From the Top of Tumalo Mountain

Geoff took the family up Tumalo Mt. on Saturday which is a short hike, but the first half is straight up hill to the peak. This photo is on the top looking towards Broken Top and South Sister. My camera doesn't do justice to the shot really, these mountains are really close and spectacular. Nathalie did the whole hike by herself and about half way through, she was just done. It is hard, and it was hot, and she'd lost all her spunk. We encouraged her to just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and pretty soon she was cheering Annie on too. When she reached the top she was the happiest kid I've ever seen. There's nothing like seeing success on your child's face, especially when they wanted to quit so badly. (I must say, with all the whining, I wanted to quit 1/2 way too!) We sure were a rag tag bunch when we got back to the car, we had dirt everywhere and smelled like dry high desert pine, but we were happy bunch and went promptly to buy some ice cream for the girls. They'd sure earned it, and I guess I had too.