Father's Day

The grand old duke of York

He had ten thousand men

He marched them up to the top of the hill

And then marched them down again

This year, we celebrated Father's Day by taking a hike. There were lots of smaller, more appropriate hiking choices for children, but Dan had his heart set on Lake Serene, so Lake Serene is where we went. The weather forecast said 30% chance of rain, and in the parking lot it was lightly drizzling and about 60 degrees. Perfectly pleasant hiking weather.

Nory started off on foot. This lasted for about 1/10th of a mile. After that the road was too steep and slippery and muddy for her little feet so she moved into the backpack. Where she stayed for the next 7.5 miles. Dan was carrying Nory and the backpack with all of our food, water, kid stuff, and extra jackets.

 

 Elliott was such a trooper. Before long he was soaking wet like the rest of us but he hardly complained. Ready to roll, mom!

Giddy-up horsey!

 River crossing? No problem!

 Whose idea was this?

A sad attempt at a family self portrait!

I made this picture big so you can see me jumping across the river at the bottom of the waterfall. Don't drop the baby!

Holding up the big tree.

Finally, tired and completely soaked through, we made it to the top. Where it was pouring rain and freezing cold. No kidding, that's ice on top of that lake there in the background.

Extra jackets were immediately re-appropriated to the kids. Happy Fathers Day freezing daddy! As Nory later said, "Some people were NOT happy up at that lake!"

After a quick family photo we turned right around and headed back down. No rest for the weary (or dry clothes/diaper/milk for the baby).

By the time we turned around to head down, we were already exhausted. About half way down my legs gave out and I fell on a wet slippery rock, crashing both myself and Elliott to the ground. I had a brief moment of hysterics during which I was overwhelmed by the danger I was putting the kids in; Elliott had a few moments of surprised crying and then contentedly began to eat the dirt. Yum, dirt.

And finally, alls well that ends well... with a caramel apple pie!

It was fun to be out with the kids, but next time we'll pick a more reasonable hike! 

(One problem with hiking up a mountain and back down again while carrying kids is that by the time you are done, the grownups are EXHAUSTED and SORE and READY TO COLLAPSE... but the kids are full of ENERGY because they haven't done anything all day but sit in a backpack!)

Happy Father's Day Daddy!