The Great Outdoors

With the gorgeous weather over Labor Day weekend, Dan motivated us to take a hike through a local wooded area.  Finley was tough to convince that a hike would be fun (how do you explain to a nearly 3 year old that walking in a forest would be a great way to spend an afternoon?), but we finally got him psyched--mostly because he decided that since Dan was carrying our backpack and I'd have Dagny in the front pack, he needed a backpack, too.  Luckily, a Hanukkah gift from last year was a suitcase/backpack combination from GG and Grandpa.  With everyone's packs packed (Finley had some graham crackers and a granola bar inside his), we headed off to the trailhead which was just a mile or so away from our new house.

Off we started!

Finley started off strong and he had fun looking for the yellow trail markers on the trees as we hiked.

Dagny settled down pretty quickly with the bumpy terrain as we got further and further into the woods.

We took turns leading the way and reminding Finley to watch where he was walking and not what was above or next to him (not an easy task!), but he did well only taking a new spills.

 

He didn't quite understand the concept of a walking stick at first, but then gave it a try before tossing the stick aside.

As you can see, it was a lovely day in and out of the woods.

 However, after about twenty minutes and a few snacks and water breaks, Finley was all done walking and requested to be carried.  We tried a few tricks and manipulations to get another few minutes out of him, but after looking at the map and realizing that at this snail pail we wouldn't be getting to Nagog Pond today as planned...Dan carried him on his shoulders for a while.  Once we got back to the wooden bridges we'd crossed on the way out, Finley was willing to walk again--though he ended up running in the end.

 Then, Finley pulled off a cat tail like plant and thought it would be an excellent tickling device. He proceeded to chase me and tickle me with it all the way back to the car--couldn't have planned it better myself!

 Our first family hike was certainly a success and perhaps each time, we can go a little faster and further along this neat trail.