We had a beautiful day today.  Temperatures in the mid 50s and bright blue, sunny skies.  After all of the time we have spent below zero lately, the air felt downright balmy.

I had heard about the coming weekend warmup on Tuesday and at that point decided that I didn’t care how slushy and muddy it was going to be we were going to get out and enjoy it.  Riley, Carson and I headed for one of our favorite hiking spots, Waterfall Glen in Darien.  Camera in hand, of course.

Yes, it was muddy and slushy but worth it.  Because of all of the snow melt the waterfall was running stronger than we had ever seen it.  It was mostly a muddy mess, but still very relaxing.   We explored for a bit and managed to stay fairly clean.   Until on the way back to the car when Riley fell over into a giant mud puddle.  I knew that we weren’t going to get out of there clean and Riley wanted to make sure I was right about that.  Oh well, mud washes off easily.

This may be one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken of Carson.

She wasn't happy about the mud.

Last Tuesday, the kids and I kissed Matt good-bye, packed up the car, and headed for Ohio.  We got into my parent’s house at 8:30 and we were all exhausted.  Believe me when I tell you the backseat of a VW Jetta does not have nearly enough space for two siblings who like to bicker on a 7 hour drive.  I really should install some sort of shield between the two of them.

After a good night’s rest we planned a day of fun and exploring with my mom.  In the morning we headed off to Squire’s Castle, which is a cool old building that was originally meant to be the gatehouse of a large estate that was never built.  The castle is now a part of the Cleveland Metroparks and visitors are free to wander about the rooms while the park is open.  In high school, I went to Squire’s Castle many times to take pictures for photography class and now I was back almost 20 years later taking more pictures as I rediscover my photography hobby.

We planned on visiting the castle and then taking a long hike around the grounds but the weather had other plans.  As soon as we got there it started pouring.  We hung out in the castle for a while and waited out the rain.  Once it seemed to clear up a bit we heading off on one of the paths.  Five minutes into the hike and halfway up a large hill the skies opened up once again and we got drenched as we tried to make our way back as quickly as possible to the castle and cover.  I did manage to take some pictures between the raindrops.  Next time I’m in Cleveland I want to get back to Squire’s Castle under much better conditions.

Carson

Riley

Side view of Squire's Castle

Squire's Castle

This wasn't intentional, but I like the effect.

The rest of the stories and pictures are still to come.

Saturday, we took the kids hiking in Starved Rock State Park. Hiking in Starved Rock turns out to involve a ridiculous amount of stairs. They are stairs on every path in that park. I think trail erosion must be a big problem there and the stairs are the solution. The park is beautiful with lots of canyons to explore and great views of the river and surrounding area. We hiked for 2 1/2 to 3 hours and were feeling the effect of all of those stairs when we were done.

Wildflowers along the path

Do you see a face?

Matt and I were married in front of this fireplace at Starved Rock Lodge 13 years ago.  We had to peek around curtains to get the picture as they had the area set up for a wedding reception.