My baby turned seventeen Saturday.
I mean, all parents have a moment where they look at their offspring and wonder where the heck the time went, and let's just say that this past Saturday was a big ol birthday reality slap to the noggin, because my baby is almost an adult! AHH!
Not that I am sad about that fact though, I am so excited to see what she goes out in the world and accomplishes, the kid is super driven. Heck, she will graduate high school next year and be a certified CNA and already have half of her nursing degree done, at eighteen years old.
Yep. Super proud.
That said, her brother had a track meet on her birthday, and track meets last most of the day, especially big weekend invitationals, so we decided to have her party on Sunday. But, I wanted to do something special with her on her big day, so when she said she wanted to go on a hike, well, I knew where to go.
My son's meet was in a neighboring town, Priest River, Idaho. It's lovely little logging town perched on the conjunction of the Priest and Pend Oreille rivers. One of my favorite (and close to home) hiking areas is on between my farm and Priest River, so I told my squeaky that we could hike in Clagstone Meadows and I would take her to this new coffee shop in Priest River on the way to the meet after our hike
She liked this plan.
And that was how we found ourselves tromping through the dew covered grass this past Saturday morning. Clagstone Meadows Conservation Area is a massive chunk of logging company land that is open to the public for non-motorized use. It's a super fun place to wander through, there's a myriad of old, overgrown logging roads and trails galore.
And yesterday, there were some wildflowers coloring the landscape, Squee!
As I have only hiked there once, I couldn't remember which fork to take to go towards the view I wanted to show my girl, so our first foray was down a shady track to the hidden hay farm meadow. Last year, when I hiked there last, I stumbled upon the secret hay farm while they were baling the glorious future animal fodder. It is such a picturesque bit of scenery. Plus, it's fun just to burst out of the woods into a view like this:
After remembering where I was and enjoying the view, we turned and wandered back towards the track I had intended to take, after having a pleasant morning conversation with an absolutely gigantic woodpecker. He really was an amiable sort, and hopped around branches right above our head, preening and showing off his beautiful shades of grey plumage.
Later, as we hiked down the right logging road, I got to spend some quality time in some of that great mother/daughter conversating that happens when you are doing something awesome yet there's no tasks to tend to. We talked about her future, her party, prom, you know, offspring and parent bonding stuff.
Now, we didn't go all the way up the hill like I had wanted to, as we had to get to my son's meet, but we did find a lovely little bluff to scramble up and behold some beautiful North Idaho Boreal forest scenery from.
We also got screamed at by a very ill-mannered squirrel. I should have brought a couple of my cat contingent with me, they know how to handle a grouchy nut and seed hoarder!
On the way back we found a little grove of Larch (Tamarack) trees that had been planted by the timber company, Larch trees are conifers that lose their needles every fall and grow them back in the spring like deciduous trees. I love them so much, especially in the spring when their little needles are starting to bud out!
All in all, we rambled about five miles, and it was a glorious five miles indeed!
I don't like that light string. I am 84% certain aliens are abducting people -
Happy birthday to your baby. Tell her to stay away from the aliens.
haha good catch!
Did you ever wonder how moon light manages to reflect on a lake or water?
Yes, the answer is a good Wi-fi connection.
Um, what's the other 16%? Because there weren't any aliens and now I am wondering what the other option might be...
And thank you! I told her to stay away from them lol lol!
How beautiful to see our children grow up in front of our eyes and celebrate with them all achievements and success.
happy moments.
Very much so, and well said!😊
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. Keep up the fantastic work
@generikat, has taken her baby birthday girl for hiking, and apparently she liked the plan and enjoyed her birthday roaming around in the nature... Plus they tried to straighten up a squirrel who steals nuts and seed! lol
Great post! <3
Thank you so much!
You're welcome... :)
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happy belated bday for your "not so" baby offspring :) lol
I was thinking the same thing as @amirtheawesome1 when I saw that light beam :)
Maybe it's his fault as I hang out too much with him since this year. But maybe we are just both right and you have to be careful!
Only time will tell!
LOL! Yes, she's not baby-like at all any more. And I'm not melancholy about it, she's growing into the most capable creature, I am so proud!
I reassured @amirtheawesome1 that it wasn't aliens, but now I am wondering if some fey were following us about or something, definitely on the lookout now....😁
Sounds like an awesome time for you and your daughter, @generikat. You know, if you raise your kids well, you do not lose your children when they get older, rather you gain a close friend.
Well said my friend! I have enjoyed my kids at every age of their lives, I have a feeling the close friend time is going to be just as awesome😊
Sounds like a wonderful birthday hike for you and your baby. No matter her age ... she'll always be your baby! And the environment looks very pretty!
It was a great time! And you are so right, even though our roles are evolving dur to her becoming a young adult, she'll always be my little Squeaky lol!
Hope you are having a fantastic day with your pups!
That is awesome you all had a great time and the scenery is beautiful.
Thank you! It was a blast!
👍
!CTP
What a delightful birthday activity! It's hard to believe she is 17 already. This is yet another place I'd never heard about in the 24 years I've been here. Amazing.
I didn't even know that place was there either, and I vote in the building next to it every year lol! It's amazing some of the stuff that's still undiscovered right around us!
And yes, I can't believe she is that old already either, time truly does fly huh!
Beautiful post. Beautiful pictures. It is all just beautifully positive. And soothing to my soul 😀
!BBH
!ALIVE
Aww, thanks good sir! It was a glorious day, I am glad you enjoyed the overview of it😊
I did 😀
!BBH
!ALIVE
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This is a lovely shot 📸
Happy belated birthday to your daughter. Age Graciously ❤️.
Thank you so much!!!
Nice birthday hike with your daughter. I really should see if I can make some time to go hiking and it's been a long time since the last time I went on a hike.
Ooh! Hiking is awesome and I would so love to see a post of your adventure!
What a lovely day! Glad you and your daughter had such a nice time together. :))
Aww, thank you my dear friend! It was such a good day, and I hope all is well on the homestead!
Its so wonderful when you experience those moments together with your kids, as time goes by they seems the to be more and more apart in time. our daughter turns 18 in May and its amazing how time flies. Thank you for sharing 😊
Oh wow! That's a big birthday, and right around the corner! Isn't it weird how it seems like it was only yesterday that you were helping them learn to tie their shoes and now they are getting ready to go out into the world? You are so right though, those wonderful moments are the best!😊
Dang, those are some beautiful photos! I makes me want to get out and do some hiking myself! I think we need the weather to warm up a little first though. Awesome post, I found it via Listnerds. Definitely a hidden gem here!
Thank you so much @bozz! And I hear ya on the warm up part, just a week ago our high was a blistering 37 degrees with a northeast wind, no way I wanted to go hiking in that! Thankfully it was a balmy 60 degrees on her big day lol!
Hope you get to go hiking soon!
Yeah, I hear you. I was down in Ohio and we had close to 90 degrees this past weekend and I got a sunburn. Now I am back in Michigan and we are looking at 40 to 50 degrees today. Summer and camping season will be here soon.
Happy birthday to your daughter. Looks like you had a great day on your hike. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much @rcaine! We had a great day for sure!
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