Sunday Funday Hike with the Andersons

I am a little late on this post, but one Sunday in late June,  it was absolutely beautiful outside so we decided to go on a family hike back along Hiland Mountain to the bridge with our good friends, the Andersons.  Between our two families, we had two preschooler boys, three month old baby Bram and a 30 week old preggo lady.  A four mile hike that normally would have taken us about an hour (without kids) took us FOUR hours!!!  Boy how our lives have changed since we have had kids.  Wes and Derek joked that they had so many supplies (snacks, toys and diapers, clothes) packed in their day packs that we could have camped overnight!

Here’s a breakdown of our day:

10:30 am – leave home for park trailhead.

10:45 am – get the boys loaded up on their daddies in backpacks complete with their “lovies” (Bodi wanted to bring a big stuffed rabbit and Noah wanted two of his Cars toys).  Get baby Bram set up in the ergo on his mommy, preggo lady hits the rest stop, and we are off for our hike.

Bram's 1st Hike! (3 months)

11:00 am – stop to feed Bram a bottle, let the boys get out of the backpacks to run around.  Boys play in the bushes together and “mosh” up the mountain.  Boys share goldfish crackers on mountain side. Super cute.

  

11:15 am – on our way again.

11:30 am -  We notice there are three coyotes chasing a wolverine on the

mountain!!  Stop to get pictures and look through the binoculars.  The daddies dash up the mountain to get a closer look while Annie and I stay back with the kids to let them run around and feed boys lunch (hoping the daddies don’t get attacked by the circling coyotes).  Change Noah’s poopy diaper while he is standing up so he doesn’t get dirt, rocks in his diaper  – this is an interesting task.




can you spot all 3 coyotes?



wolverine

 

Bodi and Noah playing in the woods with their cars



I love this picture of Bodi!

12:20 pm – daddies get back from their mini-adventure, get boys back in backpacks and we are on our way again.

12:30 pm – stop to feed Bram a bottle and check his diaper.

12:45 pm – on our way again.

1:20 pm  - we finally make it to the bridge and stay there a while to let the boys run around, throw rocks in the river and play play play!

the Fam - 30 weeks pregnant!

The Andersons!

2:00 pm – head back along the trail for home. Several passerby hikers note that we’ve got “quite the load” with the kids, the baby and my baby-to-be belly. J

2:40 pm – get back to our cars.  Noah falls asleep in the backpack on the hike back, but we successful at transferring him to the car seat and then to his bed for a nice long nap. 

While it took forever to do our hike, Noah, Bodi and Bram did great and had a lot of fun together!  Hiking with kids and babies is sure a lot different than what we are used to, but it did force us to slow down and enjoy the journey along the way!  Great day!