Becoming One with Nature

so....for those of you who know meyou know that i'm not much of an outdoorsey person. i prefer hotels to campers, i don't actually really hike ever, and well, i let my mother teach the boys about bugs and such. so i signed the boys up for a nature class at the mission trails something or other. each month they do a class and learn about a certain thing - butterflies, spiders, etc. so monday i took the kids to the class. they usually learn about the critter, take a walk (short, easy walk thru the trails), and then make a craft. so monday we arrived on a hot day, and well...there was no class. no idea why there was no class. just no one showed up. so maybe i wrote the wrong day down on the calendar...who knows. ok so i'm at the trails with the three kids and they're ready to be in nature..but there's no teacher. so being a mom who apparently had a brain fart, i thought "hey, i should take them on a hike!" sure...what could happen?! so i pick the trail that says visitor loop. its close to the visitor center and couldn't be that long right? i mean, its the visitor center loop! so you should always see the visitor center! right? wrong....wrong wrong wrong....first off we headed down the trail with jade on my back in a backpack. that alone was brutal. the terrain is all jagged and up hill and then down hill and then bumpy bumpy. good times. about five minutes into our walk i turn to see what's keeping zander (yes, he's easily distracted) and i hear ronan (who's in front) say "mom a snake!" so i turn quickly thinking i'd see a little garter snake...umm...NEGATIVE! i see a flippin' HUGE RATTLESNAKE (southern pacific to be exact) slithering across the trail. now let me bring in some details...first off, the snack is not all coiled and minding it's own business, it's FIVE FEET IN FRONT OF MY TWO YEAR OLD! plus the path is narrow. brush on both sides touching me. not a big wide happy trail where i can tell the kids to keep to the left to pass it.
so i see the snake, my first thought is thank God jade is on my back! then of course i scream "zander come here and look!" so he sufficiently sees the thing slithering complete with rattling tail and stuff. then, panic seized me and i scream RUN! so back down the trail we run! really, what are the chances?! i am not a nature person! this was my first time out on a trail for hiking ever! and i get to see a poisonous, neurotoxin biting, snake! good grief...eventually a man who work there doing gardening showed me a different way to go. sooo...i swallowed my fears and off we went on our stinkin' hike. back to the fact that i thought this was a short hike. almost two miles later...my poor children were blazing hot, thirsty, hungry, and oh yea did i mention that jade was still on my back! i seriously thought we were all going to die...needless to say, i'm never going hiking again. screw you nature!