Oh-Bla-Di

A couple of weeks ago, we took advantage of the beautiful weather we were having here in the Vegas valley to take the kiddos on a hike at Red Rock Canyon.  We’ve done quite a bit of hiking at Mt. Charleston to escape the summer heat, but Red Rock is too hot in the summer.  Turns out, that makes it perfect for “winter” in Las Vegas.

So, we loaded up the van with gear, kiddos & the dog and hit the road.  Red Rock is about 45 minutes away from our house, so it’s enough time to enjoy a cup of coffee on the way.  We packed a picnic lunch so that we could stay into nap time if things were going well.

This was Noah’s first outdoor adventure and he had a great time in the backpack.  He loved looking around at everything and didn’t even fall asleep on our trek.  Ava chatted up everyone we met on the trail and loved to lead the way – unless she was too busy stepping on each and every larger-than-her-foot sized rock in the path.

We hiked a trail that was plotted as a kids’ discovery trail so there were neat caves and fairly simple terrain to keep Whoozers feeling both proficient and entertained.  We did take a detour mid-trail to follow another path that led to some waterfalls, though.  They were running under a sheet of ice, and we thought they were worth the extra time and walking.

We ate our picnic lunch on a deck overlooking a stream near the end of the trail.  Is there much that’s better than a peanut butter & jelly sandwich after a nice long walk?

We’ve decided it’s pretty fun to have weekends to ourselves again.  Now that I’m not doing homework, pregnant or taking care of a newborn, we can finally get out and about to enjoy our weekend time a little more.  Maybe those other things were only excuses, but now we’ve got nothing to hold us back!  I’d imagine Red Rock will be seeing a lot more of the Caspers before the temperatures start to climb again!