Hocking Hills

 David is on vacation this week, so our little family took a quick trip to Hocking Hills in south east Ohio.  We left Monday evening as soon as I got off of work to go to a cabin near the park.  The cabin was so peaceful!  We were out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by trees, chipmunks, birds, and a small creek.  It was a small bit of paradise to sit on the porch looking out on the trees, sipping a cup of coffee and listening to the babbling brook and my babbling daughter.  Eliana had a blast in the cabin, running around checking out all of the cabinets and nicknacks.  She really liked rocking in the rocking chair next to me this morning.  I can't even tell you in this post how beautiful it was!  We had a relaxed morning then went to Old Man's Cave to go hiking.  We recently purchased a Kelty KIDS hiking toddler carrier just for this trip.  Eliana was less than happy to be hauled around in the backpack, but she did ok.  Then for some reason about halfway through our hike, she decided the trip on my back was the most fun thing ever!  She started kicking her legs (ouch!) and giggling with joy.  So I would definitely consider the hike a success!  We really had a blast.  It was a wonderful little mini vacation.  I took so many pictures, so I really had a hard time cutting the number down for this post.  I hope you enjoy!

The view from our cabin porch.

Eliana sharing a peaceful morning with me.

On our hike at Old Man's Cave.  The backpack wasn't too uncomfortable and actually worked pretty well for carrying a toddler around.

Waterfall

A bridge we took over Hocking River

It was a beautiful hike!

You can see Eliana is having a great time back there.

We took a break in this clearing for lunch and to let Eliana run around for a while.

She found lots of things to explore.

We continued on our hike to Lower Falls.  Eliana wasn't so sure about the water at first.

But then David showed her how to skip rocks.

She thought that was amazing!

Now she kinda likes the water.

Eliana's eyes are closed, but it was the best we could do.

So I was about to publish this post when I realized that I didn't have any pictures of Eliana smiling.  I didn't want you to think she had a bad time, so I had to throw in one more picture.  She had a great time too!