When Adam left for three and a half days not too long after his Utah trip, it didn't seem like such a long time. But thinking of palm trees and deep blue ocean against white sand gave me the travel bug, while I was here alone with the boys.
Luckily, we happen to live in a pretty beautiful place too, and hiking in South Valley on the second day of his absence, I looked around the spread of green hills, red rocks and huge sky and thought that this had to be just as spectacular as a tropical beach.
Isaac, Oliver and Jack have been a trio since they were babies, though Isaac hasn't had the chance to hang out with the other two for months. They were excited and a little shy (okay, not Jack!) when they saw each other again. But soon they looked like old friends once more.
We started out with a little map-reading so we wouldn't get lost.
Okay, there was a lot of map-reading to do.
Then we set off, with only Josie willing to ride in the pack for any amount of time. Jonah traveled either on slow, steady feet or in my arms when we needed to catch up.
Walker soon demanded to be on her own feet too.
These sweeping views and all that wide open space are good for the soul.
More navigating...
Leanne took this picture, which may be one of my all-time favorites of Isaac. There is almost nothing he loves more than a wide-open field and the chance to run like the wind.
Isaac was like Adam on the trail - charging along with an air of easy capability and no thoughts of turning around. He "read" the map and navigated for us, pointing out the dangers and all the beauty too, running up and down with boundless energy and hiking so solidly and matter-of-factly. The others were all ready to turn around eventually, but Isaac asked if we could just keep going. I was proud of my little hiker.
If only Jonah would ride in the pack...
We were happy to turn around though so we could spend more time with our friends. We had a picnic lunch near the parking lot -
on a beautiful, almost hot day in early May.
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