The final hike...

Finally getting to the last of the trip .... :)

By Saturday, P was done. Finished. He was more than happy to be in Colorado, thrilled to be with family, but wanted nothing to do with following the herd up a trail. As the family was planning a group hike, we hoped to have one last hurrah with everyone :) But the little man had a specific vision of the day. So we promised him that this hike would be All About Phoenix. No forward momentum necessary. Just rock tossing, pine cone picking, Froggy tickling fun. So he agreed :)

And it was nice. Really nice. No high altitude goal, no prodding to proceed. Group trips are great and all, but they also add certain stresses that the little man didn't necessarily sign up for. (At four, it really is All about Him :) So we spent ages eating snacks by a waterfall while he found Joy teasing Froggy:





The biting bit is a Froggy standard. You may notice E's furrowed brow above. He's doing Froggy's voice and, typically, arguing with Phoenix about something. P luuuuvs to tell Froggy (or BB, or Sock Monkey) the way things work, only to be contradicted by his fuzzy friends. Then he argues with them, often heatedly. When E misses the mark on how much to press the argument (it changes daily based on P's moods:) Froggy gets a nice bite. Fortunately, E's learned to keep his fingers pretty far back inside the puppet's head ;)

And then rock climbing:



And then cave exploring when the rains set in:



When the rains lifted, we clambered up a wet slope (where E and P, separately, BIT it - ouch!) and watched the fog roll in (do you even call it fog in the mountains?) It was Bea-u-tiful. P was standing there, staring at it and it was just so pretty that I wanted a shot. But I wanted one with his lovely face. So I asked him to turn around for a photo - something I almost never do (just because I have a photo addiction doesn't mean he needs to be put on the spot all of the time!). Well, this photo reminded me of why I'd rather have his natural backside than his purposeful mug :)




After playing in the cave for a while (we found some charcoal from a fire and drew "cave paintings" of BB on the walls:) the family returned from their hike further uphill. P happily grabbed Alicia's sweet mum and drug her into the bushes to see his special mushroom (pictured in the previous post). Spending time with his Aunt's family, it was easy to see how she's the amazing Aunt that she is :)



His cup full o' love and patience, P was primed to participate on the way downhill. He was tossed about by various Uncles, sang silly songs, played hat games, rode on Grandpapa's shoulders. I plugged into my music and quietly said goodbye to the woods we love. The next morning, we headed out for Kansas, P bringing half a mountain of pine cones and rocks with him - to escape any goodbye's on his part :)