Fall Hike

After a cold snap, the weather warmed up for the weekend. James and I were too sick Friday night to camp as planned *sob* but it turned out for the best. I ended up taking Matthew to convenient care for a chest x-ray Saturday morning, and then taking him to the ER freakishly early Sunday morning for an ear infection that was TOTALLY undetectable that morning by the previous doctor!! *sigh*

Sunday afternoon, though, Matthew's ear was feeling better and the weather was perfect for a fall leaf walk. I took whomever would join me and we drove out to Homer Lake Forest Preserve. It was great! We paused for a selfie. 

I love how Matthew is hugging James and James is pretending to be weirded out by it. Seriously, folks, what would our family be without either one of these guys? In-com-plete. 

Alex and Robert opted to stay home. As much as I would have loved to have them along, it's just different with a smaller group. We walked and played and discovered things at the boys' pace: finding a steak knife in a tree stump, throwing osage oranges into the lake, collecting hickory nuts and giant sycamore leaves, playing on a playground swing, naming car brands we saw as we drove, and getting some casual chat time together without interruption from other folks :)