ranch four wheeling

Two weekends ago we headed out to the ranch to do some four wheeling. Samuel in particular had been asking for a long while to go. First off we let Noah take a couple spins on the little motorcycle.

Next we all six piled onto a couple four wheelers and took off. Our first stop was the small stock pond behind the rental house we used to live in before we moved to Nebraska. 

The weather was beautiful despite it being only the fourth of March. I still miss the green though. 

Next was another stock pond a little farther on. Terry likes to drive around the edges. I don't.

Vroom vroom! 

From there we went along the fences until we reached the road again. Not wanting to be done yet we switched kids and came up to The Rock from another direction.

When Terry proposed to me here, he had me blindfolded and carried me over those rocks.

Here's The Rock, where Terry carved his proposal into the wall.

"4-19-03 EVA YES (added later) WILL U MARRY ME?"

Evie found a cactus patch. Every time I see these I am reminded of the time my brother ran through the neighbor's cactus for some unknown reason. Why did you do that Nathan?

Sunshine, clear skies, and fresh air are good for the soul.

I suggested we hike down and do a little exploring because I didn't want to be done yet. Everyone readily agreed.

So we climbed down the rocks into the draw below. It's been pretty dry this year so far so it was pretty clean.

Terry broke off some tree branches and taught the kids to use them to kill "bad guys," i.e. tall weeds otherwise known as Orcs. It's what he used to do as a kid out there. Here's Ezra going at it.

I thought the lichen on the tree was pretty.

Noah found an old cow bone and wanted to bring it home to Snap. They found many, many more bones (it was a cow graveyard!) but couldn't bring them all home. We made them leave what they had at Grampa and Gramma's house.

I can't wait for those trees to have leaves on them. 

More orc killing lessons.

The boys went up the hill to find bad guys and Evie and I meandered around the draw.

I wanted to keep going but figured we better find the boys first. They had the same idea and so we passed each other on opposite sides of the hill. The rocks beyond the trees is where we started out. And actually, this is the same place my sister Stephanie and I took a walk during Christmas break when Noah was a baby. She even painted a picture of it...

...and here it is! That's baby Noah and I walking through those bare trees on a unseasonably warm winter day much like this one was.

Behind me was this large solitary tree. And Evie. :)

We went back down into the draw and met up with the boys again. I thought this gnarled out tree trunk was cool.

We wandered and wandered, thinking we were going to come out at the second stock pond. It was taking forever so we climbed up the hill and found we were too far north and would have come out at the wrong place. Therefore we turned around and walked back up the hill to where the four wheelers were parked.

Almost to the top. I felt like a pioneer at this point. It was so windy and desolate, it wasn't hard to imagine. 

Beyond those trees was where we were aiming for.

Found them! Ezra was just about to jump off that rock shelf while I took this photo. I caught him though.

One last run around the first stock pond.