This weekend we checked out a new park and did our first real hike with the girls.
No stroller. No back pack. No paved trails. Just good hiking shoes, walking sticks, water bottles, and a lunch.
Nate and I have always loved hiking and it felt great to share this love with our children. We want them to enjoy it as much as we do so we started small. We let them choose the pace, rest when they wanted, and play when the whim struck. We ended up making it 3.5 miles - not bad for 4 year old legs!
Alex asked us all day long to tell her stories about previous hiking adventures. We willingly obliged and enjoyed walking down memory lane. We told them about the time that...
...Nate flipped the canoe and took on the nickname of "drippy".
...the bear tried to get our food and supplies.
...I was covered in ticks.
...we got snowed out in the Ozarks.
...Auntie Dana broke the "#2" shovel.
...we went cliff diving (jumping, really) in the Boundary Waters.
...Nate, in an effort to impress me, took a one-handed swing with the neighbor's ax and split not the log, but the ax handle.
...Nate proposed to me - 13 years ago.
...we camped with our good friends and Alex slept in the tent alone with the boys.
...we burnt our dinner and then spent the next 2 days in a cold, rainy tent - hungry and miserable.
...we had to carry our canoes across the same old paths used by Native Americans and French fur traders.
...our love of the outdoors was reinforced over and over.
Seriously, I could go on and on about our stories and our memories. And that is what we are trying to build with our children - both a love for the outdoors, but more importantly, family memories that will last a lifetime.
Here are some pictures from the hike...
"Daddy, can you tell me another story?"
Maddie striking a pose.
The four of us - the Missouri River is behind us.
A "gappy" beautiful smile.
Maddie was a bit tuckered out near the end - Daddy gave her a lift, literally.
We had a wonderful time and look forward to doing it again soon.
Do you have any good hiking or camping stories to share?
3 comments:
aw i love the pictures you took!
Great tradition!! We are outdoor wanna-be's. I plan to get them out hiking this spring. Still want to learn to camp, but one bad experience as a kid with a skunk in the tent, a tarantula, and a vomiting sister has kinda haunted me. :)
What a fun post- it's good to see updated pics of the girls (and you too, of course, but you just don't change as quick as them!). Caleb says to tell them hi and he misses them. Hope all is well.
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