Lily Lake: our first hike

Trying to acclimate from sea level, we chose a short but lovely hike for our first afternoon. P was prepared, packing Froggy, BB and Sock Monkey onto E's pack, and sporting his new walkie talkie on his pants :)



After climbing the first few bends and showing no qualms approaching any precipices



the little man announced it was time to lose the trail. He still remembers the glorious hike we took with Uncle Ian last year, leaving the trail behind for greener pastures and hidden lakes. So off we scurried, between big boulders and fallen trees. Conservation aside, it really is a lovely way to travel :) Rather than focusing on just putting one foot in front of another (not so interesting for P from about two on...) the little man could fantasize being lost, or stuck atop a high drop-off, or on the trail of a big bad bear... And after he worried himself into a funny fake frenzy with his bountiful brain inventions he created one last scenario: the lost family. He smiled in delight and copped a face, frozen with worry, what will we do, Mama??? How will we find Papa and Seth and and and??

So out came his walkie talkie. I Luuuuuuved watching him use his walkie talkie. This was second only to hearing his voice through the walkie talkie:) (Can you tell I like saying walkie talkie?) He sounded So Young! Here, he communes with Froggy:



And soon we caught up with his fabulous family. Alicia, perched on a high rock, created intrigue out of a hole, exactly to P's liking:



Then the little man danced over to join Seth and Alicia on a ledge, losing his new favorite pine cone amongst the rocks below (I'm not gonna rat you out, Seth:) And that's it in a nutshell. A lot of friends ask how we spend such extended periods with family. A week straight surrounded by inlaws??? A month living with my mother and father??? But actually, its really quite simple. They all Adore our child and act accordingly! So, as the little man bemoaned his prize lost, Uncle Seth defied death and squeezed down the chasm to retrieve a Pine Cone. And there wasn't an eye roll in sight. No breathy sighs of "spoiled" or head shakes denoting "demanding." (Same scenario tonight, as the child joyfully banged a spatula across the cabinets, the sound loudly bouncing about the kitchen. Ethan and I both informed him this might not be a choice popular with all, nor favorable to the cabinets. Neither of my parents missed a beat as they alerted us to the fact that it was a really neat noise :)

The overlook and the chasm below:)



After a picnic, the little man continued to hike, his own two legs carrying him most of the way down to the lake. But as the return trip turned to a dull, rockbounding free path, his legs noticed his weight and he turned to what would be the bread and butter of our return hikes: my back (which I secretly love since he so rarely cuddles!) Its a hard combo though, the four year old and the adults. He's happy to go nowhere, just dig in the dirt and collect rocks and pine cones, meanwhile, we're all trying to finish the trail, accomplish the journey. Trying to fit everyone's needs in at once, without either party, the Bigs or the Little, feeling forgotten, was my only stresspoint for the week. It did get me to thinking even more about plodding along on a designated path, continuing a momentum (ahhh, that Amy Mann song!), versus stopping to smell the flowers though.....