I’ll just admit it. We are not super active people and the girls especially have little legs and even “littler” endurance. We recently joined the Y as a family and have been going there three times a week or so. I’m actually really proud of myself because I’ve always hated any kind of exercise. I’ve been doing the bike and the treadmill and even some classes. Cal and Asa have been swimming and rock climbing. Esme and Nova…well they play and we will work on their endurance later. I want to do some hikes in early spring with packed backpacks to get us all used to carrying some weight and also to remind us not to pack too much.

Pictures from a hike this fall

We will be backpacking in the sense that we will pack in backpacks, not so much that we will be sleeping in a new place every day but still, each person has to carry their own stuff. We also won’t have a vehicle so we will be walking lots.

At Halloween, Cal had this plan to hit every house in our subdivision. To him it was about candy and the challenge. I was thinking, “This is good practice!”

Cal’s map of the houses in our neighborhood.

He practiced his route, sometimes taking his siblings with him. On Halloween, they got quite a candy haul (full disclosure: we did pull them in a hay wagon some of the time).

Not all walks result in pounds of candy so we still have lots of practicing to do. Our backpacks are mostly packed (I did that when I put away summer clothes this fall) so we can start practicing hikes with those anytime. Anyone up for a hike?