Labor Day at Anne Springs Close Greenway

Even though family emergencies required us to miss the first six of ten days of school, so we normally would have devoted Labor Day to schoolwork, this time we got ourselves out of the house for some fun.

We did diligent school from 8:00 to noon, then leapt in the car to visit Anne Springs Close Greenway for the first time.

This Greenway (preserve seems like a better word) of 1,200 acres of land includes hiking, horseback riding, historic wagon trails, historic cabins, interesting buildings (such as the above Dairy Barn, which hosts weddings), and a lake with all the associated water activities. It is only 20 minutes from our home, so might be a great place to get a family membership, given how many venues are shut down for the foreseeable future.

Watching a horse being groomed

The cabin of Billy Graham's cabin

Baby lizard

There is a swinging bridge 15 feet above a creek. I don't like swinging bridges, but I walked across it there and back in order to escort my littlest kids. 

Then I realized I had to cross the water in order to continue our hike as there was no other way with our double stroller. The water is just deep enough that one has to take off shoes to cross.

Some of us were quite tired on the return trip.

We walked two-and-a-half miles over about three hours. There was much to stop and see!

Everyone was very fatigued by the outing and I admit to walking in the door, ordering pizza (having not planned ahead!), and crashing on the couch.

Thomas and Teddy fast asleep and early!

Chris arrived home from visiting his grieving father, walked in the door at 5:25, gave a sweet speech to the children about how I had given a gift to their grandfather by keeping the home hearth warm so Chris could be absent, and then by 5:30 sent me up to our bedroom to eat dinner alone and have some peace. Any young ladies reading my blog: That's the kind of devoted service you want to find in a husband!