So my brother Steve is in town for the week to go hiking and climbing and camping with my other brother, James. Last Saturday we decided to take a "little" hike to get my sea level brother acclimated to our altitude. We chose Waldo Canyon. We haven't been on a mountain hike as a family in quite some time (in fact, you can read about our last Waldo Canyon trip here). 
The sky looked a little foreboding, as seen in the very top picture, but the weather improved as we drove west.
It was a little bit of a trick to get all of the kids in their best position, but we figured out that Adam would be best in the Baby Bjorn, of course, Joshua in the Kelty Backpack, passed between the two uncles, and the two biggest kids running along side.
Highway 24 headed east out of the pass.
What we didn't realize last time, was that the hike has not really begun until you are out of sight of the highway and around the backside of the mountain. It's about a mile and a half to the actual Waldo Canyon Loop, which is another 3.5 miles. Oh, and then you have to get back to your car eventually. Yep, add 1.5 more miles. Six and a half miles total for 2 mountaineering uncles, a mom, a dad and 4 kids.
Dabney was so funny. She kept encouraging us all by saying things like, "Don't give up!" "You can do it!" "Believe in God, David! He gives us strength!"
The view at the top of the ridge.
Even though they had Josh between the two of them, the uncles had to wait up for us a few times, since we had a fussy, tired baby and a 4 year old who felt his legs would give out. Dabney kept up with her uncles superbly (a far cry from last time) and Josh fell asleep part of the way down. The guys said carrying him on their backs was good practice for carrying their packs up the mountains that they plan on climbing this week.
Dabney was practically a woodland sprite skipping, running and being cheerful for the entire 3 and a half hours. I was so pleased with her!
"Finally~ the highway! We're almost to the car!"
We had such a great time! It was a great test of endurance and bearing with each other for all of us. I'm so glad the uncles let us go with them.
