I Might Be a Little Bit Nuts

I am not sure what made me do it. Maybe it was the looming "enhanced" lock down that starts tomorrow?  (Though really, this will not require a change in our behaviour at all).  Maybe it was the threat of sleety, depressing weather all afternoon?  Maybe it was the dream that I could exhaust all my children upfront and then have the quietest afternoon ever?  

Whatever it was that spurred me into action, I woke up my entire family at 5:30 am this morning with the announcement that we were going on a family hike. Now. Before Ian's work begins, before we do morning animal chores, before we start school work.   Completely crazy, right?

To their credit, my family is a bunch of troopers. Either that, or they have just been waiting for me to finally lose the rest of my marbles. They all got up, got dressed, ate breakfast in record time (no complaints, either), and put on their winter gear.  

By sunrise, we were hiking through the gorgeous winter forest.

Heading in.

Beaver pond

Beaver dam

Frozen creek

A beaver's beginning.

Almost all the way through!

Waiting for the "TIMBER!"

Peek-a-boo!

Best buddies when they are not fighting.
Luckily, it is hard to fight when you are hiking so a win for the parents!

We were back home by 9 am on the dot, invigorated and full of fresh air.  We did our farm chores and school work, Ian did his paid work, we made meals and did dishes.

Seamus and Ali were almost comatose by lunchtime and both begged for afternoon naps.  Liam, on the other hand, saw an opportunity for solo time with Mama and decided to stay up to complete a hands-on Science assignment without inference from his little brothers.  Liam baked Russian Tea Cakes following the directions precisely from his school book.  Baking is Liam's thing so truly not much of my help was required, aside from donating the almonds from my Christmas stocking to his cause (Daddy ate all our baking nuts) and operating the oven, of course.  I supervised from behind a pot of tea.

Re-reading the ingredients and instructions.

Measuring 2.5 cm balls spaced 5 cm apart. 

Taste testing

Adding the finishing touches. 
"Confectioner's sugar" is a hard thing for a kid to say!

Liam's Russian Tea Cakes.
I think he aced this assignment.

On the whole, we had a very full day for what was supposed to be a very typical Wednesday.  Do I regret getting up before dawn to make everyone trek through the woods?  Nope.  Was it a little bit nuts?  Admittedly.  Might I do it again?  Absolutely.

Did anyone else have a more adventurous Wednesday than anticipated?  Tell me about it.