It seemed like a good idea

Last Monday Joe had the day off. Mondays are generally my ONE day during the week that I don't have scheduled commitments while the kids are at school. I usually go grocery shopping, clean and organize for the week. BUT, since Joe was off we decided to check out a new trail someone had told me about that is not in the national park (translation: Kuma can come with us). It was a nice 3.2 mile loop.

Here was the view after a little uphill hike. Further down and to the left of the more obvious housing development where all the green trees are is our neighborhood:


Saturday morning I did not wake up early enough to take Kuma to the dog park so I got the brilliant idea to take the kids with us to go back on the trail we did Monday. Originially, we thought we would go up a way and then turn around and go back. The kids were really enjoying it, looking for cool and unusual rocks along the way and laughing at Kuma's antics as he enjoyed the freedom of running along the trail. At one point, Joe and I decided that we had come far enough that they could probably complete the same loop we had done earlier in the week.

So here we are at the "height" of our hike meaning we were enjoying nature, being outside, spending time as a family and having fun:

Then Jadyn got tired. Totally understandable and expected. No problem. Daddy can easily carry her on his shoulders. How cute are they?

But then it became constant whining from both about being tired, wanting to take breaks, needing water, being hungry, having sand in their shoes, etc. etc. etc. In an effort to keep us going, Joe finally attempted to carry them both. That is about 80 pounds of wiggling kids he is carrying:


I on the other hand could do little but forge ahead of them, making it up the last hill and getting to the car so I could come back down and get them. I probably only managed to get about a third to a half mile ahead.

It was still a nice hike and I don't think anyone regrets going. We just have to remember not to push our luck when it comes to the kids limits. As Joe was trying to carry both kids he looked at me, smiled and said, "Who's idea was this anyway?"

And how nice is it to have a decent camera on board my phone so I can capture these pictures without lugging around my SLR. Am I enjoying my iPhone? Why yes I am.