What a Family!: Blue Lake

Some may call us crazy, but we took our family on a little backpacking trip when Mayzie was only a few weeks old! It was a great experience- although I know Greg was wondering why in the world we would put ourselves through that, but we were so glad we did it! We went with Justin and his family and Jeff and ShaRee and their family. The kids were just thrilled! They were singing and having a ball with everyone! So it was a mile hike down to the lake with all our gear. Greg and I feel in the way back since I had to feed Mayzie. Greg was superman - carrying a huge backpack load, plus Mayzie in the snugglie on his front! Lincoln was cracking us up the whole way down. He would trip and fall a couple times, and would just start laughing! He was a treat to have with us! We were moving a little slower than everyone, and didn't quite know which way to turn when we got down to the lake, but luckily the campsite they chose was right in the middle, so we found everyone. How can you lose 15 kids anyway? So we set up camp and enjoyed our little snacks and a fire. We all slept so well! Mayzie looked like a little snuggle bunny - she actually slept better than ever that night! The next day, we had our granola bar breakfasts, and then we literally climbed the mountain! All those little ones did it too! I was so impressed! Greg even did it with Mayzie - I'm glad we got some pictures to show that we were on the top of the world, looking down on creation. It was great. We even found some snow! The bigger kids climbed all the way to the top and across the ridge even. We played some more games that afternoon, and then started the trek back up a mile. We were wondering how it would be with Lincoln since he hadn't had a nap. Well, it started out a little treacherous - he started crying and wanting to be held. It' s a little difficult to hold a two year old and a huge backpack up hill! I held him for a little bit, but then told him it would really make me happy if he would walk. After a few minutes, he said, "hold hand" I asked if he wanted to hold my hand. He said he did. So I put him down and he held my hand. He then said, "Mom happy?'' I said, "Oh, yes honey, that makes me so happy!" He was such a good trooper. We were slow moving, as he would stop and sit and play with the rocks every couple minutes. He said, "feed hurt" That awesome two year old - plus our others - had literally hiked up a mountain twice in one day, and with little complaining. But we certainly couldn't have done it without our awesome Dad who carried most of the load, and then some! It was wonderful being out in nature though - nature with family is about as good as it gets!