Josiah's First Hike with Daddy

David has always been really interested in hiking and has always tried to get me to enjoy it, but the ongoing joke when we were dating was, "I'm a walker, not a hiker." (For those of you who don't know, my maiden name was Walker). There are some pretty funny stories actually of our hikes that we tried together. A quick synopsis of one of them was that David told me that we were going on an "easy" hike and it turned out that the "easy" hike was full of steep switchbacks and was actually quite HARD for an inexperienced hiker like me. Every time I encounter an incline, I almost immediately start losing my breath (and yes I know...side note: I need to get in shape). Needless to say, at one point an older couple (probably in their late 50's) trucked by us and David made some comment about how "old people were passing us" now. Ummm...yeah, that was NOT a popular statement when I was already tired and frustrated. He THOUGHT that me reaching the top would help me feel some satisfaction, but my conclusion at the end was that I would have enjoyed the waterfall more had I been whisked up there on a chair instead. Oh well...the good news is....we have THREE BOYS and we hope that ONE of them will enjoy hiking more than me.

This picture above is Josiah in the snow. He was SO excited to play in the snow on the hike and he said to Daddy, "We should have brought some carrots, Daddy." The carrots were not for the deer they saw, but rather "for the snowman's nose." Needless to say, they didn't build a snowman this time.


It was a gorgeous day on Mt. Rainier and David took Josiah on a 1/2 mile hike that he was able to handle really well. He said even the twins could probably do this one and perhaps even I could do it too then I think!

Josiah is standing next to the mineral springs where "the old people come to take a bath," he told me later. He said to Daddy, "We have a bathtub at home."

Josiah is looking at the people climbing Mt. Rainier through the binoculars in the new vistor's center.

In this picture, Josiah is saying, "Sit here Daddy," and is patting the stump. After the shot, David sat down with him and he said, "Now what do you want to do?" Josiah replied, "Oh...well, we can talk about things."

The beavers had been knawing at this large tree and Josiah seems a little nervous here that the tree was going to fall on him. I just LOVE his expression here! Overall the hike was a real success and on the way home they stopped at the "tent store" and bought a lantern and a sleeping bag for Josiah for when David takes him camping. He is going to first start by "camping out" in the living room and then move to a tent in the backyard, and then finally to a campsite.