"One Heck of a Labor Daybor"

Does anyone know where my post title came from? It's one of my favorites.

The Matthews family has a tradition for Labor Day to do something involving water. This is where it gets interesting: the activity cannot be planned before the morning of Labor Day. So, we always know we will be doing something together, but we don't know what it is until we hear word from Dana and Duane after they pull out the map and see where their fingers land. This year, however, Ben decided to buck tradition and form a plan ahead of time. The only problem with this is that he only told Stu and Care about the plan. The rest of us found out according to tradition that morning, and had to scurry to catch up with the others who were actually prepared for the trip and were leaving without us if we weren't ready. Ahhhh communication. Once the scurry was over with, we had a good time.

We went out to Opal Creek Recreation Area and hiked out to a waterfall called, "Cascada de los Ninos." Here is Alex standing by an old mine shaft that is now boarded off.

We stopped along the trail for lunch. Here's Eleanor playing with some pear tomatoes. That's about all she does with them. She's enthralled with them, and she loves pulling off the "gucky part." She sometimes bites into one, but whenever she does, she spits it out and is done.

A girl and her grandpa.

We brought the stroller for Eleanor to ride in. It is SO nice to have a stroller with big wheels that can handle a trail like that. She was enjoying the ride until Grant (unaware of the mistake he was making) suggested that she might want to walk a little. He thought she might walk for a bit, keep up with us in spite of interesting distractions along the trail, and be willing to hop back in the stroller as soon as it was offered. Silly Daddy! Oh well, she had a good time. She walked almost the whole way to the falls. I had to often remind her to keep walking, but she walked without protest whenever I threatened to pick her up or have her ride in the stroller as an alternative. She was so proud of herself, too. She kept saying, "Noree walk!" or "Noree ikeee" (Noree hiking). She wasn't willing to hold anyone's hand, except for her cousins', who didn't want to hold her hand, or her Grandpa's (briefly). She sure insists on being a big girl lately.

We pushed the stroller empty for a while, but it soon looked tempting to some of the boys. They enjoyed being pushed down the slight hills in the trail without any adult pushing them. Runaway stroller! So bringing the stroller was worth it.

Ben and Cindy had their toddler backpack for Caleb, and as soon as he got out to walk, Eleanor saw that and wanted in. So toward the end of the trail, she rode in the backpack and was quite content. She's quite the particular girl! Eleanor holding Adelynn's hand. I love this picture.

We saw a bunch of old mining equipment.

Talk about a ball and chain!

The beast. Unleashed.

(Alex and I goofed off.)

Carter.

This is Carolyn and Carter on the rocks above the falls. I took this picture from below. I still really like this picture even though it's blurry.

These are the falls. Aren't they beautiful? The water was great, too. It was much warmer than you would expect. It was cold but not the biting cold that hurts until you get used to it.

Alex climbed across a log to get over here to get a good picture of the falls.

Even Eleanor let Daddy get her feet wet-- and liked it!

All dried off and resting on Grandpa.

I think so many mothers could be jealous of this picture: a baby that falls asleep on a pile of rocks. Not fair!

What a good little niece I have!

Eleanor insisted on returning the backpack to Caleb on the way back so she could be in her stroller. It didn't take long at all for her to get to this point. All tuckered out! That's what a fun, busy day and only a brief car nap will do to this girl. What a fun Labor Day with family!