Hiking this Past Weekend in the “Cooler” Weather

We were finally able to go hiking again this past weekend.  The high was only in the upper 80s, which actually felt amazing even though it sounds hot.  The weather people keep saying that it looks like the hottest part of the summer was in late June, which is fine with me.

Anyway, the kids were super-excited about going hiking again.

They were especially excited that Auntie Ann and her dog, Colby, were able to go hiking with us.

Penelope still gives us the stinkeye every now and then. . . .

At about the point where we decided to turn around, Piper started whining about how she “just wanted to sit down a minute” and Penelope started wanting to get down and walk.  After a bit of discussion, Gary and I decided to let Penelope out of the backpack so that she could walk – and let Piper try to ride in the backpack.  The first thing Penelope wanted was my {empty} Starbucks cup. 

Piper was ecstatic to “rest” in the backpack.

In the end, I don’t think Gary was very happy with his idea to let an almost-40-pound-kid ride on his back.  He has said many times since then that no big kid will ever ride in the backpack again!

Penelope really did a great job walking.  I don’t think that she could have made the entire hike, but I do think that she can start doing half of the hike on her own and then build up to the full hike.  Unfortunately, Penelope isn’t great at watching out for mud and her brand new shoes didn’t fare so well. . . .

Even Penelope’s bottom was covered in mud!  We’ll have to work on that.  Piper is constantly worried about stepping in mud, and Henry seems to look for mud puddles.  Hopefully we’ll get Penelope to fall somewhere in the middle, like Rosemary.  At least Piper didn’t have to worry about mud on the hike back.

After our hike, we had a picnic with sandwiches, chips, and Nilla wafers.  It was a big lunch and the kids ate well – they must have worked up a big appetite on the hike.

It was a great hiking day all around!  The weather was beautiful and everyone had fun and took long naps that afternoon.  I hope we get to go hiking again soon!  I’m already looking forward to fall and the leaves changing colors.