The one less traveled by

Its been a month since we moved into our new home. There are still boxes everywhere, and I can't seem to find a minute to relax, but it feels good to finally have a place. The kids are loving their new school, the longer commute to work lets me catch up on listening to the backlog of podcasts that have built up, and we're starting to explore our new side of town. We've already discovered a few parks, Nat has cross country practice at a nice big one, and Godzilla is loving the RC park up the street where he can race the new remote control car he got for his birthday.

Earlier this week, Kate and I took E out for a bike ride in his new bike trailer (thanks granddad!). We no longer have to put up with broken glass on every corner like the last place had, and just outside the neighborhood is a nice paved bike path for us to enjoy. Before heading out that far from home though, we wanted to ease in to the ride by doing a lap of the neighborhood. Right around the corner from the house is a playground and a small nature park, and we planned our loop to end there to let E out to play for a while. As we're still getting to know the neighborhood, we had yet to explore the park and thought it might be fun to look around. When the Mrs. suggested we take our adventure into the trail we found leading into the woods, the decision was obvious.

We soon found ourselves following the boy as he blazed the trail in front of us. It was a perfect day. The weather was cool, the trees provided shade and even the bugs had decided to leave us alone for the most part. We talked as we walked, commenting that in a different time, a wood like this would be heaven for our boys. There were alcoves for setting up forts, mushrooms growing along the path, and there at the end of a fork in the trail, a tree root rutted hill leading to a perfect little ravine. A small creek ran along the bottom with a narrow sandy bank and we knew this was an adventure we needed to include the other kids on.

Visions of sword play and fairy houses, pants rolled up to the knees and shoes left on the waters edge as kids splash in search of frogs and minnows ran through my head. This wooded wonderland is in our very backyard, and even if I must provide more supervision than my grandfather did in his day, adventures will be had, and summers will be cherished. Here at our new home, we've found a hidden treasure. It's not one we expected or one we went looking for, but it is something we will cherish, and I expect it will be a cornerstone location for these kids to paint their imaginations upon, there in the woods behind their home, at the end of the path less traveled, a canvas for their memories.