Playing hooky

R''s yearly review for DD services was yesterday, and once it was over and our service coordinator left, we should have headed right into the classroom to get school done.

But the warmth of the sun was so inviting, and the forecast for today is for a high in the low 40's (compared with yesterday's high in the 60's at least) and possibly some snow.

So, since it was likely to be the last warm day for awhile, we decided to play hooky instead and spend the beautiful afternoon exploring a walking trail near our house (we'll have plenty of time for school when it's cold and snowy out!). We've driven past this trail countless times (it's just over the hill from us) but this was the first time we actually took the time to follow it to see where it went.

A little side trail off the main trail... there were lots of these... probably made by deer.

The view from the trail. The area the trail runs through is a funny mix of natural prairie surrounded by huge expensive homes (McMansions).  The sky was just a brilliant blue...

I love the old cottonwood trees. I love the shapes their branches make, the huge trunks, and wondering about their history... What the land looked like, what was going on here, when they were just saplings.

~

After walking about a mile we found this little old building. It looked like it was made from old stone and bricks mixed with some kind of cement or plaster.

There was old balled up barbed wire and broken fence posts outside and, not far away, what looks like an old livestock chute...  M was hoping the little building was the one-room schoolhouse that used to be out here. Apparently it was just a 1/2 mile or so from our house, but many years ago, shortly after it closed, someone moved it and no one knows quite where it is now...   There are a couple of scary/sad blizzard stories connected to that lost schoolhouse and M's wondered for years what might have become of it. I had to tell him that no, this wasn't the "lost" schoolhouse... but we'll keep looking.

Another half mile or so brought us to a neighborhood and this nice little park... where R showed us that she can still hang by her knees (and M stressed... sure she would fall!).

On the way back home... R on the trail, heading toward the little stone house... with the big houses that surround this area lining the hill above it.