Fresh Air and Exercise

We had great weather here again last Friday (it seems like we've had a lot of that so far this winter), so Alan took the day off work and we went back to the coast for some hiking. We went back to Lookout Cape and did an easy 5-mile hike. Most of the hike was in the forest. I love the forests here because they're so green. A lot of the tree trunks are covered in moss and the ferns were a brilliant, emerald green with the sun filtering through the branches. We also got some gorgeous views of the ocean. The hike ended on a cape and we got to see a whale breaching and spouting off several times.

It was Spencer's first hike and his first time in our backpack carrier, so I was a little nervous about how he would do. He loved the first half and babbled most of the way. We got him out of the backpack at the cape for a snack and he shared his cheerios with a friendly squirrel. He was happy until we put him back in the backpack. He cried a lot of the way back and we wound up taking him out of the backpack and just carrying him in our arms. Even an easy hike is hard when you're carrying a 20 lb baby. Luckily, Alan's pretty buff so I didn't have to carry Spencer very far! :) I guess we chose a little too long of a hike for Spencer's first one.

Of course, we had to stop at the Cheese Factory for a snack after the hike. Alan got ice cream, but I resisted the temptation and just got some squeaky cheese. I don't know if that's any better for you than ice cream, but it doesn't have sugar in it. It turned out to be a really nice afternoon. I don't get to be outdoors enough and the fresh air was wonderful. I'm glad we went when we did because it's been really rainy today and is supposed to rain all week.