The Worm and The Pear: Growing Up and Happy Trails!

Today was Taylor's last day of school and tonight is the big graduation ceremony. Yes, she went through graduation last year before we decided on another year of preschool and actually even had a promotion ceremony when she was three. So, this is graduation Numero Tres; we've joked that she could probably direct it.

I took a picture of the kids this morning. Look how much they've grown since the first day of school back in September!

September:

Today:

I fear the day that Michael is taller than Taylor and we all know it's going to happen sooner than later!

I think I've mentioned on here before how much I like where we live in the spring/summer/fall. We're kind of off of the beaten path but still in a smaller city, so there's tons of outdoor stuff to do. We see wildlife all of the time, a real treat for this city girl. One of my favorite places is the bike trail. The trail is actually two smaller trails (about 2 1/2 miles each) with a connecting path that goes through the city. Our house is about a mile from the start of the trail, so when I bike the entire trail, I get in a good 9-10 miles.

I see all kinds of cool things on the trails - tons of cardinals, blue jays, etc., always deer in the adjacent meadows, creeks, bridges, rabbits, etc. The second half of the trail goes past farmland - sunflower fields, ponds, crops, cows and the like. Beautiful! The only bad part is the connecting trail that runs through a bad part of town. I joke that the 10-mile path takes me past farm animals, forest animals, a college, two parks, a crack house and a refuse dump. Variety is the spice of life! (Oh yes I did just quote Tony Horton.)

Here are some pictures of the "farmy" part of the trail. I walked it with the kids and Champy over the weekend!

The entrance to that part of the trail is a park. We never actually play at this park because, as I mentioned, it's kind of in a bad part of town (and I don't get creeped out easily). We were the only ones there and had fun!

Taylor likes to push Michael. I was dealing with Champ, who is ordinarily good, but a sniffing/pulling/marking machine on the bike trail where so many other dogs roam.