Hiking, Hunting and Hobbits

Yesterday, Hubs and I took the boys to Elkhorn Slough. Oddly, hubs and I have never been on the trails at the slough. I kept asking him, "how can it be that we have lived here most of our lives and have never been hiking here?"

I love hiking. Since, I was a kid I always wanted to climb mountains. I have always wanted to know what it would be like to be on top looking down at the world around me. However, since the boys have come along hiking is a little different from mine and hubs backpacking/rock climbing days. We have taken the boys in backpacks and in trial type strollers but it is just not the same. We can never go as far or as fast as we would like. Jettson cannot stand to be hot, or have the sun pounding on his head. Now that the boys are older it seems like it is more possible to get some good walks in.

Jettson walked 2.2 miles yesterday! The longest hike we have ever taken with him. It was great. We gave him the map and let him "lead" us on the trail. This of course gave him the chance to take control. As long as he is in the lead he is able to focus and keep going. I also tried to get him to hunt for objects like white rocks or red leaves. All the while, Owen was happy as clam in his trail ride stroller (ie. jogger stroller) every once in awhile we would let him loose and he would happily ramble, hop and trot down the trail reminding me of some sort of troll or hobbit with his curls bopping along.

At the end of  our Sunday adventure, Jettson began to get weary. He started to complain of being hungry, tired and hot. I kept encouraging him to look for places to rest in the shade and so he did. He would find a resting spot, sit a spell then get up and move on. At one point I offered for him to sit in the stroller he declined saying it was for babies and he was a big boy. By the time he found his last rest stop he could see our car. He said "look mom, we made it."