I talked my family into going to a nearby lake for 1st hike of the new year!
It was a bit cold…
My boys said they liked it and at least Milo appeared to have fun.
Little Bit does not like it when the grass is near her face. Poor kid needs to get just a bit taller.
This photo sums up how my oldest daughter felt about the cold…
We wanted to do a trial camping trip with our new puppy but wanted to stay pretty close to home in case it went badly.
Osage Hills State Park was a perfect choice!
It was not very far away from our house and is a favorite hiking spot for us.
In fact my oldest went on his first hike there when he was one month old!
There were only a few other people camping so we had a huge area for the kids to play.
Milo did great on his first camping trip and loved hiking!
We saw so many Armadillo that I didn’t even look anymore when one of the kids yelled they saw one.
Ha
While up that way we went to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve.
So many Bison and some beautiful hiking trails!
We went to see Christmas Lights in Bartlesville at Johnstone Park.
We did a lot of hiking.
And we checked out the Hulah Lake Wildlife Management Area and Wha Sha She Park(used to be state park).
We did not hit the WMA at the best time of day so I did not see much.
And the park was kind of run down with not much there.
They were both in pretty areas though.
We headed home on Christmas Eve after one more hike.
I think if I had a tradition for the holidays it would be hiking and camping.
Now I just need to convince my kids to go on a Christmas hike every year…
We were going to take the South Park Trail near our campground to the Beaver Creek Trail but…
We didn’t bring waders…
This one was not a nature trail but most of the others we went on were.
I took three kids on this next short hike.
It was listed as a nature trail.
It was right across from the Nature Center.
I never did get to see inside the Center, they kept odd hours and were only open once the whole time we were there.
Another beautiful hike.
I only took three kids with me for this hike also.
This time we found a good spot to cross and continue on the trail.
So pretty.
We all went on the Cedar Bluff Nature Trail together.
It ended up being pretty uphill but the view at the top was beautiful.
I get a little crazy about wanting to see everything so I was bummed to realize I missed a few nature trails but the ones we went on were beautiful!
If you have young kids or need an easy hike, look for nature trails.
They are usually short 1-2 miles or even less and pretty easy.