An out of the ordinary Sunday

Today was such a fun day! To start with, the weather was absolutely perfect! Then we got to walk home from church and enjoy the weather; and although there aren't all too many flowers blooming right now, we did enjoy walking through a field of lovely purple and pink weeds and bright yellow dandelions! After lunch we grabbed our water bottles and went up to the canyon to go on a family hike. We all had a ball! The weather was great, the climbing wasn't too tough.And I got some fun pictures along the way. I brought my camera, and Scottie brought the hiking backpack and carried Happy the whole way. About 45 minutes in, as we were walking through a little valley in between two mountains, we saw 4 bighorn sheep fairly close to us up on the side of a nearby mountain. There was a nice couple who came by with some awesome binoculars who let us look through them and it was like watching one of those IMAX movies up close!

We stopped on the way back down so I could try to snag a few more pictures of the kids and we let Happy out of the carrier to join the group and stretch his little legs. But he had been kept still for too long, had been in the hot sun, and was too tired to tolerate any staying still for pictures for me! I love this peek-a-boo shot I got of him!After our hike, the kids weren't worn out enough, so we decided to stop at a nearby park to let them run out some more energy. Scott chose a park we had never been to before and by the time we got there the two little guys were both asleep in their car seats, so Daddy laid back in his seat to take a rest with them while the two bigger kids and I went onto the playground for some more fun taking pictures and tree climbing. After about 10 minutes I saw a little girl wandering through the playground diaperless and mommy-less. I figured her mommy was somewhere close, so I just watched her for about another 3-4 minutes waiting for someone to come scoop this little one up and dress her. After realizing that all the other mommies on the playground were just giggling and watching her, I went up to her to help her find her AWOL mommy. She couldn't have been more than 2, she didn't talk a whole lot and didn't know her mommy's name or where she came from or pretty much anything else I asked her. I found out her name, took her to our diaper bag and got a diaper on her, then took her around the park from the direction she came from to see if she wandered away from any of the other groups. After about 5-10 minutes with no luck, we called the police to come help. Another 10 minutes later (and finding another baby wandering around the road by herself, this one was only about a year old) the police arrived to help us and another family search for the home where these two little ones came from. A little while later we did find the home (and the little girl's missing diaper!) and both parents were there sleeping and had no idea their babies were wandering around outside. The older girl had filled a bucket with water and had been playing in the water when her diaper got too soggy and slid off. Then she decided to go play at the park. The scary part is that she crossed a large, busy road to get to the park on the other side!! Her baby sister stopped at the side of the road because she was too scared to cross and was crying on the side of the road when she was found. Needless to say, the police sent the little girls to stay with relatives and took both parents in. They said they hadn't seen the girls for over two hours, but when they fell asleep, the door was closed and both babies were watching t.v.

I was so glad Scott had chosen that random park so we could be there to help them. How scary for a baby to be wandering around a park alone and crossing busy streets... I am so glad she didn't get hit crossing the road and that her baby sister hadn't followed behind her. It was one of those times when I think we were in the right place at the right time for a reason. I am sure one of the other moms would have stepped up and helped her if I hadn't, but there could have been other sorts there at the park too who would love to do harm to a pretty blond hair, blue eyed baby. She and her sister will be in our thoughts and prayers for a while while their family affairs are getting sorted out.Following that happy/sad experience, we went to a friend's birthday party and had a yummy dinner and a fun time hanging out for the rest of the evening. Their kids and ours played great together, the adults got to hang out and chat for a few hours, and when we got home everyone was ready to crash!

We normally try to stay at home and keep Sunday a calm, family-oriented day, but I am glad we strayed from tradition today and ventured out as a family. It was a great day for us - we learned a lot, we laughed a lot, we prayed a lot, and now they'll sleep alot!