Chasing hawks but finding butterflies...

I needed a day to get in touch with my soul. I needed a day with the hawks on an escarpment. I needed a day with at least one of my kids. Chris and I gathered the MtN biking gear and headed to New Paltz. He had never been out to Awosting and I needed to feel as if I could touch the sky so we headed out to that lake in the clouds via the Castle Point carriage way. It was a gorgeous day! The only complaint was that there was a great deal of convection creating clouds that covered the sun at times and it was extremely windy, which down right put a chill in the air.
I went with the hopes of seeing some hawks up close as I usually do. I saw tons of butterflies and Chris even had the liberty of having a ladybug along for the ride on his shifters for the entire way up to Castle Point. He was lucky enough to see a raptor swoop the edge. I am NOT sure where I was looking (OH yah I was getting out the CAMERA and by the time I looked up he was gone). SO I had to settle for butterflies escorting me most of the way. We arrived at the lake and changed to swim only to find that it was a bit too nippy for that. We ate lunch, napped, and headed back about an hour and a half later.
One of the funnier points of the day was me trying to CHANGE in the car afterwards. I never realized how awkward that can be, especially when there were too many people around outside and the bikes already loaded inside. The knee I fell on in the hallway at school is still not fully healed so kneeling is next to impossible. Squirming out of biking shorts and into a pair of walking shorts...OK lets just say I am no contortionist and leave it at that. All Chris had to say was "what was taking you so long?" It was a whole new workout in its own right.
We finally headed home, making on small history stop for Chris on the way through New Paltz. Chris has a HUGE passion for American History, so Huguenot Street fascinated him. One of the day's conversations was about how he was torn between wanting to study geology and wanting to become a History teacher (two grandfathers influencing him from beyond) My dad was a School of Mines guy and Kenny's dad was a huge American History buff. Christopher is planning on proposing an independent study project next year where he cycles American Revolution and Civil War battle routes. I can't wait to see what he comes up with.
Tomorrow- making Mango cobbler and coconut IC in the morning and then out on the boat with Dan for some fireworks later. I am definitely on the bike at some point, taking it one step closer to myself.