TLDR – We finally left the house for some social distancing walks. We walked around the kid’s school one day and up Ticknock the next day
Around the School
Wednesday I stopped working when the sun was still out, while the family was still motivated enough to leave the house. We took the kids for a walk around their school to make sure it was still there. Along the way, we walked next to and over the little creek. We encountered a bunch of family’s out in the sun enjoying the outdoors. Almost all of them respected social distancing and stayed away from anyone else. Instead of playing on the toys at the playground by the school, we ran around the grassy field instead.
Maddex and I were tossing a golf ball we found in the creek at each other. One toss Maddex missed it and the ball ended up in the water. While reaching for the ball Maddex brushed some stinging nettles with his forearm. Poor kid; his arm swelled up a bit and you could tell it was taking everything he had to not itch his skin off.
TickNock again
Thursday I took a day off work- started the day off with a bike ride by myself and a stop at Lidl to get more seeds for the victory garden. While I was out Michelle packed us up some snacks and the kids got ready for a hike. We took a gamble, no kid pack, no stroller. The Gamble paid off, Roxi and Khaleesi made it 6 miles without a complaint. So proud of them. Last year we retired the backpack, this year we are going to retire the stroller.
The trailhead up the street from us has been totally rebuilt and widened. Last time we made this hike it was overgrown and narrow. Today the path is widened with no bike gates, new fences, gravel laid down, fresh plants planted in the cleared areas, and signage; wow what an improvement.
First, stop up the hill is a quarry hole now duck pond to look at the birds, water, and take a few pictures. Khaleesi tripped and fell walking on some gravel and cut her knee. She got a ride on dad until we made it to our next stop. The lower comms tower lot where we had some lunch and watched three lads remove a Microwave dish and mounting hardware from the tower. While we were eating the blood was coming through Khaleesi’s leggings. I walked over to the lads on the tower who gave me some plasters.
We forgot plasters in our hiking kit; we won’t do that again. The goal was to make it to the top of the hill. Being the first hike in a long while we only made it another mile or so before deciding we were at a good point to turn back down the hill. On the way down Roxi slipped on some rocks and fell, then Mila slipped on the gravel and cut her hand open – The rest of the way down the hill we held the girl’s hands to avoid more falls.
At the bottom near the pavement the trail is next to almost in an active quarry; Murphy stone before hitting the road again and walking home. – Great walk, great kids. I told the kids they were great on the walk. As a reward, they could do anything they wanted for the rest of the day. Later in the night, Roxi was colouring her shoes. When Michelle asked her what she was doing Roxi responded “But dad said we can do whatever we want for the rest of our lives” – that sure escalated.
A few Bonus Pictures
