I never want to forget the lessons I learned today: 1) My boys are strong, resilient, brave, and adorable, and 2) I set the tone for how they respond in the face of a challenge.
The boys have been into hiking lately so we've spent our Fridays finding bigger and better treks each week. Today, we went to Sweetwater Creek State Park. KJ wanted to see the big bridge and Bryce wanted to see the mill ruins. They both agreed to finish the hike at the playground.
We charted our trail. Yellow out to the bridge and back, cut over on the black connector to red, pass the mill and take white up to the playground.
The hike started slow because they HAD to play fetch with Trigger at EVERY SINGLE spot where the trail met the water. After reading "The Ruthless Elemination of Hurry" recently, I had my mind set on going at their pace. After all, I had no where else to be and our sweet pup deserved the attention and fun. We eventually made it to the bridge and back, waded through some flooding on the black connector, stopped for a snack and potty break, collected rocks on red and had a small meltdown when we found gates protecting the mill.
Ah, but the last stop was the playground and everybody was ready for that so we started down white. It should have taken us back into the park, away from the water. About 30 minutes down the trail, I heard rapids. Time stood still, and then it hit me. We went the wrong way on white! We were at the bottom of all of the trails. No where to go but 2 miles back north. I wanted to cry and scream and panic, but instead I just laughed. There were literally no options but to keep hiking and I knew the boys would follow my mood. Knowing the difficulty of the path ahead I put on a (fake) smile and marched on as I crossed my fingers and hoped that they could handle the terrain.
We took another break at the iconic rocks overlooking the rapids. It's beautiful, breezy, and a little terrifying. The loved it! Everyone seemed to have a renewed sense of adventure (s/o to Gatorade and fruit snacks for the assist). I was still unsure that we'd make it back. I couldn't imagine KJ or Bryce finishing a five mile hike without stopping every 10 minutes to whine, but we just kept going and my goodness, they amazed me! Jumping, climbing, laughing, and dancing their way through the roughest part of the trail. The part I feared was their FAVORITE part of the whole hike! I tried to memorize the feelings of pride and joy I felt watching them be so brave and strong. Since we were an hour past nap time, I eneded up carrying Bryce for the last mile while KJ took the backpack for me. Bryce fell asleep on my back while KJ hiked right beside me all the way back to the car.
I couldn't believe we made it. That fake smile had become real, and wouldn't you know, they both still wanted to go to the playground. Of course we went and they loved that too, but next time - we'll take the more direct route!
