Going For A Hike With The 3 Stooges

Now that spring is finally here, I've started taking the kids with me and the dog on some short hikes. Down a short way from my house is a minimum maintenance road that goes back into the woods and through a wetland--just perfect for a short nature hike. Everyone loved the hike. Our dog Bertha leap into the water and swam after a beaver (luckily it got away.) Tom and Tess shouted and ran looking at this and that. Oscar decided that maybe this was cool after all. Much fun was had by everyone. The kids were so noisy that they scared away any and all wildlife. Two deer leap behind Tom and Bertha, but they were so busy poking animal scat to notice (just what every boy and his dog love--poking animal poo.) Oscar found a beaver skull and proudly carried it home on his walking stick. Then came time to head home, and that's when the real fun began...Tess instantly became too tired to walk and whined to be carried. Tom and Oscar started fighting over who got to carry the stick with the beaver skull on it. And Bertha, God bless her, decided she wasn't ready to go. She loves to run, and run, and run...and so she did. I had to chase her off the path, into the woods, and down a trail all at top speed. Oh the fun she had with me in hot pursuit and the kids pulling up the rear. All of us yelling, "Bertha, come back!" I finally caught up with her in someones yard. I was not happy. Got the leash back on her, and carried Tess (who was forty pounds of tired crabby kid) and walked the rest of the way home. As soon as we got home, everyone perked up and asked when we could do it again. So I'll take the three Stooges with me again and this time my pocket will be stuffed with tasty dog treats.