Little Beast Takes On Shingle Creek

Our Labor Day started off with some much needed sleeping in, funfetti waffles and massive everything-in-your-fridge omelets. After which we headed to Shingle Creek for our first hike with Little Beast.

We prepared him with some Babyganics sunblock followed by deet-free insect repellent since his chunky thighs would be irresistible to mosquitoes! I have been itching to get back to the outdoors for some time now and bought a Baby Bjourn off OfferUp to get down and dirty with. Its comfort and sturdiness proved to be perfect for the sticky afternoon ahead of us.  

The trail was easy to follow with facts about the plants and the park's natural inhabitants along the way. Our favorite was the one on Poison Ivy, we spent the remainder of the trail searching out ivy plants and explaining to Zombie about the poison and its effects. 

Now, if you know anything about Florida weather then you know one minute its sunny and the next we're experiencing judgement day type storms. We managed to get out of there right as the heavy rain started to hit. Beware of the mud-if you're not careful you will slip and with a 2 month old in hand, that was just not an option. 

Here are some quick tips I would recommend for families when hitting the trails with babes. 

1. Use Insect Repellent (deet-free) 
2. Sunblock
3. Hydrate baby - I had a bottle of milk for Little Beast which worked just fine but next time I will definitely bring along  some water for him. 
4. Hat- another lesson learned. Besides looking so cute in those little boat hats its also best to have added protection from the sun. 
5. Change of clothes- wipe em down, change their diaper and put on a fresh pair of onesies and the drive home will be awfully quiet in the backseat of the car. 

I hope you all enjoyed your labor and can't wait to see how you spent the holiday! 

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Father's Day 2015: Loving the heaven sent chaos

This year for father's day hub's decided to switch things up a bit and take us on a hike to Split Oak Forest; thankfully we waited till 4:00 when the sun wasn't directly overhead- Enter summer in Florida.

After driving 15 minutes back and forth between campground sites, getting mugged by a white frog, and crashing a maternity photo-shoot we eventually found our trail. The path isn't exactly easy to follow and don't worry about picking up a map at the entrance as IT WILL NOT help in any way shape or form. I was far more successful using my natural wilderness instincts.

Mika's favorite part was the Bambi(s) we saw during our drive out of the park.

Bambi Dialogue: "Oh, hey guys, don't mind us we're just eating grass and stuff while you're parked 100 feet away from us squealing your heads off like you don't see at least one of my kin every other day!"

YEAH! Beautiful, elegant, ethereal and sarcastic, who would've known these animals could be so fiesty?! At one point a teenage deer and I had a staring contest; when it's furry tail started swishing fast I swore it was going to stampede towards my car in a fury.

The heat called for something that would give you a brain freeze so to the Froyo Shop it was!

I hope you all had a marvelous father's day with your loved ones. Don't take being a parent for granted. It's the best kind of chaos there could ever be!

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