Mom, Dad, and Three Babies Take a Hike (Glenwood Day 3)

Day three with the fam consisted of packing up the cabins and getting ready to head out.

The Hicks family had four cabins and an RV site all in a row, and throughout the trip, we congregated on Aunt Dale and Uncle Jack's deck for dinners and socializing.

As Chris and I packed up our stuff on Monday morning, Emily and Addison were eating breakfast out on our deck, but as soon as they saw other Hicks family members congregating outside one of the other cabins, they just had to go investigate and say hello.

Addie is especially social, and likes to join groups. If she sees a group of kids congregating in the neighborhood, no matter the age of the kids, she'll walk right up, many times standing right in the middle of the group. She'll fold her arms across her chest and she just gets this look on her face that says, "Yep, I belong here, these are my peeps."

So on Monday morning while she was eating her cereal on the front deck, she saw a group of family members congregating nearby and she picked up her bowl and spoon, negotiated her way down the steps, and walked right over to the group. After standing there with her cereal for a few minutes, she realized it was going to be hard to stand, eat, and socialize all at the same time, so she set her cereal down on a rock, walked back up to our deck, grabbed that purple camping chair, wrestled it back down the stairs and across the driveway to the gathering, set it up right in the center of the circle of people, went over to the rock to pick up her cereal, and plopped herself down to finish her breakfast. We all thought it was just so cute and funny that I ran to get my camera so I could take a picture...

 

She may be a girl of few words, but she's a girl with a plan

 Emily was feeling a little more shy, and chose to eat her breakfast by the rocks, close to the group but not right in the center of it!

After getting ourselves all packed up and saying farewell to family, we decided to give Hanging Lake a second shot. It was a Monday morning, so we did end up getting a spot in the parking lot, but it was one of the last spots left (that is one popular destination!) It took us about a half an hour to get everyone unloaded from the car and loaded into backpacks and carriers, and we started out on the paved path up to the trailhead.

Addie and I are ready to go!

Chris had a super full load - Emily on back and Elizabeth on front

Heading to the trailhead

 We walked for about 15 minutes to get to the trailhead, at which point Elizabeth needed to eat and as soon as I started to feed her, Emily and Addison decided they were ready for a snack, so we settled down for a bit. I've hiked to hanging lake before, and seeing the beginning of the trail reminded me of how steep, rocky, and twisty the trail is. While the girls were eating, I described the trail to Chris, and we both decided it would be pretty tricky to try to carry a baby on your front and a two year old on your back on a steep trail with tricky footing. After a long weekend of funny sleep schedules, everyone was a bit tired, too, and I was a little nervous that we'd get part way there and have to turn around and head back, anyway. So we just decided to hang out at the trailhead for awhile, enjoying being in the shade on another hot day.

After snacking a bit, Emily and Addie were ready to explore.

 

 

The girls discovered a little stream with a teeny tiny waterfall. It was so wonderful to watch them explore this magical little pocket of nature.

 

 

Heading back to the car, we got another family photo...I think Chris was a little disappointed that we didn't make it to the final destination, but boy was it a fun experience for the girls!