Green Friday ~ The Long Version

Thanksgiving was a quiet, dark and rainy day. The morning after, our house was dark and disastrous. (We didn’t host Thanksgiving dinner, but just getting OUT of the house seems to produce a disaster…) I felt like I had three million things on the to-do list at home (including cleaning up the disaster), and getting out of the house with all the kids is a huge undertaking in itself. But I saw the sun peeking out and I KNEW that we needed to get some fresh air.

It was our traditional Green Friday. Lola took her morning nap. I got a few things together. We left the house just after noon. The drive was beautiful. The sun was shining. Christmas music was playing. The boys and I had some deep conversations about land zoning (and the difference between commercial, industrial, professional, residential, and farm zoning), euthanasia, the Deity of Christ, and inertia. (Yep, really.)

It was a bit overcast when we first arrived at our favorite nature hike spot.

Leif wasn’t sure a nature hike was on his agenda for the day, but it helped that his favorite Ivy was along to keep him company.

Lola was excited to participate for the first time.

And so we set out.

The little kids played. Ilex helped. Holly gathered. I took pictures, including a kajillion of Lola. (More of those later.)

Halfway through our walk, the sun came back out to play. It was glorious.

Then we meandered back to the truck. Levi observed that ‘excessive use of legs results in pain.’ Yeah, that’s my boy.

We ended our afternoon with snacks and hot chocolate at Aunt Holly’s house.

Living. Lovely.