Family Hike in the Superstitions Mountains

We took our boys on an adventure today. We all had a great time. In fact, it's the most fun we've had as a family in a really long time! We went hiking in the Superstition Mountains. The boys are finally all old enough and it is so close to home. I can't wait to take them back there again.
We found a neat little area where the tree branches had grown all around making a little cave. It was fun to explore.

Dalin was so excited to see these tracks. He wanted me to take a picture of them so he could go home and figure out the animal. Any guesses??? He thinks it was a wolf.

The twins palling around together. Sooooo cute...

Bryan and Dalin had lot of fun together talking about the mountain. Bryan was telling Dalin where all the different trails went. It was neat to see Dalin look up to Bryan with admiration as he talked about his days doing Search and Rescue in the Superstitions, that's where he learned about every trail. (Not sure what Micah is doing in the background. Just ignore him.)

This was so funny!! Matthew sat down at the this fire ring and got all excited!!! We finally asked what he was doing. He said, "I waiting for Daddy to make a fire." I explained that we were hiking and weren't going to make a fire. He got sad and said, "No, mama, we are making a fire and getting out our tent." Apparently he wants to camp again.

We found a creek that actually had water in it. The boys had lots of fun throwing rocks into the water. And Dalin learned how to skip rocks across the top of the water.

Matthew wanted to climb all the way to the top of the mountain. He kept saying that all morning, "I climb to the top. I climb to the top." Finally, Dalin found a big rock and said, "Let's climb to the top." All 3 boys made it with some help and Matthew's face said it all. I'm on the top. Then, Matthew found a bigger rock. Bryan took off up the rock. All of the boys were so impressed, especially Matthew. So, I helped them all climb up to Bryan. They were so cute. Matthew really felt like he was on the top of the world now. He really climbed the mountain, just like he wanted to. As we walked up the last hill to get back to the parking lot to our truck, the twins decided they were tired. Bryan ended up carrying them up the hill.

When we left the mountain, we stopped at the mining camp set up accross from the mountain. That was an adventure for another day, be we wandered around a little and got some ice cream.

We finally found a cage big enough for all of our boys. Hahaha... We need one of these for home.