You know the best part of summer is all the things you can do outdoors when the weather is nice. Last week we went to check out a new (to us) park in the Springs. Its over 700 acres in the middle of the city. The playground area wasn't that nice, but plenty of room to play catch with the lacrosse sticks or a frisbee.
However, most of the park is mountainous. We drove everywhere until we found a fun place to have all to ourselves.
Next to a picnic table, along the side of the winding dirt road was this large formation of rocks. There were several, but this one was so easily accessible that we got out and staked it as our place to play.
The kids could climb all over it, and they had fun. The doctor is weaning our oldest boy off ALL the medicine they gave him in Brazil. He literally came home with gallon sized ziplock bags (yes, plural) of everything he had tried to get better, and some high-powered prescription meds. No more, the doctor said. We want to see what his body is like when its just him, nothing added. That, and the healthy diet I've been giving him has eased up some of his negative symptoms already. They're not all gone, but we are seeing improvements. Yay!
The doctor also wants him exercising and just being as healthy as he can. So, I keep finding places to go where it won't take too much out of him, but to get him outdoors and enjoying nature like I know he does. Most every morning we (my dad or I or both of us) take him for a walk. It used to be that he had to come home and nap, but this last week he hasn't needed that anymore. However, after these extra adventures, he does. Still, its progress, and we're grateful.
So, yesterday, we went to Helen Hunt Falls, named for Helen Hunt Jackson who was a writer and came to this area for the restorative properties she believed were found in the Rockies in the 1870's. She became a writer after losing her two sons and husband to death before she was 35. She later remarried, and was friends and contemporaries of Dickinson, Emerson, and Holmes. She spent most of her later years advocating for Indian affairs and is buried here in Colorado.
The hike is steep but not too long - up and back in fifteen minutes. A snake was spotted, but fortunately, only by the boys. Us girls were grateful to have missed it. We saw eight deer throughout the day, starting in our morning neighborhood walk.
It was just so beautiful. The towering trees, the rush of the water over the falls, the clean, crisp air up so high, it really has a healing quality to it. Its not hard for me to understand why in another century they believed just being here made you better.
To be able to enjoy a beautiful day together felt healing. Whenever all my children are with me, it just makes me feel good.
They are good to pose for my photos whenever I say, "Okay, everyone, smile."
Down at the bottom the boys were all over the rocks and the girls stayed closer to the edge.
Walking back to the car, LittleBuddy realized I needed my picture taken too. Hat, long sleeves, and all, I'm the misfit of summer, but my body and the sun are not friends anymore, sadly. I feel bad for my children that I don't take them for all day outdoor adventures where we tromp along paths and explore every nook and cranny very often. I wait until Mike's with me so he can be the fun one when I'm in the car hiding from the sun or stuck in the shade because we've been outside for so long and the sun's beating down. Auto-immune = fun robber, but I'm glad for all the fun memories we have made through the years and grateful I'm still here to watch them all grow up. The Lord has blessed me too. Many times when I've really wanted to be outside, it will be a cloudy day, and that helps. But, we've all learned to make adjustments. I'm grateful for the kids understanding and willingness to make life work as its been handed to us, and when we're home I encourage them to go outside and play a lot. I love the sun. I just want to be healthy too and if my boy could be all healthy and me just stay this way, I'll take that too.
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