Matthew and Mom Time

During the 2nd week of June, Andrew went to camp every morning and Matthew and I had 3 hours with just the two of us.  I always have a little mom guilt about Matthew not getting enough attention, so it was a lot of fun to have a few hours with him for several days in a row.  We spent some of it just hanging out at home, where Matthew seemed to really enjoy actually playing with a toy for an extended period of time without Andrew grabbing it from him (we're working on it, but these lessons take time and apparently lots and lots of practice).  I also enjoyed running a few errands with only 1 little person.  But, our grand finale day on Andrew's last day of camp, was a hike to Doughnut Falls up in Big Cottonwood Canyon!

Here's the stats for the Doughnut Falls Hike:
Length: 1.4 miles round-trip
Elevation Gain: 337 feet
Difficulty: Easy
Hiking Time: 1-2 Hours

This hike is known around here as a great hike with kids or for visiting family that's not interested in anything strenuous (I don't have any family like that, do I?).  While Matthew and I were on our way back during the hike, we saw a whole preschool class hiking it.  You get rewarded with a beautiful waterfall after less than a mile of hiking--what a win-win!

Here's the pictures from the hike:

I started with Matthew in the carrier, but then decided to see how well he could hike:

Quality bonding time at the falls!

A little bit of the view of the waterfall in the background:

"Wa Wa!" "Rock!"  What else could a 20-month-old want?

Matthew hiked the entire way back to the car!  He thought the downhills were fun and kept saying, "Wheee!" as he stumbled over rocks while I held his hand.

I'm starting to get more brave about heading up to the mountains with the kids while B is at work.  I'm looking forward to finding more family-friendly hikes to explore!