Treasure hunting in the forest!

The weather left much to be desired this weekend.  With the temp only reaching 13 degrees and the constant drizzle the boys were starting to get cabin fever after being shut up inside for two days.  So my three eldest sons and I thought we'd brave the weather for an hour and drove out to the pine forest for a run and a treasure hunt. 

When I was a child I would venture through these pines with my sisters.  As we've grown we've watched the size of the surrounding bushland and plantations slowly dwindle as they've been torn down to make way for housing.  There is one small patch of trees left and I wanted to take my children before these too became just a memory.

The pine trees offered enough shelter from the light rain for us to stay for an hour without getting wet and the boys got to blow off some energy by running from one end of the plantation to the other.  Along the way we gathered lots of beautiful treasures.  Pine cones and strangely shaped bark featured the most in our treasure basket with the odd stick thrown in (not my idea of treasure but to each their own). 

We came across a stick teepee which the boys gladly played in for a while and Master 8 even added to it a little. 

After filling our basket we headed back towards the car just in time to escape being drenched. 
What luck!  The minute we were safely in the car the heavens opened and it poured down.  With the heater on we were nice and toasty by the time we got home to DH and Master (almost) 10 months. 

After showing DH all our photos he said, 'I want to go there!' so we will all make the trip next time, hopefully when the weather is a little warmer, as it did take a while for me to feel my toes again.

Now what to do with all those pine cones?  That's for another post I think!