We hiked to the summit of Sawyer Mountain over the weekend and I am happy to say, there weren't any bees roaming about on the trail. It was about 1.5 miles to the summit with a steady climb. I'd rate the hike 'Intermediate' for kids who have some endurance for the elevation gain (about 500 feet).

G. is "practicing" her ballet leaps anywhere with open space including the grocery stores and parking lots these days.

I should have known when everyone was grabbing for tissues and taking naps at the summit that we were in for a week of bad colds (I'm sniffling and listening to L.'s non-stop coughing as I write...)

The foliage is really beautiful around the summit right now.

We decided to try some crayon leaf-rubbing on the trail after reading about it in a magazine recently. Crayon-rubbing wasn't as easy as it looked in the magazine but after a few tries, the kids made a fun work of art.

L., while collecting leaves in her hat, also got a little carried away with crayon-rubbing. She decided to make impressions of the writing on some gravestones in the 19th century cemetery we passed on the trail because she spotted a misspelling.

She was highly amused with this one even though I told her it was likely a space issue rather than an actual error.