I love walking places with the kids. All the time, the longer and harder the better. My husband calls me crazy but I just like to think of myself as liking a challenge. We probably are both a little right. I would so much rather walk than drive. In our old 'hood, we could easily walk to school, parks, church, gas station for a treat and to the library. After we had offered on this house in our new city I started scoping out all the places we could walk to. Schools...check. Parks...check. Gas station....check. Church (didn't know it at the time but now)....check. Library...hmmmmm. I looked it up....only 1.1 miles from our house. DEFINITELY.
That was until I arrived in our new town. What looked like an easy walk down a street on mapquest became a formidable hill in person. Now, this is what I LOVE about our new area - the hills and trees. We are in a river valley and it is very beautiful, hilly and full of trees and ravines. This is also what is challenging when you are a walker, like myself, with three kids ages 6, 4 and 1. The beautiful, hilly, tree-filled ravines become a walking moms nightmare. Every time we drove to the library I contemplated what walking down and then back up that hill would be like. Could we do it? No....I wanted to be able to walk to the library so badly but I doubted that we would ever be able to walk back up that hill.
Until today.
I don't know if it was the unusually long winter. Or if it was the birds chirping that egged me on. Or my almost 4 year old completely destroying the house with all his excess energy but today I decided to take on the challenge of Lee Mountain (which is what I have been calling it...it is actually Lee Blvd but that name is way too tame).
So we set off. Oldest at school. 4 year old on a bike. 1 and a half year old in a stroller. Armed with homemade granola bars and suckers (a balanced snack!) My 4 year old only biked when it was flat...not up and down the hill...didn't want any of you to worry.
And we were off. Isaac did awesome. He meandered a bit through the woods. Found some places to do a balance beam on. We were down the hill before we knew it. Enjoyed a nice 45 minute stop at the library to pick out books and do story time and then it was time to climb the mountain. Which, lets be honest, was the only part I was truly worried about.
My 4 year old works well under praise....so praise I did. "you are a tough cookie" "Man, you are hard core buddy". And I offered a reward (read - bribe) of a popsicle at home when we were through. I don't know if I needed either the praise or reward because he did awesome. All the way up with a smile on his face. 0.8 miles at an 9% grade and I was breathing hard through my smile.
My friend Kayla W. told me, after I sent her a picture of the feat (I had informed her of my intentions a week ago...which was met with a little laughter on both of our parts....because yes, I know when my crazy is showing a bit) I should have let out a tarzan yell at the top....why didn't I think of that...we will definitely have to do that next time.
And yes, I think there will be a next time. Isaac kept telling me he was a "hard cookie" and my bottom got a great workout. And man, it feels great to have completed something that I truly thought might be impossible. Or possible but thought that I would be lugging two children up the hill with all three of us crying.
Time to find our next mountain....
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