How to Hike With Kids

Alternate title: Make Sure the Trail Isn't Too Long BEFORE You Start Hiking

Because "1.4 miles" is apparently more like 2...

And although Peter slept for the first half, there was rather a lot of complaining from Cecilia.

Mary Claire was pretty sure she'd be fine on the whole hike - somehow the more physical energy she exerts, the cuter she gets - golden hair turning to ringlets in the humidity, cheeks pink, eyes sparkling...

After far too many questions about how much farther and how much longer until they could have trail mix, we sat down on a log to have a snack and reassess. Yes! We COULD go on, refueled by goldfish, raisins, and chocolate chips!

20 feet later, Cecilia was complaining again and we decided that with a mile more to go AND the return trip, we might as well just turn back... But we DID see some frogs and water skimmers when we crossed a creek, so we're building those up as highlights.

The rain started pouring down as soon as we pulled away from the parking lot, so it's a good thing we DID turn back! Plenty of time for hiking another day, now that we live so close to so many awesome trails!

Back at home we're attempting to settle in, which is complicated by the need to complete a lot of tasks *now* before we can actually unpack... Boxes and boxes of books are sitting ignored because we can't move the bookshelves until we paint the trim, and oh! There's no shelving or rod in our closet and oh! The water in the guest house doesn't seem to be drinkable and oh! When we turn the water to the guest house on, there's suddenly a huge puddle of water in the yard where previously it was dry and oh! The whole guest house smells like smoke and oh! The baby pooped all over the rug AND my carrier and...

Well, I could go on forever. I don't think we'll ever be done with projects around here. But we sure are going to learn a lot dealing with it!