Arctic Hike

Okay, well, not really, but it sure felt like it! And, I needed a creative title for this blog entry since I've already used "We Climbed Stone Mountain" previously. Thanks hubby for the blog title!

This time though, we climbed Stone Mountain in 40-42 degrees F weather at 12:30 p.m., and it was also a windy day! Hubby even complained about it being cold, and he's been living in Minneapolis (off and on) since August 2008!

Annabelle enjoyed the hike very much (at first). I told hubby when we started the hike that I wouldn't be surprised if that determined little girl climbed all the way to the top of Stone Mountain on her own. As she stepped onto the big, tall rocks, she would grunt! It was hilarious! I am guessing that I must have grunted myself when I carried her over a few puddles and on top of some of the big, tall rocks. She repeats and imitates everything these days! We have to be very careful what we say and do!

Looks like she's grunting in this next picture.

Settling for a picnic of freeze dried peas, carrots, hummus and cherries shortly up Stone Mountain. Did I mention it was cold? She wasn't a big fan of the hummus. And, this was probably the least amount of time that Annabelle needed to eat, ever, in her entire lifetime. Hmmm...perhaps I should feed her in the cold for every meal (to speed her up a bit)!

Daddy and Annabelle share a moment shortly before our picnic lunch.

Annabelle decided to take a break literally within a minute after we had finished our picnic and begun to continue our walk up the mountain. She said, "I sit down." She even got up ready to walk again, and then decided that she needed to sit down again. Lazy little thing! So much for thinking she would actually make it to the top on her own.

Annabelle and Daddy hiking on Stone Mountain. It looks like snow on the mountain if you take a quick glance, but it isn't. That is the actual mountain.

It was a good thing we didn't decide to hike all the way to the top! If we had, Annabelle and I would have most certainly rode the Skyride back down, and Daddy would have had to hike down all by himself to get the car. Shortly after we finished eating lunch, Annabelle decided that she no longer wanted to walk. Poor baby was exhausted and cold! So, we decided to turn around and begin our descent back down the mountain. Fortunately, we hadn't even reached the halfway point. Annabelle wanted me to carry her almost all the way down. Finally, I decided to see if hubby would switch and carry Annabelle down, and I would carry the bags that he was carrying. Well, as you can see from this next picture, Annabelle wanted nothing to do with that! Real tears are streaming. She wanted her Mommy!

And, real tears will get you almost anything you want! She got her Mommy!

Our arctic hike began around 12:30 p.m., and we reached the car around 1:50 p.m. We were all very cold, and we learned that the $1.00 toddler gloves from Target don't work very well! Annabelle's hands were freezing! Annabelle did apparently enjoy herself though because she continued to talk about what we did earlier in the day during her bedtime songs that evening.