Happy Day with Happy Gus

This is Gus! Today I got to hang out with him for several hours alone. What a gift! I hardly ever get one on one time with any of my children, and even though I vow almost weekly to do it weekly, well, Ive been pretty weak at doing it. This happy Gus photo was taken on our hike in Lookout Creek Old Growth Grove this summer. It was a great experience for our whole family. We have been hiking with the kids since, well, since they were belly babies, and this was the very first hike that everyone walked the whole way by him/herself. There was one point that we had to portage the kids over the huge root structure of a fallen giant tree, but that was exciting for all of us. Gus is still talking about how great old growth forests are. It really made an impression on him. On days like today it is so amazing to re-realize how fantastic a kid he really is. We had some hot cocoa and he told me the whole story from his story time at school. Then we read a book together. He was sitting on my lap, and I could tell he was a little scared because he kept tensing up and gasping. It's hard to remember he's only six. We were reading about pirates, and he plays pirate all the time, but stories still scare him!