the post of many pictures

We spent yesterday up north at one of our favorite places. We picnicked twice along the water, and enjoyed an arduous four mile hike through the forest. When I say "enjoyed", I mostly enjoyed it when it was over. We always take the hardest trails. Our kids are pretty much used to it. We've been hiking it since they were able to endure it on their own. Lily only requires a short amount of carrying, but even that distance diminishes every year.

Brad and I really do enjoy it. It's just a really hard climb right from the start. It doesn't level off until about 2/3 of the way in, and this year, well, we were both out of shape. Plus, there was something floating around in the air that was bothering all of us, including Ian who is not prone to allergies. I hiked those trails with a pounding headache and a completely stuffed up nose and ears. Half way through I decided that I either had to push on or they would have to send an ATV out to take me back to the ranger's station, and, well, that would just be mortifying. So I put myself into my "let's kick this trail's butt" zone and we finished it. I can easily walk four miles, but these trails are so much up and down that it honestly feels like you're hiking ten miles. 

But it did feel good to finish. And now I'm motivated to get myself back into some sort of regular work-out schedule that doesn't just include gardening, yard work, and shoveling manure!