhood.