Jeni Steals From Her Sister

The following is a post taken directly from my sister's blog, because I am either too lazy or too busy to write my own account of the day. My comments are in brackets and italicized.

Today we went hiking with my sister and her family. We decided to tackle the three and a half mile trail at the state park. The hike was very successful. Everyone had a good time and the boys were able to add four miles to their hiking club miles. Here are some things I learned

• Always be prepared to go hiking even when your sister say she probably won't go because of the weather. I managed to get the boys dressed, bags packed and put together lunch in less than half an hour. [She said she would go anyway, and to call her by 8:30. I assumed she would be about to walk out the door!]
• Always have extra gloves, hats, sweatshirts, blankets and backpacks in your car... just in case. [just in case your sister and her children forget these things, because they did]
• Never assume the youngest kids will be at the back of the pack. Most of the time Sean and Grace were in front of all of the big kids.
• Don't teach your niece how to pee in the woods. You may think it is a necessary skill to learn but her mom may not want her knowing that tidbit of information. (oops) [Oops is right!]
• Always check to make sure that the babies blankets are secured to the baby carriers. It isn't fun to have to run back on half of the trail looking for a lost blanket. [Thanks for making sure I didn't have to do it again.]
• Peanut M&M's are great to encourage the little guys to walk up a huge hill. It may have taken us twice as long as everyone else but they walked up all by themselves. [But you should have given your sister some, too. She's still mad at you for that.]
• The older boys will surprise you by hiking an extra half a mile because they are having fun.
• Always have plenty of food to go around. Why kids can't just eat their own food I'll never know. The funny thing is we packed the exact same food sandwiches, apples, pretzels and cheese but they still ended up swapping items.