Labor Day Hike

This is at the top, where it all began!
The girls are "ready to go"!

Taking a little break...halfway there!

T and A braving the falls!

We made it back to the top!! YEAH!!!

For Labor Day we decided to go to Petit Jean State Park and take a hike! We have this great backpack for R that he loves to ride in, but we just haven't used it much. So, we decided now was the time to break it in right! I had been on one of the trails before, and I remembered it ending at a waterfall, so I thought that would be a great one for the girls to see! So we packed up a picnic lunch and loaded the van with all 3 kids, myself, and my parents, and we were off!! We found the trailhead and it said it was 2 miles long. No problem, we think!! The trail is mostly made up of natural steps made out of stone...you go down hill pretty much the whole way in to the waterfall. At the end you are in this deep canyon with the waterfall pouring down over the rocks into a pool of water. It is beautiful, and the girls enjoyed it, but man was it hard with little R on my back!!! I carried him the whole way down (and survived)! After a short break for the girls to play in the water, we headed back UP the trail with little R on PaPa's back. PaPa made it almost the whole way...he had to give little R up near the end. We kept saying the whole way down and back up "who's idea was this"? But, after about 15 minutes to recover at the end, we all agreed that it was fun...T is ready to go again!! (By the way, I know I am going to hear it from R when he sees this, and others will probably think it...but YES little R has his binky in his mouth in EVERY picture...I know! He is getting several teeth at the moment, including his two top teeth, so he has been quite the "binky baby" lately! I figure if it helps ease his pain, then that's okay! Once the teeth are in, we will make sure he has it less! So no nasty e-mails!! Remember, I am single parenting right now, and whatever makes things easier on me usually goes around here right now!)