Go Take a Hike

We have been a little under the weather here the last several days - and poor Olivia has been the one suffering the most.  After our play date last Tuesday, she started getting some sniffles and a barky cough.  Those sniffles have turned into a full-on snotterfalls {get it?  like waterfalls, but with snot.  gross, right?} and that cough has not given up.  Throw in her spiking a fever every once in awhile and you've got a whiny little toddler on your hands.  Bless her heart.  We've tried keeping her down and trying to make her watch movie after movie, but we are all getting a little stir crazy. 

On Saturday, we decided to head out to San Tan Mountain Regional Park for a hike with the girls and mom and dad.  We ended up hiking up to the very top of Goldmine Mountain.  It was a perfect day for a hike - the sun stayed behind the clouds for most of the day keeping it just the perfect temperature.  Olivia was such an awesome little hiker - we were all so proud of her.  She walked a lot of the trail, but when it came to the really steep parts, she was bound and determined to climb those rocks all by herself!  

A huge shout out to my mom for doing such a great job on the hike!

David stuck right with Olivia the whole way.

Our little rock climber!

I look like I just got finished with boot camp.

Sydney did great the whole trip - slept almost the entire time!

This picture was taken about 1/2 mile from the very top.

My dad climbed to the very top, but Sydney and I stayed down on solid ground with David and Olivia.

On the way back down the mountain, we took a slightly different trail to get back to the parking area and I'm so glad we did.  We encountered the sweetest lady who was taking "Pepper" out for a ride.  Olivia asked the lady nicely if she could pet the horse and the lady even offered to let Olivia sit in the saddle with her.  I guess Olivia noticed that a horse is a little bigger than a pony and decided to stay in Nana's arms instead.  

And, then onto Poppy's shoulders.

This little love bug woke up right about the time we were exploring the snakes and gila monsters in the park museum.  We gladly opted out of that part.  Thanks, Syd.

All in all, it was a great day.  We stopped by San Tan Flats for a late lunch and then felt zero guilt in being completely lazy the rest of the day.  I LOVED the hiking and can't wait to do it more often.

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend.

Happy Monday from the Valley of the Sun