Tag Archives: family fun

With my amazing wife being out of town, I had the pleasure of spending the entire day with my awesome little kids.  It was so much fun.   We enjoyed watching Nan kicking some major butt live in the national 20K championships in the AM (see this post for the details on that).  Then I took the kids to the mountains for a hike.

We went to the south mesa trailhead in eldorado canyon and headed for Shadow Canyon.  I had my 2 year old Ali on my back in a back pack, while Abe (6) and Breanne (4) were hiking.  For the first mile up the trail Breanne couldn’t resist running.  It’s cool to see how natural and fun running is for her.  She seems more into running and seems to have a better natural form than Abe interestingly.  Maybe I’m just making that up, but it wouldn’t surprise me that she got Nan’s genes on that, and that Abe is going to have to learn how to jettison the major heal strike at some point like me.

Anyway, it was a blast hiking with them, they did great and really enjoyed it.  One of the secret weapons I found out was EFS liquid shot!  Kid tested, Father approved!  When the tired legs, and hence whining was about to ensue, I told them I had a ‘secret trick’ that gives you crazy energy when you’re hiking or running in the mountains.  I told Abe as he sat on the ground 1.1 miles in, that it is what I use to help me run all day in the mountains.  I whipped out the flask and gave them each a squirt.  They were in HEAVEN!  They loved the vanilla/caramel taste, and were soon trotting up the trail again.  Every time I could see them start to drag, I just whipped out the flask and fueled ‘em up!  Worked like a charm every time, the rest of the way up and all the way down.  They ran probably a third of the down hill because they liked it, I was content to walk with Ali on my back.

At the top of our hike (which was near the bottom of Shadow Canyon) we hung out for 35 minutes and ate lunch and played around on a huge boulder.

I had my GPS going, which showed that our round trip was almost exactly 4 miles, in 2:05 hiking time with 1200 Feet of ascent.  Not too shabby for those little dudes.

Really fun.  And not just for me, the kids had a great time.  They definitely dig being out in the mountains.  You should have seen the way Abe’s face lit up when I told him we were going climbing last Saturday.  And he was eagerly waiting in the van this morning with his Hat and sunglasses ready to go hiking today.  It’s fun to remember myself at his age watching him take off up the trail ahead of us a bunch.  Then periodically stop and wait.  I was just like him at that age I think.

Here are some pics:

Those are some killer shades

Sometimes running, sometimes just taking it easy and pondering

Pals