Last Friday I was a bit antsy to get out of the house and convinced Adam to take off for a spur of the moment adventure to Burriston/Mona Ponds after dinner. It had been 10 years since Adam and I had been to the ponds and we had forgotten what a jewel of a place this is. It was absolutely PERFECT for boys. Tons of trees to climb, lots of swords (sticks) laying all over, water to throw rocks in, trails to follow, fire pits for smores, and meadows to fly kites and throw frisbee’s around in. We were in HEAVEN.
We started out with a nice leisurely hike around one of the biggest ponds
Branson liked pretending he was a lion hiding in the tall grass. So cute!
We even found a great place to go Rope Swinging sometime. This will definitely have to be one of the items we check off our bucket list this summer!
We loved the view of the mountains as he walked along the pond.
We also loved all the fallen logs to climb!
And who could resist climbing all over these amazing tree branches? Truly a boys paradise!
Branson being brave and going out on the log above the water. He was the only one who dared do it.
A burnt out trunk the boys thought was cool.
Even little miss got in on the tree climbing action!
The boys couldn’t believe how many awesome sticks there were lying around! By the end of our hike each child had between 5-10 sticks in tow and Dawson was dragging an entire tree branch behind him. So funny!
Best Day EVER Mom!
Sword fighting/clubbing pose
Our little trail led us on a small peninsula in between two ponds. It was cool to walk between the water.
While strolling along we saw lots of field mice running about.
The boys LOVED seeing them and chasing them into their holes.
The view was absolutely breathtaking. And the sunset incredible!
After our hike we found a little picnic place to have a fire and roast some marshmallows.
Adalynn was completely in awe of the fire.
Dinner Time!
Later we broke out Adams airplane kite and had fun flying that around for a minute.
Throwing rocks and sticks into the pond.
Helping Dad collect firewood.
Ahh, a moment to relax and enjoy the campfire.
Later Adam gave all three boys rock climbing/tree climbing lessons – which they all loved!
We ended the night by playing Frisbee with the boys and then making plans to come back and go camping sometime (especially considering its only 20 minutes away!) Then we decided to take a drive around Mona Reservoir. We ended up exploring a bit and were able to find that Mona Lake actually has a little picnic/camping area that is open to the public where you can go jet skiing, canoeing, or fishing. We were super excited and plan to come back another time to play in the lake.
Then we decided to keep exploring and we took the back way home which led us through a beautiful canyon neither of us knew about. It was so cool.
Sure was an awesome night where we found some great new spots to explore as a family. We ended the night with shakes and eclairs at Maggie Moos here in Payson! Yum! Sure do love spending time with this family of mine!
