Little legs and a big hill

Last weekend, we climbed a mountain!

Okay, that is not true. We did not climb a mountain. We climbed a hill. But as a city girl, born and raised, judging elevation is not my strong suit. If I had climbed to the top of this hill when I was a child, I certainly would have thought of myself as a mountain-climber. Judge for yourself.

We climbed this.

Photo taken during a walk in December 2014 - We had a much greener walk yesterday. 

Yes, the children climbed it too. It was a gloriously sunny afternoon in Scotland, and with Uncle Paul and Marian visiting, we decided to lace up the hiking boots and enjoy some time in the great outdoors.

When we were visiting Dumfries back in December, Chris and I climbed to Waterloo Monument on a particularly nice winter day. As we climbed, we encountered a family with children about the same age as ours. We were surprised to see such young kids climbing quite a wet and steep hill, and after passing them, we commented to each other that we didn't think our kids would have the endurance to do it. (I know, I know, we were imposing a self-fulfilling limitation, but at that time, we had reasons to believe that to be true.)

Uncle Paul, Maggie, and Marian at the start of our walk

Over the past several months, we've done a lot of walking in the forests and countryside of southwest Scotland. Luke and Maggie have walked nearly every step right alongside us. Maggie rode on my back for the last 15 minutes to the summit, but not at all bad for a nearly 3-hour excursion. They have built up their stamina to the point that their own little legs got them up to the very top of the monument. Photographic evidence below!

View from the top of the monument

It was a lovely day, and we had a good number of laughs on the way up and back down again. While I wouldn't call myself an outdoorsy kind of girl (why I need label myself at all is another blog post altogether!) it is worth nothing that I always feel amazingly wonderful after a long walk in the great outdoors. It does something to me (slows me down? helps me breathe? creates a calm?) that just feels great, even if I can't put my finger on exactly what it is.

A beautiful day and a gorgeous view

Tree stump hugging on the way back down the hill