Special Days

After 2 very successful hikes on vacation, I wanted to do a "real" hike with Mudgie.  However, Aaron's hiking stamina was probably maxed out with the level of hikes we did on vacation.  The solution to this problem, "special" Mommy and Daddy days!

Mudgie, Tommy, and I set off to hike Mt. Monadnock the Saturday of Labor Day weekend.  We stopped at Dunkin Donuts to get coffee/donuts, Tommy took a nap in the car, and we arrived at the mountain around 10:30.  I lathered everyone up with sunblock and bug spray, loaded Tommy into the backpack, and off we went to begin our hike.  There were a lot of people on the mountain, which is what I was expecting, and actually appreciative of, seeing as how it was just me with the boys, and I liked knowing there were lots of people around if something bad happened.

Mudgie was the hiking leader, and although he was not as enthusiastic as I expected, once we started play "spot the trail marker," he perked right up.  I must say, he killed me in the game.  I think the final tally was something like 40 to 12!  Before we knew it, we were high enough to get some good views, which Mudgie really seemed to appreciate it.  Tommy was quite content in the backpack, so I let Mudgie set the pace, and we just went and went.  It was slow going, and by the time we got to the tree line, Mudgie was getting tired.  It was past lunch time and we hadn't eaten more than a snack, hoping to eat at the top.  It was an effort on the part of both of us to get to the top at that point.  The rocks were steep, our legs were tired, and it was very windy (Tommy was not a fan of the wind).  There were also so many people we were waiting in human traffic jams!  But we eventually made it to the top.  We had a quick sandwich up there and headed back down to get out of the wind.

Once we got low enough to where the wind wasn't bothering Tommy anymore, we stopped for another snack break.  The trip down went at about the same pace as trip up, but Mudgie and I were having nice conversations, and although he was getting tired, he knew if you go up, you have to go back down, so we walked on.  When we got to the bottom, around 4:30pm, we stopped at the little store to get Mudgie some Gatorade (his favorite treat drink), and I let him pick out a t-shirt too, since I was so incredibly proud of him.  When we got back to the car I fed Tommy for a bit before we headed to our other "reward" location...Kimballs!  Tommy was very into the cold, delicious treat, but Mudgie was so tired that he barely ate anything.  He asked to go home as soon as Tommy and I finished our ice cream, but not before he told me, "Mommy, this was the best day of my life!"  Mine too little man.

Aaron and Daddy had fun on their special day too.  Dave took him to the beach, and although it was pretty windy, and a little too cold for much time in the water, they had fun playing games in the arcade, winning prizes (aka candy), and eating ice cream.  I'm pretty sure Aaron would have fun doing just about anything one-on-one with Dave.  I mean, the kid thinks it's great when I take him to the grocery store or Target just the 2 of us.  With 3 boys in the house, I guess any one-on-one time is good.