Hiking with Kids
We hiked the Kildoo Trail at McConnells Mill State Park last weekend. It was our second attempt. We tried to do the 3.1 mile loop for the first time two weeks prior, but our youngest had been strapped in a front-facing Ergo, and it was clear shortly after we began she was not going to be content hanging in that thing. We ran into a few families with kid carrier backpacks, so obviously as soon as we got home, I looked for one online. A couple days later, we found a gently used Osprey on Marketplace. The mom we bought it from said she used it outside maybe twice, but more recently had been wearing it with her baby inside the house when she needed to clean and use the vacuum.
Wearing the new backpack this past weekend was a game changer for our youngest. She had the best time. But with a little over a mile left, our oldest started to get hot. And tired. And hungry. We’ve found she responds to Scripture and music. With the backdrop of the beautiful trail and forest and the sound of the rapids, my wife read Psalm 8.
How Majestic Is Your Name
O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
We then listened to the Shane and Shane version of Psalm 8.
It was quite remarkable how reading and listening to this Psalm transformed my daughter’s attitude and her desire to finish the loop, which she did. Come to think of it, she may have been focused on eating the rest of her Amish doughnut waiting for her in the van. That probably helped as well. Regardless, all of our kids can't wait to hike again.
