Hiking

The weather didn't lend itself to swimming today, so we headed out to our favorite hiking spot, Sugarloaf Mountain. We hiked the green trail, which is so familiar to us now the hike up the mountain went by quickly. I carried Julia on my back this time (in a contraption that looks like a backpack meant to hold a baby), and my ankle held up pretty well with the additional 25 pounds of weight.

Once at the top, Julia and I camped out at one of the overlooks while Troy and Evelyn climbed over big rocks and boulders. Julia tried to put her fair share of sticks and rocks into her mouth while hanging out on the ground, but she was having fun playing in the dirt. What kid doesn't?

Just as we were about to leave and head back down the mountain, we heard the song of a bird that we didn't recognize. Lucky for us, the mystery bird was singing in a tree nearby, and he let us get right under his tree. I took a quick video of its song. We were pretty sure we could identify it online by the song and its silhouette. When we got home . . . bingo! Evelyn was able to write about the Eastern Towhee in her bird journal.