Was it worth it?

Our glorious weather continues.. Mild, sun shining day, a group of new friends and an unexplored trail - the perfect set up for a fun afternoon. The boys all ran ahead, exploring, investigating, and scouting out potential fort locations. For the most part we managed to keep the troops on the trail, to the relief of one young man who was very concerned about the poison oak potential. His Mamma had taught him to stay away from any off trail and when any of the larger, older boys wandered off, he quickly admonished and encouraged return by the threat of poison oak.
At the very end, all the kids were a bit worn out from hiking and wanting to play rather than marching on, and the fallen trees seemed the perfect spot for some good old boy fun. Even young Mr Cautious threw worries to the wind and followed Lukas , Noah and their friend Joe up and over, down and behind, under and up again - and these were the tired boys just a few scant minutes ago?


It was finally time to head back to civilization, hands filled with warm black mud clay balls, bare legs scratched from old, dry branches but happy and content. Back home it was 'go directly to shower, do not stop anywhere, but proceed directly to hot water and soap.' Since Noah has had his own fair share of encounters with poison oak, he willingly washed himself with Technu to prevent the evil of the woods to dampen his fun hike. There was only one small problem... one must wash the entire body, not just the front in order to get rid of all the oil from poison oak.... Noah learned this lesson the painful and uncomfortable way - as he is now is showing off a full court attack of poison oak.

Will this stop him from hiking, no! But it is time to pull out the big guns - Ivy Block - to see if that will keep the enemy at bay. Otherwise, we are up for any suggestions! Yes, I realize we could have worn long pants, but it is warm here.... :-)