Hey, Mrs. Wilson!

I got a call at about 1:30 yesterday afternoon from friends of mine asking if I wanted to go for a hike around the Pine Lakes. I haven’t done any outdoors-y type activities in quite a while so I said yes. I packed up the kids, and we headed out. (Noah was in the middle of a 2-jobs-day so he didn’t come.)

It was about a half hour drive from the highway on an extremely pot-hole-y narrow gravel road. Going 50km/h felt too fast. The hike was was spectacular. The sky was blue (although we were in the trees for most of the time and could not see it), the air was fresh, and it was a perfect hiking temperature.

Liliana rode in the snugli, and the other four kids took turns arguing about who should be the leader and where the rest of the kids should fall in line. I think each of the kids had to take at least one bathroom break along the 2-hour trek. In one particular section, the one and only boy asked his dad, “Is this the Star Wars section?” Having never been on the trail, I had to ask. Apparently when you bike through a certain section of trees it looks like a scene in one of the original Star Wars movies. I just took their word for it.

When we returned to the cars, after a lot of arewethereyeeeeet and canyoucarrymes, the kids were packed up, and we embarked on the road of terror once again. On arrival in our driveway, I looked into the backyard, and had to look again. About 10 feet in front of the car was a big black bear.

I told Kaylie not to touch her door, took Liliana out of her carseat in a very awkward maneuver, and started honking the horn - partly for Noah to come to the door and partly hoping the bear would take off. Noah came to the door and the bear didn’t seem to mind the honking. Noah started to come out of the house and I yelled for him to stay in and told him to look out the back window.

As Noah went back in to look, the bear had gone around the other side house and into the front yard. The kids and I scurried in the house and we watched from the window as the bear left our yard and start strolling down the street. People started coming out their doors to take a peek and Noah ran to the end of the driveway to watch.

When we left for our weekly in-law dinner a couple minutes later, we didn’t see the bear anywhere. I think we’re gonna have to keep Miss Kaylie in the house for a couple days as I’m the most paranoid parent you can find. In the whole bear sighting incident, I had my camera right beside me on the front seat of the car, but did I think of taking a picture? No. Idiot.

I think I’m done playing with my template, let me know what you think!

And finally, congrats to Nick and Teresa on their announcement! I can’t wait to meet their new little one!