About eight months ago, new neighbors moved in. Living in a mobile home community in a little country town, you never know who is going to move in next door. I've lived here for 19+ years now and boy, have I had some strange neighbors. (Life is like a bunch of chocolates...some of them are nuts!!!) So anywho, I can honestly say we were very pleasantly surprised when Aaron, his two children Ashlyn and Aaron Jr, and their grandma, Pat, moved in. We quickly became good friends, the kids became friends, and we have spent lots of time together since.
We love to cook dinner together, play outside, go the parks, waterpark, church, just about anywhere. You'll quickly notice they're in lots of my pictures. One of our favorite things to do together is hiking. This can sometimes be a challenge with a toddler who insists on being carried anywhere you go, especially on rough terrain, but we still have lots of fun. So today I will share two of our hiking trips with you.
 |
Fourteen Mile Creek Trail is a 3/4 mile loop and features
bridges, educational kiosks and an outdoor learning center. |
 |
Aaron and his two children and my four grandchildren,
and Aniko hiding in the grass. |
 |
| Ms. Livvy |
 |
| Katie |
 |
| Brenn showing off his backpack |
 |
Pat, Brenn, & Aniko
enjoying the beautiful scenery |
 |
I will never go on a bridge with Aaron,
especially a swinging bridge.
He likes to jump and make the bridge shake! |
 |
| Playing in the creek on a hot summer day |
 |
| Aiden testing the depth of the water |
 |
| Brenn the Troll (under the bridge) |
 |
| Ending our hike with a picnic |
Our next hike was at the Congaree Creek Heritage Preserve in Cayce, SC. This rugged, deep woods trail circles around the old Guinyard Brickworks quarry. The former clay pits are now ponds which are home to all sorts of wildlife, including alligators. The 3+ mile trail loop takes you through 627 acres of beautiful woodlands. The peace and serenity here was beautiful!
One "if you go" note: this is definitely more wilderness than our hike at Fourteen Mile Creek. We went on a day when there had been several previous days of rain. All of us went sliding on the wet clay slopes at one point or another. I, being the graceful person I am, slid and landed hard not once, not twice, but three times in a row. So be careful and wear shoes with a very good tread. A hiking stick isn't a bad idea for this one, either.
 |
| Aaron and the kids checking out the kiosk |
 |
| Notice someone tried to cover up the "may." |
 |
Having never been here before,
not knowing how rustic the trail would be,
I brought the stroller. It got left behind
about 1/10 of a mile in. And of course, this little
guy wanted to be carried the whole time. |
 |
| Pat, Brenn, and Nana |
 |
| Congaree Creek |
 |
| Aniko looking at the creek |
 |
| One of the quarry ponds |
The next two pics are not duplicates. While taking a pic of the Pat, Ashlyn, and Katie, Brenn was swinging a big stick around. Notice the stick coming towards the subjects of my picture in the second shot and their hilarious reactions. (No one was harmed, luckily.)
 |
| Pat, Aniko, and Aiden |
 |
| The six kiddos on the banks of Congaree Creek |
Another "if you go" note: Be aware that the last section of the loop crosses a gut that floods after rain. We found out the hard way and had to turn around and retrace our steps back out. We had gotten a late start that day and the adults got a little worried as the sun was starting to set and it was getting a bit cool. We came out at 3 times the speed that we went in. I can honestly say had we gotten stuck in the woods after dark, we were not properly prepared. A good lesson.
That's all for today! Thanks for coming back. Go live for today, and prepare for tomorrow!
Posts
