A Day in the Woods

Today was a day of rest for the family. I would have gotten up late, but, as usual, when we can sleep in, at least one of the kids decides to get up at 5:30 am, or something unreasonable. Today it was Benjamin. Still, I finally got breakfast (with a fairly decent attitude) around 9:00, so it wasn't too rushed.

After a chiropractor appointment and lunch, we set out on an adventure: Our first hike in the Montana Mountains (or whatever they're actually called around here). It took almost an hour to get prepared (it was somewhat spontaneous), but it was well worth it. We went up Bass Creek Trail, which was only a couple miles off the road to the trail head. I can't tell you how beautiful it was, and how relaxing and invigorating it was to just go hiking without an agenda. We weren't in a hurry, and didn't even have a destination in mind. With that freedom, we could stop and throw rocks, or climb the rocks up the hill (as Benjamin is doing). I'd show more pictures, but our camera phones just aren't that great. Anyway, about halfway up we passed the snow line, and it started snowing. It was beautiful. It wasn't coming down hard, but, by 4:00, when we decided to turn around and head back to the car, it was steady, and starting to stick. I got hit by a few snowballs before I finally went to retaliate. Mark and Michael started moving then. With Shari having started back a little early to take Matthew and Ben back, this gave me some great time just to pray and be with God.

Ben did excellent, not really getting tired or cold until about half-way back to the car. After we returned to the car, we pulled out the thermos of hot chocolate, got the boys warmed up, then headed for home. It was a great adventure, and I'm very glad we went to the work of prepping in order to enjoy the outdoors and a sabbath rest for our souls.

Now it's snowing here, with a snow advisory going out on the weather channel for the Missoula area. I'm looking forward to seeing what the yard looks like tomorrow.