First Ride of the Year

Last weekend we finally had a great day to go out and ride our ATV's. The weather was sunny and somewhat warm.  We decided to head up to Mantua.  Cooper has been having a hard time with allergies this year. Right before we left, I gave him some medicine.  It turned out that the medicine made him very tired.  Clayton was also tired and kept asking to go home...not his normal self!

When we got up there, the gates were locked, so we did some manuevering with the truck and trailer and then unloaded the wheelers and headed up the mountain.  We decided to take a new trail this time.  It rained pretty good the day before, so the trails were not dusty and there were puddles everywhere.  At first, we took them slow, but then we started going through them a little faster!

We got to a point in the trail where it took off up the mountain.  It seemed pretty steep so we decided to stop there and eat lunch.  The kids walked up the hill and we saw a pond where the elk and cows come down to wallow in the mud.  We also saw a lizard, which made the boys happy. It was so pretty up there.  Everything is so green!

On the way back to the truck, we stopped a little grove that has trees and shade.  There are usually cows in this area that come down to sit in the shade, but not on this day.  Because of all the rain the day before, there was a pond that was overflowing and causing some little streams to be formed. The boys and I raced flowers and twigs down the stream.

Clayton enjoys throwing rocks into water, so we collected lots of rocks.  Cooper decided to climb up the back side of a beaver dam.  He played on the logs, threw rocks in the river, and did a good job balancing on the tree limbs.  We stayed in this area for about a half hour and it was one of the high lights for the boys.

As we drove back, I let Cooper drive down the trail.  He is so much taller and stronger than last year.  I taught him about staying on the right side of the trail.  We talked about what speed to go and how to be safe.  He did a great job and he had so much fun!