Firsts

With a baby there are so many firsts to look forward to...first time rolling over, first laugh, first steps, first word, etc...and in our family there are a few others firsts as well...

A couple of weeks ago we took Liam to hike his first mountain (Little Chick Hill)!  Joe had a Monday afternoon off and it was beautiful so after the kids came home from school we hit the trail.  Eli struggled a bit at first...he didn't want to hike, he wanted to go home or be carried, he was suddenly upset that his shoes were muddy (though mud has certainly never bothered this child before), etc... it was a little rough going until he discovered the mushrooms along the trail and loaded up his pockets and hands until they were overflowing!  Thankfully Lily and Liam did much better.  In fact, Lily was pretty amazing...she hiked like a little pro and without a single complaint.  She loved every bit of it and was asking to go on another hike as soon as we were done.  And true to form Liam really enjoyed being outside and looking all around.  He fell asleep right before the summit and even got to eat on the top when he woke up.  I think he likes the outdoors!:)

It was my first time and it had been many years since Joe had hiked this mountain and thus we ended up with a little more adventure than we were expecting (which seems to be the norm for our little family outings)!  The trail was pretty muddy in the beginning, it was great in the middle, but then the last third of it was fairly steep and mossy and slick (a bit more technical than we would normally do with the kids).  The way up was okay- Eli was a little nervous and needed a fair amount of help, but Lily did great and was loving it.  Both of them were more nervous on the way down so I took the baby to free Joe up to help them as much as possible.  We all made it just fine and chalked it up to a little adventure!

 

On the way up

  

Our little collector

   

Don't worry Liam, this isn't how daddy feels about you or hiking, it's just how he feels about me taking his picture!:) Yes, it really was this green and beautiful and mossy! Right before it got steep Joe instructing Eli to leave his collection of mushrooms on the rock so he could have

his hands free!

   

Going up!

   

We made it!

  

And then just the other day Liam had another first. His first canoe trip! The day was gorgeous and just perfect for a short trip in the canoe. Liam enjoyed it for a while and then got tired and a bit cranky and didn't want to be in his life jacket. Feeding him helped a bit (this boy can eat anywhere...in a canoe, on top of a mountain...)but it was a short trip. It was sort of one of those trips where you can at least say that you did it 

and got out!

 

I took this picture with Lily's camera (I didn't dare bring mine out in the canoe with the kids and dog), but all the others were taken by Lily (my little budding photographer)!