The great outdoors!

Our men spend the majority of their free-time in the wooded area of our backyard. They liked it fine enough in the Winter when it was all brown, but now that it is lush and green again, they just can't get enough! Usually I just watch them play from our large windows, but a couple weeks ago I followed them up into the woods to see the special hiding place/fort that Mason and Char made. While we scooted up the hill, Charpy showed me his climbing skills by scurrying up their favorite climbing tree.

They like this particular tree because it has big vines that are perfect for holding onto while climbing.

While Char climbed, Mason took advantage of the rope swing that James set up over Christmas break:

After we got swinging out of our system, Mason alerted my attiention to the broken branches in the nearby shrub/tree thing. This, he told me was a weapon to get bad-guys. Also, it is used to warn if a bad-guy is around because they will accidently knock it down. Logical, right?

Just to the right of the booby-trap, in a little bush, is the secret hide-out. Actually, the bush is the hide-out. I would have never have known! Thankfully, with Mason as my guide, I was welcomed in to enjoy a little relaxation.

From our sneaky spot, we were able to watch unsuspecting hill-folk without being seen. No wonder Mason likes his spot so much!

Actually, just the other day, James and I heard a very mournful cry coming from the hide-out spot up on the hill. We raced outside only to find Mason in a panic because he had snuck his rat up the hill and had lost him! We were pretty hopeless because there is so much undergrowth up there that we were sure he was a goner. However, we sugested we say a prayer (well, another one- Mason had already been doing some serious pleading with the Lord) to see He would help us find our favorite Typer. Moments later, James saw some rustling in the an clump of ivy a little way off and found him! We were all overjoyed and James and I stated that it was nothing short of a miracle and then insisted that the rat spend the rest of the day unwinding in his cage. For the next little while, we kept hearing Charlie and Mason exclaim out of nowhere, "Wow! That really was a miracle!" See, our wood even has faith promoting experiences to boot! Who knew that we had this much fun in our own backyard?!

Char, showing me snails and picking flowers.