So we decided to go to Estes Park on Wednesday. Which also happened to be when Wyatt hit 9 months old. So we just called it a 9 month celebration! haha We grabbed some pre made sandwiches at a King Soopers grocery store and headed up to Estes. It is about an hour away from where we live so we figured it would be fun to go for a hike. We got there around 12:30 or so and hit the visitors center to find out where we should go for a nice hike with the kids. We decided on a hike to Gem Lake. We then tried to find a little park to go have a picnic lunch, but never really found how to park at the little grass area to have our picnic. So we settled on having a picnic in the back of our car. It turned out to be a lot of fun. So we ate our lunches and hit the restroom one more time before going for a hike. Once we got to the parking lot we got Wyatt in the backpack, grabbed my camera and water bottle and headed out. I thought that the hike was supposed to be a total of 1.8 miles not a total of 4 miles. We also did not know that this specific hike was going to be all uphill. It was a pretty intense hike. Ethan was a trooper and made it quite a while walking by himself just holding onto my hand. But, since he did not get a nap and it was a lot of walking Brandon and I took turns carrying ethan on our backs. By the time we hit a mile marker we had only gone about half a mile. We could not believe it! We could not believe we still have a mile and a half to get to Gem Lake. However, we pressed on and eventually made it to our destination. The last part of the hike getting to Gem lake was probably the hardest. The rock steps were really steep and it made it really hard and really tiring to carry Ethan on my back up those crazy steps. I felt bad for Brandon when he was carrying both Ethan and Wyatt. It seriously felt like we were doing uphill lunges almost the whole hike. Or a stair stepper whatever fits you imagination better. When we finally reached Gem Lake we were so happy to be done. Plus the water felt great on our feet. The kids were really happy to be able to get their feet wet. Wyatt wanted to completely swim in it. He kept trying to go swimming and loves the pebble sand. On the hike back my knee started acting up again ( I hurt it running a couple of times in previous week and I guess it was not completely healed). However, I was able to make it without hurting myself too bad by putting more emphasis on my right leg then left. So by the end of the hike down my right leg was shaking. haha Both boys fell asleep on the hike back, they were so dang tired. We were hoping that the kids would sleep the whole car ride back but of coarse that didnt happen. Anyways we stopped at a gas station to grab waters and headed back home. It took us a long time to do our hike. We were not expecting to be getting home around 6. It took us about 3 to 3 1/2 hours to do our hike. Which is pretty good considering Ethan walked a good chunk of it. So that was our first hiking experience in Estes Park. It was really pretty up there and we are looking forward to many more hiking adventures in Estes Park.
Now for an update on Wyatt since he is now 9 months old.
Wyatt is seriously a funny kid. He loves to glare at people and sometimes rolls his eyes. It is the funniest thing. He glares at me if I hold off on giving him food or just because he feels like doing it. He always wants to eat when we are eating, even if he has just eaten. He always freaks out for food when we sit down to eat something. He thinks he can and wants to be able to eat anything and everything that we can. Wyatt wants to crawl so..... badly!! He gets so frustrated when he wants something in front of him and he cant reach it. He tries so hard but just cant grasp how to crawl yet. He will be crawling before I know it, that is a for sure. He has the cutest hurt cry, it just breaks your heart and all I want to do it hold him and cuddle him when he does his hurt cry. If you go into his room when he wakes up, but you think he may be asleep still and leave, he starts crying so hard!! I can't imagine my life without him. He just loves to watch everything around him and is so observant. He takes 2 to 3 naps a day still and goes to bed between 8 and 9 at night and sleeps until about 8 or 8:30 in the morning. He is such a good eater and sleeper even when he is teething and or sick. He rarely wakes up in the middle of the night and if he does he goes back to sleep really easy. Normally by just giving him back his binkie. The things that he says are mama and dada (not really knowing what they mean I dont think) and a bunch of other gibberish, and he loves to yell. haha That is about it for now. Since we moved I dont have insurance set up yet and I dont have a pediatrician set up yet either. So we have not gone in for a check up and may not get a check up until he hits his year mark. My guess is that he is either close to or at 20 lbs and most likely a few inches taller than his last appointment. He is an all around healthy boy and a complete joy to have in our family.
