life: adventure walk

so remember when i said wednesdays were all about getting out & walking around exploring our neighborhood?

well.

yesterday ended up being far more of an adventure than i had ever planned.

like, ended with me calling the hubs crying, freaking out,

& then admitting defeat & calling my mom in for help with the boys.

(i have such a good mama who drops what she is doing to come & help me!)

in the middle of my despair i did snap off some pictures.

but bear with me..

i'm working again with the nikon D200 & 50mm lens.

i'm determined to get this thing mastered by the end of summer.

so until then, please excuse the color noise, & slightly out of focus pictures. :)

we are lucky enough to have this amazing set of trails that cuts through scrub land pretty near to our house.

it's been awhile since the dude & i trekked out there to do some exploring...

so i figured we'd take our first walk out there.

(we started at the top in yellow, walked it, then the entire green course, and back down the yellow trail to get back to our car.)



this is pretty much the view i had most of the time..

the trail bends & curves & every time he'd go out of my line of sight..

which was OFTEN..

i'd holler out, & my stomach would tighten up in a knot..

and then i'd see him emerge from around a corner.. and i'd relax again until the next corner.

if i wasn't worried about someone snatching him into the woods,

i was worried about him coming up on a rattlesnake, or some other creature..

or falling off his scooter..

or walking of the side of the trail..

i tell ya.. if i wasn't a worry-wart before i was a parent.. i sure am now!

about the only time he was right with me was when he wanted something to drink.

he forgot his drink.. & so we shared.

that should have been my first warning.

but i just scolded him for forgetting his.. & let him drink most of mine.

now, normally i wouldn't let him do this.

ya know, tear off a piece of a plant in a state park..

but it was so HOT, i couldn't begrudge him a fan.

 i kept thinking about how much he's grown.

well, that and how icky the sweat rolling down my back felt.

the babe was just as happy as could be.

looking around, taking it all in.

chewing on his hand, the tray, the side of his stroller from time to time.

(yes we are teething)

we stopped a few times..

so i could take pictures..

so mason could check out some dirt mound he professed to be a gopher mound..

for him to ask about the trail signs..

to take a drink..

such a happy little guy :)

it was about here when i realized things were going to be tough going back.

we hadn't quite turned around yet..

but we were in the second half of the trail...

and the shade of the tall pines & scrub oaks had all but disappeared.

it was about 10 am by then.. & the sun was out in full force.

mason wanted to keep going, so i pushed on..

scolding myself for being so out of shape.

determined to keep up with him.

by the time we stopped to take a picture of this little guy, we were half way around the green track

& out of water.

it was a stupid stupid mistake on my part.

i should have made us turn around a lot sooner.

i think this is my favorite picture from our little walk.

he won't keep sandals or shoes on right now..

he props his feet up on his stroller to sleep..

and if you look close he has a little pin prick on his big toe from his well check the day before.

it was about this time,

mason walked his scooter back towards were i was standing,

and said.. 'okay mama.. i'm tired. i'm ready to go back.'

so we turned back. with more than a mile & a half to go back.

i know, doesn't seem like a lot.

but we had walked more than a mile & a half, in almost full sun.

with no water left.

in 90 degree temps

with humidity that made it feel like 102.

we stopped at every bench & every small piece of shade.

i kept internally scolding myself for being so stupid...

to go this far..

with it being so hot..

with no water..

being this out of shape..

i told myself, outloud 'you have no choice, get moving'

about 1/4 of the way back mason said he couldn't do his scooter anymore..

so that got hung over the handle of the stroller, & he started to lag behind.

we slurped up the rest of the ice, which was hardly enough.

and then i started tingling over my whole body..

and my head started pounding.

and i started to get scared that i wasn't going to make it back.

stuck in the middle of the trails.

with a 9 month old, a 7 year old, and no water.

but i kept walking.

i kept thinking, you are NOT calling 911.

(cause thankfully i DID have my cell phone & cell service)

and every time the 60 year old guy rollerblading lapped us i would say.

'this is disgusting, you are so out of shape, look at that old guy doing circles around you.'

and i pushed a little harder..

despite the fact i had stopped sweating..

and my mouth was dry as a bone..

finally i saw the end of the trail. 

(i almost cried) 

of course we had to stop to take a picture of this little gopher turtle, 

per mason's request.  

and not 50 feet from him was our car.

i loaded up the scooter & the babe & the stroller as fast as i could.

cranked the a/c up in the car.

promised the dude he could sit up front in full a/c.

we drove the few minutes home.

i got the babe out & put him in his crib with a bottle

(something i have NEVER done)

instructed mason to start drinking water..

called the hubs & told him i thought i had overdone it..

started drinking water myself..

got in the shower to cool off.

laid down in bed..

then my head started spinning..

and i felt like i was going to be sick..

and i was..

then i called the hubs & started crying

and called my mom & asked her to please come help..

and in record time the hubs was home & i was back in a tub full of cool water..

& mom was here taking care of the boys..

i spent the rest of the day on the couch,

trying to rehydrate & keep from vomiting.

my first time ever suffering from heat exhaustion.

and i felt SO stupid.

i mean, shouldn't i know better?

shouldn't i have been better prepared?

stupid. stupid. stupid.

but my biggest fear was totally squashed.

15 minutes after we were home mason was up & playing like nothing ever happened.

as scary as i felt during the whole thing..

i just kept thinking that if i felt that bad, what must HE feel like.

turns out, he bounced back a heck of lot better than me.

but then he is 7 and underweight.

not 31 and out of shape.

adventure walk for sure.

and then, to top off the day..

the first time ever i suffer from heat exhaustion..

the night ends with marble sized hail falling from the sky!

ICE. the day i almost DIE from the heat.
(well, not really.. but it sure felt like it!)

crazy mess.

xo-k