Pike Island Hike

The boys and I took a hike out to Pike Island in Fort Snelling on Thursday. We went there after Henry's LAST day of preschool:

From Instagram: "Henry's done with preschool! All of the parents lined up with
their cameras and high-fived the kids as they left the classroom for the last time
as they were all singing 'Put Me In Coach.' ❤️❤️"


Inside a big tree. There were 3 that the boys climbed in.


On the island with the Hwy 5 bridge in the background.
(They wore their water shoes so they could wade in a bit.)


Running to the next place to play in the water.


They played with rocks and dug in the sand here for 15 minutes.


He never fell in, but he got soaked from splashing stones.
He's got some snot too. Gross. Sorry.

Our goal was to walk around the entire island while stopping to play at the far end (where it's really open where the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers combine). I hoped we were getting close when I checked my phone and saw that we still had a ways to go:

About 1.5 miles in (after more than an hour), and still a good 1/2+ mile to the tip.
So we turned around and just headed back.


Henry in the stroller, Charlie on my shoulders
(with some snot and dirty knees from falling a few times).


Inside another big tree.


For the final stretch, I busted out the Baby Bjorn.


From Instagram: "Our hike around Pike Island started on three sets of legs.
Two hours later, it was on one set of legs (Daddy's) and three wheels."

The hike made my leg hurt a little bit, and my lower back got a bit sore. So I need to take it a BIT more easy than that. Off to P.T. on Monday - we'll see what she says.

RELATED TO ALL THIS PARENTING STUFF: I posted some pretty personal writing about my job search and being a part-time stay-at-home dad on my Photo Blog. When I posted the link to Facebook, I got LOTS of responses from friends with similar stories! Thanks friends! Here's the post on my Photo Blog.