Saturday, July 19, 2008

"Free Range" kids

We headed up to a meadow up near the ski area at Mt Charleston today to get out of the heat and let the kids free (the car temperature went from 112 to 74 degrees from the valley to the mountain). I know there are theories about having a nature deficiency in our society, and I think it's true to an extent. My dream is to have a mountain cabin someday, so that our family can get out of the city. But in the meantime, we will try to give our kids nature experiences. And as you can see from the pictures, we all enjoyed being out. Forget the chickens, why aren't people fighting for free range kids?


Ah, freedom and the open range.

Michael was very interested in looking for bugs. Unfortunately, once he found an ant he started stomping on it. Apparently he and his dad had a lesson on killing spiders recently, that generalized to all bugs.

Mmm...at least there are no questions as to who the father is.

Me and my climber. The kid amazed me at how well he could climb even steep hillsides.

I love the boys' hats, and could Jacob be any more handsome?! My little adventurer.

For those of you in Vegas that don't know where this is, you take the Lee Canyon exit and it's off the the right before you get to the ski area. It has a great meadow and doesn't require any serious hiking and is easy exploring for the little ones. For the more adventurous there are steeper hillsides you can hike around in. Plus the air smells wonderful up there!

5 comments:

Sarah said...

When I asked Jackson what he wanted to do for his birthday, he said he wanted to go to Mt. Charleston and have a picnic. So we will probably be heading up there soon. It looks like it was such a nice day. You do have very handsome boys.

Rachael said...

WOW...who knew this was so close and so pretty. I am all for walking in a meadow!
I love the comment about the free range kids! Too funny!

Melissa B said...

I love your title. So true! I will have to go there soon! It is so beautiful.

Dizzy Kate said...

That place looks beautiful! Can I take your boys on our camping trips so that I have an official bug scwoosher with me at all times? Your boys look so happy and free in the pictures. I'm happy your family had so much fun. BTW, I ran into Niki Grubbs at the mall. It was so fun to see her. I was quite distracted, but somehow we got in some conversation. She looks exactly the same and it brought back great memories from good 'ol Tucson days.

Karissa said...

So in the picture of you with your son, it looks like you have no legs.

Seriously! Take a look. It looks like you scrambled up the hill using your hands with your littl son walking beside you....

Rach, where'd your legs go??? ;-)