mini-Matt, hiking in the bush, and first laughs

Aubrye took this photo of Taylor. The shadows make him look like he has more hair than he actually does. But, could he look more like Matt? Such a handsome little man.

As many of you know, Matt's been in Utah (and, YES, the rest of us are SOOOO jealous... It's probably best I don't even go there.) ANyway, I am again a single parent. SO, that is my excuse for doing this:

Let me start by saying, it isn't easy to spend a beautiful Saturday indoors, all of us, together, with 10 tv channels--4 of which are rugby, and come out of it unharmed. We started our Saturday this way because I have had a cold and didn't feel like going anywhere. This soon passed after a couple morning hours of arguing, whining, etc. So, I put Tay in the baby Bjorn and announced we were going bushwalking. The only smart thing I did was require shoes and socks.

Some of the dumb things:
1. brought no water
2. ...no cell phone
3. ...no diapers
4. ...no GUN

We headed down the trail, and immediately the kids were happy. They were running up ahead, finding the ultimate stick, destroying spider webs, exploring different paths. Taylor didn't seem to mind all the leaves whacking us in the face. We walked about a km and I suggested we head back. Oh no. "This is just getting fun." "I'm not tired yet." "I could do this all day." "We haven't even crossed the river." "Tay's not even crying." SO, I gave in and kept walking, and they kept running. As soon as we reached a 5-way fork in the trail, I insisted we head back. (It's EASY to get lost around here.) We were getting thirsty, and I know the return trip is always harder. A passing jogger said something to me. I didn't really respond, because I didn't know what he said. But, when he stopped and jogged back to me, I listened better. "There's a brown snake on the trail." Of all deadly things I didn't want to face. The brown snake is responsible for most of the fatal snakebites in Australia. Why did I have to know this? Well, the jogger must have seen my face because he goes, "Don't panic!" I really had no choice but to hurry the kids along. We made it home unharmed, but thirsty.


I'm going to make myself write "I will not enter the Bush unprepared" 50 million times. I can handle all the huge and scary spiders, but I draw the line at snakes. I'm not sure if I'll ever go back...

THis is such a bad entry, I'll just add:

TAYLOR LAUGHED! It was the cutest thing ever. At first it was more of a grunt, but then he did it again, and it was definitely laughter! And, it was in direct response to Bryson. (: