I'm going to let you in on a little secret. My girls have not always liked hiking. An even bigger secret? I  have not always liked hiking. I mean I never hated it, but I was definitely not a super outdoorsy nature loving girl. 

When we first moved to Alaska I was 35 weeks pregnant with my oldest, then became pregnant again just 6 months after having said oldest. So basically I was pregnant for 2 years straight and I lived in a place that was cold, dark, and far far away from family. My husband traveled, my kids cried and I was unhappy. Like, break down to my husband weekly, unhappy. 

Then I found Hike It Baby. I didn't go to a ton of the hikes but it was so nice seeing other moms getting out and having a love of the outdoors. It was a great resource for finding good carriers for my kids, kid friendly hikes, and how to keep little ones warm in the snow. It really was such a blessing for me. I can't say I made super close friends in the group but I did have a new lease on life and that was most important for me. 

Flash forward to new town, new house, new baby and new dog later and I kind of felt like I was at ground zero. Luckily the same dog that I was cursing at under my breath was a dog who needed a ton of exercise that forced me out of the house, a lot. This in turn made me remember just how much I enjoyed getting out with my kids. It was such an empowering feeling being able to take all 3 kids and our lab out by myself. It wasn't always pretty but it seemed to not only help me but all the sudden I was noticing changes in my kids. It was then that I really threw myself in hiking, camping, "mushing", basically anything I could do with my kids outdoors. 

I am not going to {at least try not to} sit here and tell you that the solution to all of your problem is getting outside, but I know the solution to a lot of mine was nature. In the same breath though I want you to know that this is not something that has always been in my life. I have really only found my love of nature in the past couple years. I hope that when you see my photos or read my posts you know that it is all a work in progress and that you are capable of all of this as well if you just make the decision to give it a try. We started out on winter hikes that barely made it out of the parking lot and now my girls are able to hike 5 miles. Not because we are different or special but because I decided to make it a priority in our lives and have it be a part of our weekly routine. If you want to be able to go on hikes, climb mountains, soak up truly breath-taking views with your kids, start today. Start small. Start slow. Just start. It might be tough at first but it is amazing at how quickly you can progress! If you get intimidated by the thought of getting your kids outside please, please  feel more than free to email me and ask me any questions. I would love to either share what has helped us or try and point you in the right direction. I hope that through our posts and experience we can uplift and encourage you. I hope you feel my love and belief in you. Most of all I hope you find confidence in yourself!

When my husband was backpacking Kesugi Ridge I couldn't help myself, I had to try taking my girls backpacking. This last photo shows how I carried everything, I tried packing as lightly as I could so that there wasn't excess weight. My big girls and I sleep in sleeping bags and my baby girl sleeps in a winter suit. My 4 year old has a Marmot Trestle bag that comes in a great compression sac but my 3 year old just has a Kelty Woobie. I didn't have time to go get a extra compression sac so I stuck hers in my Marmot sleeping bag sac then stuck my bag in the Osprey Daylite pack. {I hope that all makes sense...} The orange compression sac has our sweatshirts, my baby's winter suit, and spare clothes. We mainly just brought an extra base layer, socks and rain gear for everyone. Before this trip I bought new hiking boots, I ended up going with Solomon boots with Gore-tex, they were amazing. My feet were bone dry the entire time. My older girls have Keen hiking boots that kept them somewhat dry but not completely. My baby was wearing Mymayu rain boots. These are seriously some of my favorite kid shoes I have ever discovered!  Absolutely perfect for little walkers! We ended up sleeping in a Marmot 3p tent and it was plenty big for the 4 of us and our 3 dogs. I was very pleasantly surprised!
The first time we tried taking the family back packing I carried our baby in the Osprey Poco Plus along with food and some gear then my husband carried the rest. I have to saw, this method, everything in a 65L bag on my back and baby on my front, was much easier!

If any of you are hesitant to take your little ones on a backpacking trip I highly suggest you give it a try. I was taking the girls alone so we only hiked out 1.5 miles but honestly that was just perfect for us, especially for the first time out. We hope to one day take them on a multi-day long backpacking trip but for now, with little bitties, this was perfect. My big girls each wore a back pack but it was mainly just for training. They didn't really carry much. In each of their packs was a water bottle, little snack, and a toy.

I can't even really put into words how happy and excited I was to take them backpacking. There are so many things that I long for about them getting older, the awesome adventures, them carrying their own packs full of gear, etc. but this trip showed me just how much we can accomplish how, how amazing they are now, how we don't, even for a second, have to stop adventuring and wait for them to get older. These girls are truly amazing and I feel so intensely grateful to get to spend this amazing life with them.