My glass of happy was running dangerously low after a few consecutive days of dreary, wet, cool weather. Finally, the sun reappeared. Shorts and t-shirts were laid out, water bottles filled and an itch to get out of the house was satisfied.
A quick 5 minute drive and we found the trail head. A few steps into the walk found us bent over Vernal Pools peering at hundreds of tiny black tadpoles. Larger tadpoles were in the next pond over and Ella almost caught the grandaddy of Bull Frogs. We eventually emerged onto the North River, a salty estuary that leads to the ocean. Birds squawked over head as the kids shed their shoes and dipped their toes. Colby found rocks to throw into the water - a favorite activity of his! It was perfect. My little glass was filling up quick.
Well, almost perfect. Colby had stepped into a puddle soaking his shoes, socks and his pants. Drew wasn't quite recovered from his virus and wasn't able to make it back to the car. Tyler had on new shoes that cut blisters into each foot. So began the merry go round of alternating kids- one on my shoulders, one on my back, and one crying far behind us - the way back to the car was a little rough - it was as if my glass sprung a leak.
But by the time we snapped our seat belts, I had shaken off the frustration of the inconvenient details and the kids were already asking to return to this "best nature spot ever."
Half full again!
