Last Saturday was a warm beautiful autumn day and we decided to go hiking with the kids for the very first time. We packed up a picnic lunch and drove to the Cascades. Since we got a late start we ate our picnic as soon as we arrived. Carlos had tons of questions (as usually) about what a “hike” was and we basically told him it was a long walk in the woods. He was not too sure he was going to like this hike stuff. 
We finally hit the trail about 2pm. The day was so lovely and the trees were really past their prime, but they were still full of color. I had Ben in the snuggly and Natalie went in the back pack on Stephen’s back after about 15 minutes of walking (that would be about oh 300 or so yards!! Haha, I hope it really was more than that, but when your legs are only 12 inches long……)
Natalie did enjoy riding in the backpack and Ben was pretty happy in the snuggly as long as I kept the crackers coming!! Jeremiah really did a great job walking especially since it was 2 miles up and 2 miles back!! Carlos did warm up to the idea of hiking after a while (and a few cookies), but I think he will like it better the next time.
See, I was happy with crackers!!
Ok, let’s take a rest
Half-way up!
Cookie Break
I love this pic of the boys!!
Carlos was the photographer for us!
We made it to the falls after about 2.5 hours of hiking. Since it was so late and honestly we were a little pooped, we did not stay at the top very long. The water was really beautiful falling over the rocks…..but knowing it would be dark very soon…..yep, we needed to head back!
Going back we took the upper trail and it was MUCH easier!! Natalie walked part of the way back and Jeremiah took an occasional rest by hitching a ride on my back (but he obviously did not evolve from a monkey because he has no ability to hold on!!). All four kiddies did great and we had such a nice family outing enjoying God’s creation!!
This was actually the lower trail we took on the way up
Oh also on the way back a really cool thing happened. Most of the other hikers were college students (proudly sporting their VT hats and sweatshirts). A group of students passed us (yeah we were in the slow lane) and then one young man walked back to talk to me. He asked me if my kids were adopted and then asked if they were Asian and I told him that my big boys were born in Guatemala and Natalie in Memphis. He then very proudly said that he was adopted from South Korea when he was 3 months old! I thought that was so neat that he would take the time to stop and chat with me!! And it was great to see a young adult who was so very obviously proud of his South Korean heritage, but also of his American family.
House of Smooches 