The hikes that I shared with my family as a child still vividly stand out in my mind. I am so thankful of the time that we got to spend together. I can still see us winding through the trails at Hungry Mother State Park and Grayson Highlands State Park singing “99 Bottles of Kool-Aid on the Wall.” My sister and I would always fuss over who got to lead our Collie, Sandy. She always rescued us from snakes that slithered onto the paths. I will never forget the time we got lost on a trail at Grayson Highlands! After laughing our way through some pretty rough terrain, we finally managed to find our way out. Some of our best hikes were behind the farm that I grew up on. Every hike behind the farm was an adventure because we never knew what types of animals we would run into. I especially loved it when we walked up on the miniature horse that roamed the fields.
My love for nature hasn’t changed much over the years because Jamie and I enjoy taking our children on hikes throughout the seasons. Autumn paints a beautiful scenery. Below you will find some pictures of a hike our family took on our farm today.
The kids searched for tracks and made animal track plaster casts. We found an opossum track and a dog track. The one pictured above is the opossum track.
Jaden thought this rock would be a neat place for a picture! “Come on Jacob,” she called.
Jacob and Jaden found a puffball mushroom. Jacob used it for a foot rest. We are so blessed at how much these two love each other. They truly are best friends!
We hiked to our tree stand to find the bobcat tracks Jamie saw a few days ago. But, the leaves had already hidden them. Jacob enjoyed looking for deer signs. He kept telling us not to touch anything or the deer would smell us!
Jayla enjoyed her first ride in her backpack. Isn’t this the cutest picture?
We all had a fantastic day together. On our hike, Jaden summed it up best as she sang,
“This is the day
This is the day that the Lord hath made
That the Lord hath made
We will rejoice
We will rejoice
And be glad in it
And be glad in it
This is the day that the Lord hath made!”
Learning God's Way 
Looks like you all had a wonderful time!
It was fun! I love being outside and so do the kids!
Good memories made on those Sunday afternoon hikes. I was afraid of those horses, but not you!
I just told Jamie today that Jaden is just like me when I was her age. She was traipsing through the fields with a carrot right after church. She was determined to find an animal who would eat it! Buckwheat finally took it from her.