Hiking, Sitting, Climbing, Swimming, and Biking

We had a glorious vision. But as any parent knows, the best laid plains of moms and mice are lost on children. Russ and I had planned a grand adventure to kick off our Fourth of July weekend. We were going to hike to Cecret Lake in Little Cottonwood Canyon. We were going to expose our offspring to the glories of nature. Unfortunately, nature had other plans. Because of our Oregonian weather the road leading to the Cecret Lake trail head was closed about three miles from the lake. Russ and I both have college degrees and so we know that it is insanity to expect a barely three-year-old to hike six miles round trip, so we decided to hike a little ways and then just go "sploring."

While on the trail Abbie talked nearly constantly. "I'm tired. I'm hungry. Where are the waterfalls? I'm hungry. Can you hold me? I'm tired."

Savannah sat contentedly in the kid pack.

Once we reached an area for "sploring" Abbie miraculously got a great boost of energy. Hunger panges dissapeared.

Savannah played contentedly on the rocks.

Abbie played hide and go seek, climbed rocks, examined pot guts, and looked for bugs, and ate a bite or two of the food.

Amazingly, as soon as it was time to return to hiking Abbie's exhaustion and starvation returned en force. Thankfully they left when a rousing version of The Three Little Pigs kept them distracted.

Savannah slept contentedly in the kid pack.

The rest of our Fourth of July weekend was filled with equally grandious plans. We went swimming at Russ's sister Lisa's neighborhood pool (No problems here except convincing my kids that they had to go home to sleep). We went on a family bike ride (Russ's seat broke half way through the ride. Ask him how fun it is to pull two kids in a trailor when you can't sit in a seat. Really, ask.) Finally we went to a BBQ at my parents. (No problems here either.)

Clearly as parents there is a lot we don't control. Thankfully, we can have a lot of fun despite the changes in plans.