Fourth of July Hike

We went on a little family hike this morning along Tanyard Creek in Bella Vista, AR. It was just about 20 minutes from our apartment. It was a short, easy hike along the creek ending at a waterfall. These pictures are all out of order but I'm just going to go with it rather than try to rearrange them all.

 There was a portion of the creek that had tons of fish kind of trapped in one section. The water was super clear so you could easily see the fish. There were bass, blue gill, trout and we even saw a catfish! The boys loved it and even fed the snacks I packed to the fish. Fruit loops were their favorite. This was Zach's favorite part of the hike. He was trying to catch the fish with his hands. He caught one on his first try and then never again. Smart fish.

 At one point we ended up on the shore of Lake Avalon. It was beautiful. The water was so blue. Brady picked up a couple sticks along the way. The wind kept blowing his hat off so I had to put it on backwards.

 Ryan found himself a pretty good walking stick as well. The boys carried their walking sticks the whole way. We threw them in the back of the truck for our next hiking adventure!

 There was a little pond at the bottom of the waterfall. At the bottom of the pond were these cool sunglasses! There wasn't anyone around so I could only assume they were surrendered to nature by their previous owners. Zach was nice enough to fish them out for me. My other sunglasses broke last week, so these ones found a good new home!

 Ryan was very cooperative with all my picture taking. He really is a great hiker. When Zach told him, "Ryan, you are a really good hiker." He said, "I know! We should tell my grandpa!" (He knows my dad loves to hike and thought he would be especially impressed with his hiking skills.)

 The summer has been so dry making the creek water very low. It was so low that we were able to do most of the hike in the creek bed without getting wet! Ryan loved it and felt very adventurous.

 This is Lake Avalon again. Ryan was determined to catch a fish with his hiking stick and Zach was dreaming and scheming about how we could get a lake house. It really was a beautiful spot!

 After hiking the waterfall, the boys spent a long time throwing rocks into the small pond below. It was Little Boy Heaven.

 Here we are IN the waterfall! Like I said, the water levels are low so it really was just a sprinkle, but it was still pretty neat and we all got wet!

 Ryan and I at the trail head.

 This is random. I made a flag cake for a bbq we went to last Sunday. It was a jello poke cake and it was delicious! And so fun to make!

 At the start of the hike! I'm pretty sure I have this exact same picture from about 7 different hikes we've been on in the past year. Zach with Brady in the backpack and Ryan by his side- It's a classic!

 Brady with his walking stick. We let him out of the backpack when we got to the waterfall and he hiked around on his own for a good 40 minutes or so. I was impressed. It wore him out though and he fell asleep in the car on the way home.

This is him saying "cheese!" I often have to tell him "Say cheese! Like you are happy!" We're working on it.

Last night we went to a fireworks show put on by Bella Vista. The boys got to play with glow sticks before the show. Brady was freaked out for the first few, but got into "Oooing and Ahhing" along with the rest of us soon enough.

Happy 4th of July! God Bless America!