Hiking and Horseback Riding in February?

The weather here has been gorgeous. A little cold, but gorgeous. We made sure to keep busy while the sun lasted.
On Thursday, I took the boys for an outing at Bridgeport Village (the outdoor shopping area where I work) to pick up a CD I'd ordered from Borders. After the errand, we sat outside by the fountain eating cookies. We then went back out towards Hillsboro with a picnic lunch and a loaf of bread to feed the ducks at the library. We really enjoyed the day and the amount of fighting between the boys was nearly nonexistent.

On Friday, I filled in for a mom in Aiden's class for parent help and we had an outside day. Nathan spent the afternoon with the babysitter and was able to play outside with them.

On Saturday, I had plans later in the evening with Carrie Marie and Laura for a girl's night, but we had all day to have some family time outside. I suggested taking the boys back to the library to feed the ducks, but John wanted something a little more adventurous. He said he didn't want to go all the way to the coast, but would like to head in that direction. So I found Vernonia-Banks State Park. A 21-Mile trail along an old railroad (there are various railroad "relics" and extremely old railroad bridges that we drove under on the way to the trailhead). We didn't end up starting at the beginning, but found a trailhead starting around mile 9. The state parks website said that it was stroller friendly, but it would have been pushing it even if we'd been equipped with a jogging stroller. Our poor little umbrella stroller is close to dead now, but we wouldn't have been able to go as far without it. We walked a total of four miles, Aiden walking the whole way. He still had energy when we got home!
There are plenty of signs along the trail informing the hiker that digging for fossils and removal of fossils is prohibited. On our way back, we passed where a small rockslide had happened and we noticed something out of the ordinary. It was a clam fossil within the rock! Keep in mind that we're still a ways from the coast AND up at a higher elevation. Hmm...how did that clam get up there? :^) I completely forgot to take a picture of it, but it was really cool to see. I did take a few pictures along the trail.

On Sunday, there was a family dinner planned once Brady was done with his National Guard stuff, so we had the whole afternoon to keep busy until then. Laura suggested that we all head out to the horse barn to see Amirah, so we ate a quick lunch, got Nathan down for a nap at grandma's, and went out towards Newberg.

We figured out last summer that Aiden is a bit of a horse lover, but his level of comfort with horses is amazing. He wanted to brush Amirah and was not afraid to get near this large animal. Amirah was very careful and patient with Aiden all afternoon.

We all got a chance to ride out in the sun and Aiden rode twice! He was so careful the whole time, except for when it was time to get off the horse. This is where his comfort level should be a little lower. He kept trying to dismount all by himself! I love that he seems to be completely in his element with horses. It's fun to watch and it's a great experience for him at such a young age. Time to look into summer horse camps? I took a few pictures throughout the afternoon. These are just my two favorites, but if you click on the title to this post, it will take you to the whole online album.