Stinging Nettle... Lake Mary... Great Hike... FAMILY

Saturday morning found us heading up Big CottonWood Canyon to Brighton ski resort for a hike. Our destination was Lake Mary (#5: Go to a Lake). This turned out to be the biggest hike our family has done together (and probably the only hike that hasn't been a walk).

We took this occasion to accomplish #12: Learn Something New. (out of necessity really)
- avoid plants if you don't know what they are.

Abe creatively found stinging nettle about 30 seconds into our adventure. We washed it off with water and used some cort-aid from the vehicle-first-aid kit which calmed things down within 5 minutes. I do think overall, Abe won the prize for getting the dirtiest and getting the most injuries. Up at the lake he got too comfortable hiking around and didn't go very slowly... which ended with him falling on the dirt and scraping his knee and elbow. At least we remembered band-aids and neosporin.

- when hiking up steep parts with rocks, look for flat rocks to climb up. Slanted rocks with loose dirt do not make the best steps.

- when you get to a stream, it's okay to get your feet a little wet if need be.

- when going down steep dusty parts, GO SLOW!

- Max really likes going 'boinga-boinga-boinga' when hiking.

- walking with feet slightly sideways when going downhill can help you avoid slipping. Don't twist your ankle though.

- when we work together, we CAN DO IT! We held the kid's hands most of the way to help them balance and to teach them hiking tips. It was harder on parents, but it was a good lesson for us all - WE ALL NEED EACH OTHER!

The hike was steeper than I wished for, but I was determined we would make it to our destination. It was about 1 mile each way. The kids did great and kept-a-goin'. Max was happy as long as we were walking. Once we stopped, he wanted out of the backpack to walk around. He thought one tinsy rock was a huge adventure in hiking.

Hannah liked going slow with her pregnant mother. She kept commenting that Fancy Nancy wouldn't want to go hiking because it would be way too dirty. Hannah decided it was okay to get slightly dirty because it was a fun adventure. Plus, we saw some beautiful wild flowers along the way.

I think one of my favorite parts of hiking is talking with one of the kids that I'm walking by. They bring up all sorts of random things.

After a PB&J Picnic at Brighton, we headed back home to clean off in the sprinklers. Sprinklers and a popsicle delighted Max.

A big hike sure makes for a tired family ... which makes for a good quiet time, and a long sleep.

Hopefully the kids won't have memories of us dragging them up mountains and getting stung by weeds, but rather fun memories seeing lots of squirrels, flowers, birds, rocks, pine trees, beautiful mountains, waterfalls, lakes ... as a F-A-M-I-L-Y.