Preemie Pandemonium: Hiking

On Monday I took the four kiddos hiking in the Cedars of Lebanon. I hit up the Ranger Station first because I had to drop off the big girls' Junior Ranger Camp applications. While I was in there I asked about age appropriate hiking trails. The nice lady gave me a map & told me there was a half mile trail behind the building and down the road there was the Nature Center with another half mile trail behind it.

The kids and I did the trail behind the building first. Along the trail there were signs telling us what we would see on our like. They described the different plants, trees, rocks, insects, birds & animals. The kids loved having me read the signs to them, then we'd set off to look for new things.

After the first hike we headed over to the Nature Center. The Nature Center had three Rangers inside and no other visitors than us. We had their undivided attention. We got to see snakes, birds, fossils, bugs, frogs, salamanders, & animals. Behind the center there was a butterfly garden. Unfortunately the kiddos were awfully loud & none of the butterflies wanted to stick around to see what was headed their way!

We did the second trail behind the center and the kids loved it. We saw & heard a red headed woodpecker! It was really neat. I had never seen one before! We crossed a long, narrow bridge, and even found a neat cave. It was a fun way to spend a Monday morning, that's for sure.

I'm happy to report all four kids were on their best behavior. They were all really polite to the rangers, didn't take anything from the trails, and didn't bicker over being the hiking leader. It was very pleasant.