Another First

School is out, and yesterday Mazin and I had our first Tuesday together of the summer, just the two of us. Mazin has been asking to hike Camel's Hump, but we were short on time, so he settled for the slightly closer Mt. Abe. He was surprised to learn, on the drive there, that Abe is short for Abraham. The whole hike of 5.2 miles took us 5 hours, and my 6 year old was going strong up until about half a mile from the end. He kept me updated the whole way with his energy percentage points. Nearing the top, he was at about "five percent," but eating an apple brought him right back up to 100 percent! On the last half mile back to the car, he was "negative twenty percent," poor kid. It's a long, hard hike! I thought he would be super excited on top, with the 360 degree views, but he was actually a bit freaked out. He kept saying he was worried we would fall off the mountain, or that the wind would blow us off. It was really windy on top. Even so, he seemed to really love the hike, except for that last half an hour! He was so happy to take his shoes off in the car and rest on the drive to pick up Layla. I was so happy to have him for five hours all to myself! He really is good company. It got me to thinking about longer trips and international travel... it will be possible again soon! On the way down we passed a mother and her teenage daughter. I wondered if Mazin would still want to hike with me when he is that age. I hope so. We also passed a man likely in his thirties, followed by his very winded, elderly parents. I hope I can still hike Mt. Abe with my son 20 or 30 years from now. Wow, that's a thought...