Dynamic Yet Consistent

The day started out cold and dreary – unseasonably so for mid-May in Kentucky.  It would have been easy to stay inside and waste the day watching TV and surfing the internet.  But, Mikayla and I had plans and we weren’t going to let the weather affect us.  We decided to go hiking at a small lake in northern Warren County called Shanty Hollow (a popular climbing spot for locals).

Ran into a guy I went to college with and he snapped a few pictures for us.

Our destination was the waterfall.  Mikayla enjoyed it, but had much more fun just throwing rocks in the water.

Many people know about the waterfall, but don’t take the time to follow the creek down where it cuts through the rock and makes a very cool ravine.

We then hiked out along the creek bed, stopping every 100 feet or so for Mikayla to throw more rocks into the water.  Although it was a bit cool and a bit wet, it ended up being a great morning to be out.  Here is a video of Mikayla throwing rocks!

Here is Mikayla’s tough girl look.  She picked some honey-suckles and then wanted to walk the last quarter mile on her own (up until then she had mostly ridden on my  back).

Our last stop was the lake shore… where of course she entertained herself by throwing more rocks.  She also found a hawk feather laying on the trail.

Overall it was a great morning that served as a simple reminder of the joys of getting off your butt and into nature.  I figure we had better enjoy the cold, wet weather, because the next several years won’t have much of it!

…I guess the real question should be "Where have I been?"

The month of October has been a blur for the Kickerts. 

At the beginning of the month we took a quick trip to Colorado and Utah as a family.  It was the first real vacation Beth and I have taken since we went to DC back in 2005.  It was also Mikayla’s first flight (we used it as a bit of a test run for the 22 hour plane ride coming up for us in July).

We flew into Denver and spent the day at the Children’s Museum.  Later that day we walked around downtown and tracked down some ice cream.  The next day we visited a cool place called the Butterfly Pavilion and headed up to Fort Collins.  Once our "city trips" were done we headed to Rocky Mountain National Park and then the next day traveled to Moab Utah and hiked around Arches National Park.

Right after returning to Kentucky I got back in the car and took a "quick" trip up to Northern Wisconsin / Upper Peninsula of Michigan to visit with my parents who just moved there.  While we didn’t have much planned, we did visit the "mysterious" Paulding Lights and did quite a bit of paddling on the small lakes up there.

On top of all the travelling, we have been making some big personnel adjustments at work and I have been prepping for our annual charge conference at church.

It seems the month just started, but it is already over.  On Friday we will have our annual Halloween Bash and then we will moving into November.

It is crazy to think how quick months go by, especially since we only have 9 more until we leave the states for a decade or so.  C’est la vie.

Mikayla at the Children’s Museum

Beth and Mikayla at the Butterfly Pavilion

Foggy day at Dream lake in ROMO

Along the Trail Ridge Road in ROMO

At Delicate Arch in Arches NP

Paddling in the Sylvania Wilderness Area