Hiking the "Y"

Yesterday was a beautiful day. Sunny, warm. . . my husband decided that a hike up the nearby mountain would be just the thing. When I said I was coming, he gave me a LOOK that said he thought I was being insane and irresponsible. I told him that I was merely planning to go up a bit until I felt that I had reached my maximum capacity for hiking- then I would go back to the parking lot and read a book in the car. . . .
That was the plan- and it was a beautiful one. We brought snacks for me to munch on while waiting, snacks for them to munch on at the end of the trail, plenty of water. . . and so began the trek.
There are 11 turns on the way up. My goal was to do at least 2. After the first turn, I was a little tired but kept plodding on. When we passed 2, I felt fine. . . and 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. . . . and so on. I felt a little winded at times, and started feeling a bit worn out around 8- but then I decided to press on- only a few more turns to go and we'd be at the top! SO, we kept going.
Oh yes, a note about the children: in the car Esther said that she "never gets tired" and Eve and ISaac and she had a whole discussion about how they were "super hikers." About twenty yards up from the parking lot, the whining began. "My legs are tired! Carry me!" hee hee But we, being the evil parents we are, made them walk. After the initial reluctance to use their legs, they were pretty good little troopers. In all fairness, the first leg up from the parking lot is pretty steep and I kind of wanted Patrick to carry me up, too!
Eve was the best little hiker. She was like a tireless mountain goat and kept ahead of the pack pretty much the entire trek upwards- and down for that matter. My personal methodology was to keep that "slow and steady wins the race" mentality going- Eve stayed with me and would scamper up and down the trail while I plodded near her. She even attempted to drag me up the mountain occasionally when a bench was in sight to rest on, "Come on, Mom! There's a bench, let's hurry!"
Isaac did really well, too. Esther was our lagger but Patrick stuck with her and encouraged her upwards and she trooped on- despite the fact that her "legs are soooooo tired."
ANYHOW, we all made it to the top!
There were quite a few other hikers on the trail. AND a lot of them had dogs- and of course, we had to stop and pet the dogs and learn their names along the way. Patrick brought the GPS and timed our upward journey. It took us an hour up- thirty minutes of that moving (at an average of .2mph I think he said) and the other thirty minutes was spent resting and dog-petting.
Funny story: so, we reach the top and we're sitting there having our snack (well, my snack was down in the car since I didn't think I'd make it this far) and about ten feet away are these teenage/early twenty-somethings whining to each other about how tired they were and how worn out they felt, boo hoo!
Patrick and I looked at each other, our small children, my belly, and kind of laughed to ourselves.

So, we made it- up and down!
Down was a lot faster, as it always is. We stopped for a few new dogs but mostly just skipped down the mountain.
As for the baby- we had some really good contractions while hiking. That's about it. Haven't had any really good ones since. Urgh. What more must I do to jump-start this labor???


Eve and me- the "Y" is in sight!
Chillin' at the top- and I do mean chilling. It was a lot colder up there- in combination with us not moving!