Today was a day of firsts. It was the first time little Peanut went to a "real forest," and swam in a "real river," and hiked on a "real hike," and had to use the bathroom in the "real woods." Seriously! How much more exciting can a day get?
Peanut and her Mom, Felicity, are here for a "V-cation," and Peanut is all about going on daily "V-Ventures," so we planned a number of fun things that didn't cost much money, but would be something new for Peanut. Peanut's mom isn't much of an outdoorsy person (she says the her purest form of exercise is working the TV remote), but she was a serious trooper, and did her best to sweat her way through all the activities. She doesn't like to be hot, and she hates to sweat, so getting her to do all this, on the hottest days of summer should have been a challenge...but instead she "sucked it up," and enjoyed the ride.
Now today was the trip to the state forest. Felicity lives in the flatlands with Peanut, so they don't have forests there. Peanut was so excited to be in the woods, that she could hardly stand it. She wasn't too thrilled about using the class B bathrooms, which are not much more than seriously gross out houses, but she managed to get through it, probably better than her Nerdy Mimi.
After we got that done, we headed to the river, where we swam and floated and played. I got to dunk Peanut a lot, and she got wet..lots! It was fun, we laughed and laughed, and even Felicity managed to let herself fall into the water and forget about the fish pee....
Lunch was a great time, Peanut made a few interesting sandwich combinations..Turkey wrapped around a pickle and a chip, a piece of watermelon, then a pickle, then a chip on a sandwich, and of course the cheese wrapped chip. All while wearing her bathing suit and water wings!
After lunch we went back to the river, but it ended badly when this Nerdy Mimi was towing Peanut along, and she scraped her knee. It wouldn't have been bad if it hadn't had "some really big blood," (which is code for a small scrape that might have a little blood) so we had to get out.
Once we were semi dry and packed up we headed out for our hike. Just let me tell you that a mile hike over uneven terrain was not a big deal for me, but I'm pretty sure Felicity would have opted out, if I'd have let her. I know I heard her say, "I'm sucking it up and heading on," at least a dozen times! Peanut was a trooper, right up until the time she had to go potty...! Yeah, luckily the trail was relatively empty and we had woods all around us. She had never done this before, so required assistance in the form of Nerdy Mimi. There were the instructions, the "don't get it on your feet," and "no, don't get it on my feet either!" There were lots of giggles from all of us, but we managed to get the job done and move on down the trail. It was an unforgettable moment for me...I'll make Peanut remembers it as well.
We made the hike, ran through the falls, and then returned, tired and smelly and dirty, ready for ice cream. Yep, that's right....ready for ice cream! The day was waning, the time to go home had come and the three dirty hikers were happy! I'm pretty sure Felicity will be glad to go home and take up her place on the couch, but she better be ready because next year we're taking the two mile hike and Peanut is leading the trip!
