Waterfall Glen

I've been craving a little nature time with the kids.  Sure we play outside and go to the park and take walks, but I needed some middle-of-the-forest-preserve-nothing-to-do-but-explore-and-be-grateful-for-this-amazing-world-we-live-in time.  

I had originally planned a trip down to Starved Rock a few weeks ago.  It's about a 2 hour drive from us so, we were gonna leave early and make a whole day of it.  But it was rainy and cloudy and chilly and we all decided that morning that spending a day outside might not be the best idea.  So then I started researching forest preserves a little closer to us.  I found this one, Waterfall Glen,  and bookmarked it so, when the moment presented itself we could pack up our things and hit the road!

Well this past weekend was absolutely gorgeous!  I kept thinking to myself, I cannot believe it's October.  It was the most perfect day!  And we had zero plans on our calendar so, we were free to put all of our household chores and errands on hold and just play outside...yay!  

The boys were a little hesitant that where we were going was actually going to be fun.  But they were pleasantly surprised when we got there and they got right to being little boys.  Not a care in the world besides what or where to explore next.  We loved every second of it.  And I need to make sure we do it more!

I'm warning you now, there are a LOT of photos!  I snapped quite a few even though I wasn't really able to see what I was taking a picture of because the glorious sun was shining so bright.  I was happy when we got home to find that so many of them turned out great!  And many of them are similar shots, but I wanted to include them all because well, I just did :)  

We walked about a mile down the trail
to get to the waterfall.

On our way there we passed
a much closer parking lot ha!

Nobody minded the extra
1/2 mile though :)

Scoping it out.  The water was very low.

Mom can we go up there?!?!
Yes boys you are free to explore it all!

They were digging it.

Chaycers is like...what's over there??

And he's off to check it out!

They all three loved it, but
Chayce super loved it!

It was so fun to watch
them explore.

And listen to them talk
about what they saw.

He had a few tumbles on the trail and wanted to show me his owie.  He didn't let it stop him from exploring though!

Back up on the waterfall.

He wanted a closer look.

Balance beam...

This was when Vann jumped
down to the rock in front of
the log and his foot went
in the water!

Ash is ready to explore!

Vann's making sure he's ok.

It doesn't look like it, but the
space between the rocks were
big steps for him!

Amazingly, he only stepped in
the water a few times.

I love this one of Chayce...so cute!

Time for lunch!  

Here's one of the many cool things we saw.  See that crayfish hiding by the leaf?  We also found fish, lots of shells, frogs, bugs that can stand on water, spiders, etc.  

Watching the water bugs hop around.

They all three had sticks to dig around with.

This little cutie loved digging!  

And dropping rocks.

Over and over again!

They found a spot with a lot of shells.

Ash had to lay on his belly to get a better look.

So cute!

After awhile they walked down the creek a ways and kept on exploring.

Ash and I walked through the small forest path and then around this rocky path and met them.  

Chilling on a rock.

Mom look something's coming out of there!
Ash spotted a fuzzy caterpillar.

After about 3 hours they were ready to head back home.  All 3 boys had wet shoes, socks and butts :)  And little Ash was wore out!  He didn't want to walk back to the car so, I carried him the whole way...made my mile walk more of a workout ha!  

It could not have been a better day.  I enjoyed watching them just be boys and took time myself to really soak in the surroundings.  There's just something about connecting with nature...it's good stuff I tell ya!  I hope to do this again soon!