hiking spencer butte

We finally went on our first family hike here in Eugene. I'd love to say that it was wonderful, but it reminded me a little too much of the last hike that I went on with Bryant. I was cursing him all the way up and all the way down.
Let me explain....
I had a miscarriage before getting pregnant with Emmy. So when I found out I was pregnant with her, I was trying to be extra cautious. I was also wanting to surprise Bryant. The day that I was going to tell him, he planned a hike for us. I told him I would only go if it was an easy hike. He was fine with that. So we get to the mountain, Bryant chooses the shortest hike and we set out on our leisure hike. Or so I thought. It may not come to a surprise to many, but the shortest route was also the most direct route to the top, aka, the steepest and most strenuous route. Bryant was being so sweet the entire way up, apologizing for it being harder than I wanted, trying to help me in any way he could, and I just kept snapping at him. I was so mad! By the time we got to the top, I could barely talk to him. If memory serves right, I didn't explain my upset feelings until we had hiked back down and were in our car. Bryant was trying to understand why I was so upset and instead of being able to share this wonderful news with him in the fun way that I had planned, I blurted it out that I was pregnant through tears and fears of having another miscarriage because of that stupid hike! Poor guy.
All turned out well.

Back to our hike in Eugene. Once again, we chose the most direct route to the top. Do we never learn? Thankfully, I didn't feel the need to curse Bryant's name, but it probably wasn't the safest hike to do with the kids. None of us were really in danger, but I was certainly questioning whether or not I wanted to do anymore hikes after this one. It was still very beautiful and enjoyable. Once we got to the top, we saw families with younger kids coming up a different path. A much easier and more family friendly path, as we later found hiking back down the longer, albeit easier and safer route.

I'm hopeful that our next hike will be less traumatic.

check out peter's cheeks! love them!