Red Pines

NOTICE: You don't have to read this unless you are REALLY committed to knowing ALL about our family.

We set out for a hike yesterday. It was a bit ambitious. 6.4 miles roundtrip with four kids? What were we thinking? Needless to say, we didn't make it to Red Pines Lake- we just endured a whole bunch of misery trying. When we got about a mile into the hike- we stopped for a snack. Dee had to go to the bathroom and Rebs wanted to walk. Nice. MJ fell about 29 times. We made it about 1 3/4 mile further- we could taste Red Pines Lake- and we had a meltdown. MJ and Rebs lost it. Peapod was fussy. Jared was not his usual chipper self. Kim had had enough of the whining. Dee was complaining almost constantly about having to go the bathroom. MJ wanted Dee to hold her hand, Dee was mad she had to hold MJ's hand and was dragging her. MJ was mad she was being dragged. It was lovely. We turned around and went back home with Dee whining the entire way that we didn't finish.

We didn't succeed because....
1. We started at 2pm instead of 9 am. It would have been dark or close to it by the time we finished the hike had we done the whole thing. As it was, we finished around 5:45pm.
2. The potty issue
3. The uncomcomfortable kids shoes
4. The unusually large number of times MJ fell
5. Peapods sling was getting stretched out because of how much I was sweating so I was wearing him down at my hip bones instead of my belly button.
6. Jared has the flu (he was kinda grumpy on the hike- we didn't know it was flu until we got home though- poor guy.)
7. Low on food (because I am on day two of a pretty strict nutrition plan, I packed foods for Jared and I but didn't bring near enough calories for the kiddos. I have lost four pounds already though. SAWEET!)
8. It was just too long. But it was beautiful.
9. Lastly, we didn't succeed because our camera battery was dead. I was thrown into a deep depression when I realized I wouldn't be able to post photos on the blog!!! ;-)

My Rating for the Red Pines Lake hike

2/5 for family hike- don't do it with small kids. Since we didn't make it to the lake- I don't know what I would rate it having made it to the end. But the scenery was very beautiful on the way up. I am guessing I would have rated it a 4.5/5 had we made it to the end because the pictures of the lake are pretty beautiful. Everyone we passed on the hike was looking at us like we were crazy. We saw one little boy on the trail and thats it for kids so I am proud we made it as far as we did.

This is a really long post to not say a whole lot but I want to remember this experience and someday down the road when Dee and MJ climb Everest. Then we can say, "we knew you when...."