October was a busy month at our house and time together was at a minimum so Aaron and I planned a Saturday escape with the kids.  We put it on the calendar and then made it a priority- many other invitations popped up for that day but we held fast to our plan!

We packed the cooler and headed to Oak Creek Canyon with the kids.  West Fork Trail was super doable for our 2 year old (we didn’t hike the full trail) and very beautiful.  It was so popular though, we had to wait 15 min for someone to leave so we could park!  The leaves were all sorts of beautiful shades of orange, gold, yellow, red and brown, it was the perfect fall fix for a desert dweller.

The kids climbed and wondered and really seemed to enjoy themselves.  Well…accept for the 2year old who decided she was done walking and would begin shrieking- which of course echoed through the canyon walls (alerting other hikers to our presence well before we were in sight) until one of us picked her up (usually me as she has an aversion to her Dad’s arms- crazy kid doesn’t know what she’d missing!).

We picnicked before heading down the trail and while we ate the kids could hear the sounds of croaking frogs and chirping crickets.  Anytime I can I try to point out the sounds of nature to the kids.  One of my favorite sounds is that of a gentle breeze rustling the leaves of a tree, such a beautifully calming sound!  I was totally astonished at how many people used their cell phones to play music as they walked along the trail!  Not only did I think it was rude to impose your music on nearby hikers, I thought it was counter productive to being out in nature.  Such an odd thing….in my opinion.

**All of the pictures in this post were edited using Instagram Photoshop Actions by dbox.  If you love Instagram filters and use photoshop this is the best of both worlds and really fun to play with!**

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