Another Sunday in the woods.

Even when we were living in the city, I would make a point of getting outdoors with the kids as often as I could. What’s changed now is that “as often as I can” really means “anytime I want.”

I sneak out into the woods several times a week these days, but Sundays have become the day when I take all three kids on some sort of outdoor adventure. Today we went waterfall hunting.

OK, it wasn’t much of a hunt–we knew where we were going, and we knew how to get there. But it was a first time trip to this particular waterfall, so I say it counts as an exploration, even if we were on a well-marked trail the entire way.

I like knowing that my kids are growing up with nature all around them. Not only did we see a great waterfall today, but we also stopped several times to observe some truly bizarre-looking caterpillars, and to point out milkweed and thistle and indigo, and to balance-beam our way across fallen trees that spanned the river.

OK, I didn’t actually do the last one of those, but I enjoyed watching the kids in their exploits.

I can’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday.