A "Hockey Hike" and a stitching update...

This is part of a trail Matthew (younger son) and I walked last night which is located at one of the nature parks in San Jose. He and I took Robert (older son) down there so that he could participate on a "hockey hike" lead by his coach from last year. Coach John has been holding these "hockey hikes" to give the boys an additional way (versus skating & fitness room) to keep in shape over the summer in preparation for hockey tryouts coming up next week...Coach John has also been using these opportunities for him to get in some exercise, since he is not on the ice as much as he is during the season..and to loose a little weight :)

Robert requested that Matthew & I either walk" in front of" or "in back of" the group...I don't think that he wanted his younger brother or his mother hanging around his hockey-mates (too embarrassing, I am sure). So, Matthew and I basically went off ahead of the group.

So here is my walking partner, before I really made him sweat...see, he still has the smile on his face and the color in his cheeks :) Actually, we did have a nice walk...going about 5.4 miles in about 1.5-2 hours. We did have some periods of brisk walking up very steep hills that took our breath away - followed by scenery that, also, took our breath away!

This was the view from the vista/summit - looking over the San Jose Valley...or some of the "Silicon Valley" as it is also referred to. In the distance you can see the south part of the Bay (the San Francisco Bay) and all the hills that surround this area. It was very beautiful! Once we reached the top, we got concerned as we weren't sure if the path we were on really looped around to the parking lot and since we went out ahead of the "hockey hikers" we didn't know which of the many paths they were going to take. So, after walking a little over a hour, we debated whether to turn around and walk back the way we came or keep plodding forward in hopes that the path would lead to the car. Looking at the sweat on Matthew, I decided maybe we would retrace our steps. We turned around and within a couple of minutes saw that the "hockey hikers" were in front of us running sprints up and down one of the steeper hills (the Coach tends to walk for a while and when he gets up to the top of a hill, he makes the boys run up & down while he catches his breath...good way to work those boys!). With them in sight, Matthew & I figure that we are on the "correct" path and decide to turn around again...well, long story short, after asking some of the passing walkers and joggers, we found the correct path down the hill which eventually lead us to our car.

As you can see by Matthew's smile (yes, it did return...and the nagging feeling of being lost in my stomach was disappearing) we were on the right path and going the right direction to find the car. Along the way we saw a lot of mice and bunnies...

We heard that this week was the "catch & release" week for rattlesnakes, but thank goodness we didn't see any...however, the "hockey hikers" came back and reported that they saw a King Snake. Well, that makes me doubly glad that I didn't tag along with them :)

It definitely was a very nice evening and I enjoyed "hanging with" Matthew!

On the Stitching Front...

I have finished stitching the ornament for the Ornament Swap and will be in finishing mode this weekend so that I can get it into the mail. With the stitching of that complete, I have put some decorative, or speciality, stitches in the Quaker Patriotic Heart I have been working on...kind of making the design up as I go now that the hearts were completed as per the directions. I will have a photo of it as soon as I finish up the Hardanger corner I am doing so that you can see it.

That is about it from here...getting ready to start the weekend which consist of only one hockey obligation. Have a great day and weekend and remember....

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa