Take a Hike

On Labor Day we did a few things we'd never done before. First we hiked the Y. For those of you not familiar with Provo, there is a giant cement Y on the mountain above BYU. You can read about it here.

I'm shocked that we made it all the way to the top. I think this is the first time we've ever taken the kids hiking. About a quarter of the way up Cooper saw a family coming down and said, "I wish I was that family."

Resting on the way up.

The view halfway up.

Near the top we had a side view of the Y. It gave the boys the push they needed to make it all the way up.

Peter and Cooper, climbing a mountain.

Bryan and the view from the top.

Sitting on the Y!

I'm even more surprised we made it down the mountain. The trail was pretty steep in a few areas. I had Phoebe in the Bjorn so I focused on walking slowly and deliberately.

On the way back down.

I guess riding up a mountain is as tiring as walking up a mountain.

When we got to the bottom we agreed that I would stay at the base of the trail with the kids and Bryan would get the car. The boys discovered lots of awesome rocks to play with. Both boys started throwing the rocks and it occurred to me that there might be snakes in among the stones, so I began the task of gathering the boys and told them to put down the rocks.

The next part is a little fuzzy. As I took hold of Peter's hand he said, "Look what Cooper found." I was leaning in to look when Peter threw a rock at Cooper. Now, I saw the rock hit the back of Cooper's hand, but at the same moment I noticed Cooper was bleeding.

I looked closer and saw that Cooper had a nasty (and deep) cut on the tip of his index finger. Big drops of blood were splashing onto the rocks. I don't know if the cut happened when Peter threw the rock, or if the thing that Cooper had found and Peter had just pointed out had sliced his hand open.

I had packed a first aid kit, but it was in the diaper bag which Bryan had taken to the car. I called him, said Cooper was bleeding, and did my best to hold Cooper's finger in the air.

We made a visit to the local Urgent Care. Cooper left with two stitches in his left index finger, a totally awesome neon green dinosaur bandage, and instructions from the doctor to go home and eat ice cream.

Cooper, showing me his interim bandage that the triage nurse put on him. His post-stitches bandage covers the same amount of his hand.

He's doing well and has been in good spirits, but he does keep asking when his hand will get better.

What did you do for Labor Day?