Family Hike=Bliss

It doesn't happen as often as it should- with me working every other weekend- and us both having family/friends that live in the area (we are booked solid every other weekend with activities through August...) so- when I suggested that D take the day off Friday to have some family time- he jumped at the chance- and I jumped for joy!:)

These two little rascals were troopers!

Granted- we rely HEAVILY on child-wearing when going on any sort of excursion such as this- and always people stop and ask us- how old are they??? You can still put them on you like that? Doesn't it hurt you????

The answer is NO- not at all.  Here's why- when your "wear" your children on you from birth- your body and muscles adapt to the child as they get larger and gain weight- so even though we are wearing them and they are both over 35 lbs.- we can totally handle it...and really, it makes it so much more pleasant of an experience because you don't have to deal with the whining.... you just throw them on your back (my preferred method).

We each had a carrier the other day (D had the Mei Tai and I had the Ergo) and we wore them both on and off through the entire 3 hour hike- and they really did awesome!

Our goal was to find this HUGE rock formation out in the woods that we had come across by chance years ago (the day we got pregnant with Z to be exact). We were so excited to actually find it again!!!  It was bigger than I remembered....

D wore Mosie up the whole way-I  took up the rear- and Z and Beau walked in between- Zella made it whole way up on her own, well...almost on her own- she got strength from these "magic rocks" that she picked up along the way:)...and proceeded to carry them for the remainder of the hike- hey, whatever works... we roll with it.

when we finally got to the top- we were HIGH  up, like- scary for Mommy-high up. I tried to be chill about the edge- but I was scared for the kids, dog, and myself- it was nearly 200 ft down. scary. SO glad I had snacks to encourage sitting in the shade out of danger:)

I attempted to get a nice sibling portrait- but they were set on including their snacks in it- the direction for the second shot was "please put your apples DOWN?!"

But we managed to get a family shot in- not common since I'm the one usually taking the pictures.

We got a little turned around at one point- but made it to the stream we visited a few weeks back- and were happy to cool off in the water with a happy little frog:)

It made me wish life was just simpler, you know?  It puts things in perspective- all the obligations that stress me out on a daily basis....we need to find a way to make this type of day happen more....

SO LOVELY