The Hike in Pictures

Last Thursday I woke up with an itch to go and do something. All of this with no planning ahead of course.  I shocked the kids and told them we were hiking Badger Mountain. I called my friend to see what side is best to go up on with kids (we chose the longer, less steep route) and she said they'd love to tag a long if we didn't care. Of course not, we'd love some company.

Kathryn and Parker. Spot Nathan in the lead? He eventually enjoyed the hike and stopped pushing to be first.....on the last little decent.

Our first view. Love all that green farm land.

Fletcher is one of Reed's 'best friends'. Never mind that Fletcher is 12, Reed sticks to him like glue. Literally. The best part is that Fletcher is so patient with him and loves him right back. They held hands much of the way. Fletcher wore an empty baby backpack in case we had to load Reed up in the jogger and move Owen. We were underestimating Reed, big time.

Yeah! We made it to the top. I was quite proud of us yet not too proud to say, I doubt we would've made it to the top without Sheri and her kids. With them it meant the kids could hike with a buddy (read...not a sibling) and I had help with the jogging stroller.

At the top, you have gorgeous views of the land all around Badger Mountain. You can see the Colombia River, plenty of farm land and we also played a game of  'can you find_______ (Walmart, the school, Maverick, etc).

All 9 kids. We balance out the boy/girl thing quite nicely though Owen does tip the scale in the boys favor.

A flat rock and a noose can make you happy at the top.

Parker couldn't wait to hold Owen once he broke out of the stroller.

See what I mean??

Some hikers came by and caught all 11 of us on camera, nice.

View from the top

One more.

Parker, Taylor, Sydney, Kat and Nate stop on the way down to rest by the rock smiley face.

They started running down the mountain. Sheri and I just talked and let them go as long as they were still in sight, crazy kids. I think it took us just under (or was it over?) two hours and that was with staying at the top for a bit to have snacks and water. Not too bad for a 3.75 mile hike with 9 kids. The last 10-15 minutes Reed was trying his hardest to finagle a piggyback ride to finish off the hike. He was tired. We talked him through it and with Fletcher's help, he hiked the whole mountain. Way to go buddy! It was a great hike, I'm so glad we had the company and I'm thankful we made it back to the car with no injuries.