Ten mile hike

Ok so maybe it was only a mile and a half but we all think the lady at the front desk at the park lied to us. Today we went to Bull Run Regional Park. We first started off at the playground area and kids had fun playing. Then we decided to take a hike and then we were going to come back and do minitature golf. SO I wanted to make sure they had some good hiking trails. I asked and the lady told us that the hike was only 1 1/2 miles. I figured we would be okay. We wanted to take our time because the kids are young and I didn't want them to get too tired too quick so we walked fairly slow. We stopped off a few times to look at things and just had a good time (for awhile). It seemed like we just kept going and going. My flip flops (I know I know----not good hiking shoes but that is all I had) now have a hole in them so I felt quite a few things as I walked. The kids started getting so tired and I ended up carrying Mayah more than half of the way. I figured I would have to do that anyway. But then Ethan was crying and said that he couldn't walk anymore. SO I put Mayah on my neck and carried Ethan on my hip. It was so tiring. It has been FOREVER since I have exercised so I am pretty out of shape. And it was HARD. I started getting really tired. We all kept thinking that the trail would come to an end at any time but it seemed like forever. Then I kept telling the kids "I am sure we are almost done". Caleb and Zach did amazing. Rachel, for the most part, did awesome too. But at the end she started getting tired and asked if I could carry her as well. I was so tired and getting a little grumpy but I had to go to the bathroom so bad that anytime anyone said anything I started to laugh. I was laughing because it was so crazy that I was already carrying two kids and she thought I could carry her too. I thought I was going to pee my pants. Thankfully the trail finally ended. Kids thought maybe we had gotten lost. I told them that the trail was only 1 1/2 miles long but then Caleb said he felt like it was more like 10. I had to agree with him there. Once the trail ended I left Zach, Caleb and Ethan at the end while I carried Mayah and walked next to Rachel the rest of the way to the car so I could drive and pick them up. None of us even had the energy to play miniature golf. Maybe next time. They were not even upset about it. So we went home and had some lunch and then the next two hours the kids watched a movie while I slept on the couch. That was hard work carrying 60 pounds.

Caleb and Zach climbing on the colored tubes
Caleb, Zach, Rachel, Ethan and Mayah on our hike
Caleb is so amazing with Mayah. Here they hold hands while we hike.
I love this picture of Ethan. We had to get a picture of the "ARMY WOOD" that Zach found. It was so cool and really looked like a camo tree. Zach found some that looked like a hiking stick and brought it home for Don. He is going to love it.
I was teaching the kids how to skip rocks. Caleb got pretty good but I still held the record with five skips.