Take a hike

We spent another morning hiking together. This time we went to Hawk Mountain near Hamburg, PA. It also fulfilled Andrew's requirement for planning a family vacation. It's a bit of a stretch, I know, but Andrew's not exactly a high achiever when it comes to family vacation planning. I hope his future family likes day hikes.

Side note to large families: When you go on vacation, always compare the family membership prices to the cost of paying for each individual family member. In most cases, the family membership will be cheaper than the individual prices. In this case, our family membership entitles us to 18 months of access to the mountain trails, educational programs, and informational newsmagazine.

Anyway, nothing like a good hike to bring out the unique personality traits of each of us.
We have the invalid with a knee brace, nursing a recent dancing injury.


Map Boy and Binoculars Kid


The Mountain Climber with inexhaustable energy


Resting Girl

And Good Older Sister




Of course, ever the good teacher, I had to take advantage of an educational opportunity. It is, after all, after July 1 so all hours count toward school. I would have been remiss to neglect the opportunity to point out a real, live owl in our midst.


I was hoping we'd see it in action, especially because the ground was covered with chipmunks, but we must have been too noisy. Or maybe it was sleeping since it is a nocturnal creature.


We found it difficult to take a picture of Camera Man since he always had the camera in his hand, but we did find a good example of his artistic eye.


And one more, Sleeping Beauty, wasn't with us. He had been invited to a sleep-over, which naturally turned into an all-nighter. Someone has his priorities in the wrong place, don't you think?