It's That Time of Year Again

It's time for Wild Leek Soup!  I always choose inopportune times to head for the Big Woods, but it almost always works out because time in the woods covers a multitude of parental error.  So a little past what should have been lunchtime, right about the time the tired, three youngest should be tucked in for an afternoon nap, I packed a fifteen-pound picnic lunch and headed out with excited children running ahead.

(This one didn't trust the shaky hay wagon.)

Oh, yeah.  And I was 38 1/2 weeks pregnant, which didn't really sink in until halfway across the field with Zeke strapped to my sciatica-plagued back and lugging that fifteen-pound picnic lunch.

Guess what, though?  We had a wonderful afternoon together, with tired, little legs and tired, big back ignored in favor of all the Big Woods has to offer.

We stopped along the logging trail to eat our lunch, and the girls scrambled up into their favorite Camel Tree.

The bigger girls moved farther away to a "softer bed of moss" than ours.  I didn't test theirs out, but I'm sure ours could have given theirs a run for its money in any Moss Bed Softness Competition.

Plus, I had pretty cute seatmates, which I think should garner me bonus points.  (Yup, I broke out the holiday graham crackers for the occasion.)

As tired as he looks, this boy was HAPPY and could have stayed in the woods all day.  In fact, these days, he'd live outdoors if we let him, which isn't surprising considering he would have done the same in the thick of winter.

Spring hadn't unpacked its full frenzy yet, but we found baby may apples, 

and baby maple leaves, which Piper tried to preserve by swaddling in larger leaves leftover from last fall.

We were still in the outskirts of the Big Woods and hadn't even made it to the old-growth sections yet when we discovered huge patches of green.  I made the executive decision to dig there instead of trekking farther in (in case of spontaneous baby delivery, you know). 

The leeks were still too immature, but we dug up a few, anyway-- enough to flavor a dish or two while we wait for the bulbs to mature.

 I mostly sat with my back against a tree, and this winsome boy kept me company for a few minutes.

Oh, to be again a swinger of birches.  I miss those days.

At this point, Annika carried the camera, so I credit all of the following snapshots to her.

We later found more blooms, as you can see!  (Don't worry. We didn't pick the trillium.)

As well as proof of faeries, which Annika also documented with snapshots.

As well as evidence of our neighbor's love of hunting.  I asked my dad whose tree stand was on his land before letting each of the girls scramble up to catch the view from the top.

Leek Hunting, Round 2, to come later, as long as Baby doesn't come first.