More wonderful outings

I have been quite remiss in posting about our family's outings lately. Please bare with me while I play a bit of catch-up here...

Back in mid-June we went on a little jaunt to Maplewood Farm in North Van. This is the kind of place that is so well hidden, you wouldn't even know existed if you didn't have kids of your own. They have all kinds of farm animals to look at including miniature horses - they're Abner's size! You probably can't tell from these photos, but we decked Abner out in her best farmer outfit just for the occasion: overalls and her farm shirt from H&M.

You can even get right in the enclosure with the goats - just be sure your shirt is tucked in or it'll be lunch for one of the goats.

Abner really liked petting this little one. She kept working her hands into the soft fur [for those of you who are cringing at the thought of all the germs, there are handwashing stations set up throughout the farm].

We probably spent about two hours there in total, including a stop to feed Abner and a rather informative milking demonstration with Farmer Jim [very surreal to watch a milking demonstration when you are a breastfeeding mother who pumps on occasion].

After the farm, we popped over to the Seymour Golf Club for a friendly game of minigolf. Even though I haven't played minigolf in many, many years, and had a 22 lb baby strapped to my back, I still managed to kick TDSH's butt...by one stroke.

Note to other parents who are considering mini golf with a baby on their backs - make sure you get a putter with a very long handle, otherwise you'll ruin your back.

We also recently took Abner on her first real hike. We picked a rather tame one to start out with: Minnekada Regional Park in PoCo. We chose a route that would take less than two hours: long enough to feel like we accomplished something, but short enough that we could motor back if need be.

In addition to the wonderful scenery, we saw lots of snakes, toads and quite a bit of bear scat. There are signs up in the area warning of bears, but we had our very own little bear bell: Abner was rather fussy and skwaked most of the way.

I'm very pround to say I managed the whole thing with Abner on my back! We got lots of comments from fellow hikers who were always surprised to see a baby on the trail. We did let Abner down at one point to do a bit of walking herself, but she would have none of it.

At the end of the trail we sat down in the parking lot to have a bit of lunch before getting back in the car. Now that we know she can handle a few hours on the trail, I'm sure we'll be heading to the mountains a lot more.