Mother's Day was Sunday. Happy belated Mother's Day to all of you Moms out there! Reese sent her mom flowers on Friday and then got a new outfit (that Daddy picked out) to wear for church. She woke mommy up at 7:00 on Sunday all dressed and ready to go. Here are a few pictures after we got back from lunch.I don't want to boast about what I got Nicole for her first Mother's Day. But let me just say, the 1st Mother's Day is quite stressful on the Dad! There's lots of pressure. And for future new dads out there, the entire day is Mother's Day. It doesn't end when the presents are all unwrapped! Better have a full agenda, even if it's letting her relax. I was glad that Nicole had a great day! She says she already knows what she's doing for Father's Day. Hmm...
Monday we took our first official trip down to Hocking Hills with Reese. It was an incredible day. Rain had gone through the area about an hour before we got there, but it was sunny and dry when we arrived at Old Man's Cave. The colors were so green and the water was running strong. It was about 65 degrees or so, which made it quite nice to hike up and down stairs and rocks into the gorge below.
Here we are out of the car and packed up, ready for the trail. We've practiced the pack a few times around the house, so Reese was already a pro. We'll see how Daddy does hiking a mile or so with the added weight.Reese loved it from the first step. She was looking around, grabbing at trees, patting Daddy's shoulder. Nicole and I are excited that she's already showing signs of a being an outdoors girl!
Speaking of Nicole, she did make the trip! But since I was carrying Reese, she was carrying the camera. (I was also carrying all of the water bottles, diapers, and whatever else we needed, or would need, in the pack. It's a pretty cool pack, actually.) But she did manage to get into a few pictures. And we took Reese out for a bit of a break down by the Lower Falls. What an adventure!
Our friends Mark, Lorien, and Casey also came down. How interesting, Casey has a hiking pack of is own to cruise around in! He and Reese had some of their own conversations as they rode along in style. We were ready for rain, just in case, but thankfully it never came. Every once and a while we'd hear some fun squeals and giggles in the back, but mostly they were content to look around and enjoy the ride. 
It's always fun to go hiking with friends! Hear that? We're just FRIENDS!
We loaded the kids up and jumped back on the trail. There were some cool tunnels to venture through, as well as a few opportunities to get off the trail just a bit and be adventurous. Nicole did some bouldering and Reese and I walked down by the river's edge. It was a great leisurely stroll. Not too many people were out, seeing that it was a Monday. The whole trail was about a mile and a half. It took us an hour and a half to hike with a few photo stops along the way. So after a trek up the trail to the Upper falls, we finally got back to our cars. Mark and I took our packs off so we could rest. Reese and Casey didn't seem too winded.
So it was a fun time had by all. Our next outdoor adventure is to go camping with folks from our Small Group. We'll have about 20 people there including 6 under 4 years old! We have a fun little tent for Reese to sleep in. We're going to start giving her naps in it now so she'll get used to it. It has a little air mattress and sleeping bag and fits inside our tent. We're even going to do a test run in our backyard sometime soon. But that's enough adventure for now. See you later!
