The girls called their parents tonight to fill them in on all the fun we've had in the last 36 hours. It's always interesting to hear a shared experience described by another person in the group. For example, today we went hiking on the bluffs at Great Falls National Park. It was a lovely day, especially for August: a little overcast and therefore not too hot. Although the clouds threatened, the rain held off, which was good for us. The park was not too crowded, so most of the time we had the trails and the rocks and the river to ourselves.
It's our habit to pack lunch and pick a place with a nice view to stop for a picnic, and today the girls chose a spot high above Mather Gorge to eat. The river was super low, and a light breeze kept most of the bugs away. There were a couple of industrious ants on the rocks where we sat, though, and as we packed up to continue on our way, we noticed that one of them had found an awfully big crumb and was struggling to carry it off. As she zigged and zagged staggering beneath the weight of her delicious morsel, I amused myself by narrating her progress in first person. No worries girls, I got this... whoa, oops, ta da! I meant to do that! and so on, I channeled her chatter, ant to aunt, until we walked on, leaving her story unfinished.
In the rest of the hiking, swimming, cooking, singing, dancing, and game playing that completed our day, that moment was lost to me until I heard Delaney giggling on the phone with her parents about it, and then I laughed a little, too, and hoped that the ant made it home with her treasure.
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