One thing I'm loving about staying on North Shore right now is staying on North Shore! It's seriously my favorite part of the island (ok, who are we kidding, all the parts are my favorite parts), but less accessible for us than most. You know, like make it a special weekend trip sorta thing. Maybe that has more to do with how slacktastic we've gotten about traveling though... I mean, really, it's a 45 min drive.
But back to my point- I've always felt like there's too much to do up on North Shore that you simply can't do a day trip and consider yourself fulfilled. So there are tons of little things this week that I've always wanted to just BE up here to do... like random hikes for example.
This bunker hike was seriously cool- and the kids were, for the most part, troopers. Avril was having a rough time, she wasn't feeling well. Hence her presence in ONE picture here and that unknowingly and unwillingly!
The kids loved exploring the graffittied out bunker and were so excited to check everything out that they kept getting upset that Dad wasn't being interesting (he was on the phone taking care of moving business)
but they still managed to be plenty interesting themselves, of course. Starting with "Mom, take a picture of me!"
which turned into "Xandri, take a picture of us!"
After we thoroughly explored the bunker, we went outside to check out the crazy cool landscape- these boulders are seriously rad. Like, seriously.
So the kids wanted to climb on them, which turned into posing. Xandri kept just standing there, not smiling. I finally showed her the pictures and said, "Xandri, is that really what you want your pictures to look like?!"
She said, "Mom! How do you expect me to look all serious when I'm smiling?!"
Click.
She wanted to have a TOUGH and SERIOUS shot- ergo, she was doing it on purpose- but not due to bad attitude lol. So I gave her some coaching in power posing and the serious face and I think we got what she wanted. She's so darn cute though! That's definitely a handicap when one is going for toughness.
Unless you're this guy. He's somehow managed to harness cuteness and toughness all in the same look.... my heart melts at the same time I take a step back, "Whoa, Mister, calm down... no need to get angry, sir!"
This rock formation- two large boulders resting together and creating the space below them- was claimed by Max as his home. If I were a badger I'd seriously find somewhere else to nest.
Dad finally got off the phone and to prove to Xandri that he was adventurous and interesting began being adventurous and interesting. Wish I'd gotten a clear shot of her face in this shot, but suffice it to say all was forgiven.
Xandri found her 'home'- definitely made me curious about our predecessors, I'll say that much!
This was the part where Max got HANGRY. The fact that we failed to bring water bottles (I will absolve myself on this point- I did instruct the kids to bring some... but like most children their age, they suffer from selective hearing.
This was the part where I realized it really was time to start heading back. Derek and the Middles had ranged on, exploring to their adventurous little hearts' content and these two were completely falling apart. It was definitely time to start meandering back down the trail.
We headed down the trail, slowly.... and when the others realized we were leaving they freaked out and ran to catch up- which I'd known they would do- and after fielding their accusations of abandonment, I offered Derek proof of α and Ω's (you know, the Bookends) plight.... which he then took a photo of... which, naturally, needed another photo outside that. Cause that's just the way we roll.
