Cluster

There are alot of things in life that I will never understand.  I have accepted that fact and try not to complain about it too much. I will never understand why when I run out of milk, my kids decide they want milk to drink, but, when I have plenty of milk, they want juice.  I will never understand that on the days I have 5,000 things to do glorious ol' Washington decides to let it rain cats and dogs. I will never understand the saying "cats and dogs". 

Anyway, back to the original reason I am blogging.  Life has been interesting lately. Most of you know I had surgery back on the 21st of September to remove my uterus. Well, I have been feeling better lately and decided that it was time to get back to my usual craziness and on Sunday we decided to take the girls to Olympic National Forest.  For those of you who haven't been there, it is absolutely beautiful.  It almost makes living in this unique state worth it.   Trees and water, Mountains and rivers.  Truly God's work at it's finest.  We left early in the morning and drove up the road and after a few hiccups in the road, we got there and I was truly humbled.   It has been awhile since I had seen that much nature in one place that isn't obstructed by cable lines, cell phone towers and crackerbox style houses.  I was in my own little version of heaven.

We went up to a trail and decided to take a "Short, family friendly " hike with the midgets. (word to the wise - the words "short" "hike" and 3 "midgets" should never be used in same sentence without the preface of the word "cluster")  After looking at the map and finding what we believed to be a doable hike, we set off on our adventure.  (another tidbit for those of you who are brave enough to try to take this on - don't always trust maps)  We followed the signs and things started off very well.  Kids were happy, sun was signing, all was well in our little world.  Maggie kept laughing and pointing out things that looked like "ghosts".  Riley found all the different colors of mushrooms really entertaining.  Ella was "the leader" and was bound and determined to lead our little band of adventurers.  Soon, we realized our "short hike" was not so short.  We kept hiking and thinking "maybe we're wrong, maybe it's just a loop instead of a turn around at the end kinda thing".  Well, we were wrong, we were very, VERY wrong.  The next thing we saw was this massive drop. Not a little drop mind you, but a good 30% incline drop.  Keep in mind, an overly dramatic 6 year old, 4 year old, stubborn 3 year old and a still recuperating parent were trying to figure out how to do this. My poor husband ended up leading all the girls down this large, steep incline. Maggie was on his shoulder, Ella was holding his right hand and Riley was holding onto his shirttails.

Once I get the CD from the store, I'll upload the pictures, they are truly priceless.   Anyway, after that major feat, we decided that we had come this far, we might as well keep going in hopes to get to the river we could hear off in the distance. The girls were eager to keep going in hopes that the "river" would lead them to a "waterfall" and a "swimming pool" (aka - a lake).  Well, we agreed in hopes that it would be a smooth walk from there on out.  Yeah - not so much.  (insert the word - cluster here).  We ended up continuing on to find the largest and steepest drop yet. It was atleast a 45% incline. Even my experienced hiker husband said "Holy $hit!"  At that point, all 3 girls were crying and saying - "I wanna go home!".  Riley however, wanted to see the river in between her sobs. Maggie "Home daddy, home!".  Ella, was just plain ol' scared.  She didn't want to go any further.  She sat right down on the little ledge above the incline and said "NO MORE!"   My wonderful husband then proceeded to put Riley on his back and piggy back her to the river.  Down the big incline, back up another incline and to the river.  He then decided to take each girl, one at a time to see the river.  By the end of this "cluster filled adventure" he was saying that every PT leader needs to experience this "short, family friendly hike".  When we arrived back at the van (each girl walking under her own power and still proclaiming that they were having fun) there was another group of folks there.  They asked how the river was and then asked if we had taken the short hike or the "long hike".   We then found out the the short hike was about .3 miles.  The "long hike" that we did end up taking that day, was 3 miles round trip.  Apparently it was also rated a 3 out of 5 for difficulty.  My 3 beautiful, stubborn daughters walked 90% of that hike.  Take that PT leaders!  

I have to admit that I slightly impresssed myself that day. Less than 2 weeks post op from a TAH (Total abdominal hysterectomy) I walked that entire hike w/out pain meds and w/out any other drugs.  I truly believe that I was suffering from temporary insanity.

By the time we got home around 5:30pm on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I finally agreed with my husband, doctors and friends that I do need to take it easy.