A Nice Way to Spend A Friday

I've been meaning to do a little hiking ever since the kids started school, but life has just been too busy. But today, there was a little lull in the craziness and Peter and I didn't really want to hang around the house when the weather is this nice out, so we decided to go on a little hike.  I usually just head up Millcreek Canyon but I was inspired by my friend, Julie's post about her morning walk up Neff's Canyon, so that's where we headed.

I'm not really ready to let go of summer yet, but it is beautiful to watch as the leaves change colors.

With my hiking buddy strapped to my back, I had a running commentary about which trees had leaves that were changing colors and which didn't.  (And there are a lot of trees up there.)  There was also much discussion about whether the trees, rocks and sticks were boys or girls.  It was a little hard to hear the quiet and the sounds of nature, but I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Beautiful blue skies and fall colors to look at,

and my happy little chatter box keeping me entertained.

I know that the desire to pick up and collect rocks is part of being a little boy, but this kid also has a heavy dose of rock collecting genetics.  Our yard is filled with rocks that Shawn's Grandpa, Homer,  collected from all over - spying them on the side of the road or where ever, then loading them into the trunk of the car and bringing them home.  (We have several that Shawn also spotted and toted home from various places.)  We can't even walk the girls to school without Peter spotting several rocks that he needs to pick up and bring home.  We had to leave most of them behind on this hike because they were just too heavy to carry, but he was happy to have a handful to tote around.

Fun with shadows.

I'm pretty sure that the desire to build cairns may also be genetic.  Shawn has built several in our yard, and occasionally does so while hiking.  After spotting a few along the trail, Peter decided he needed to "build with rocks" too.

I'm pretty sure that this makes Shawn happy.

Now if I can just get my hips and knees to be a little happier about toting a full backpack up and down the trails, we may do this regularly.