Stevenson Family Blog: Happy New Year

Last night, New Year’s Eve, was super fun. Had Mom and Dad, Shannon and Bryan (plus “Sunshine” spending the night), and Aunt Kim over for games, treats and watching the ball drop. Nothing big, but I enjoyed it. Sunshine shared the boys’ room with them and did great. She only cried when she was waiting for them to join her in the room, but as soon as they did she went right to sleep. Smile

And besides some crib-shaking at 6:45am for a couple of minutes, never heard a peep out of anyone until after 8:30!

When I woke up today the sun was shining. That’s right. Gloomy ol’ Oregon got a bit of sun. It made me feel really good. Perhaps too good… I determined to get us out for a family hike. I didn’t intend anything too strenuous, just somewhere new. Brian agreed so we headed off. Only I hadn’t gotten clear instructions on the location of the place I had picked. We headed north on Hwy 99 for a while before I decided that the crossroad we wanted was somewhere else. So we backtracked and I led us towards my hunch. I was right, and we found a spot that was clearly the start of many a trail, but I wasn’t totally sure it was “the one”, so Brian drove on. We enjoyed the drive through the country, fantasizing about living in one of these large beautiful homes with all that property. It was magical, until Asher started getting carsick anyway. We seriously had only been on winding roads for about 10 minutes. Sheesh! I got him a Dramamine minutes before arriving back at the trail heads.

So we finally arrived somewhere hikable, and I had brought some warmth for us – gloves, jackets, a hat for Hollyn… but I overestimated how warm we would get from the exercise, and underestimated just how darned cold it would be in the forest. It was… cold. Very cold. My nose burned for a while until it adjusted, Hollyn’s was red. Yet the boys didn’t say a word of complaint as we trudged up a path. It was beautiful. We took a small path leading away from the road and really got into the trees. We considered turning around several times, but the top always looked to be just 30 feet farther. Until it would flatten for a bit and continue climbing. Smile

And again, the boys never complained and even ran ahead most of the time. We made it to the top, but there were so many trees, there wasn’t a view we could appreciate. When we stopped too, our body temperatures suddenly plummeted again. So we quickly headed back, this time taking the main way. But it wasn’t quite as pleasant.

Suddenly, the exertion caught up with the boys and they were tired. Very tired. And I had previously been wearing Hollyn’s gloves because her hands were tucked into the backpack at her side (kid-sized, so they fit me great actually). But for the decent her hands were out so I gave her the gloves and my hands were freezing! She cried a bit. Asher cried a lot. I gave him a piggy-back ride, but he wanted down. He kept complaining that he needed to throw up. Eventually Brian scooped him up in his arms and carried him much of the way back down. I think the effects of the Dramamine – which generally knocks a person out – were a big contributor to his mood. Brennan was tired too, but on his own. He suddenly regretted being so old/big.

So, lesson(s) learned. A) Bundle up. Be prepared for WAY colder temperatures that aren’t offset by any amount of exercise. B) Quit long before any signs of tiredness. Obviously we were aiming for that anyway, and they didn’t exhibit signs of weariness when we did turn around. But still, keep an eye on the clock and gauge it that way or something. Interestingly, despite the fact that we all walked the same amount, Brian and I will be the only ones sore tomorrow. Kids are amazing.