Oak Mountain

Back when I was pregnant and hormonal and over emotional, I remember Ben and I driving past Oak Mountain State Park on the interstate and I just instantly busted in to tears. haha Ben was completely caught off guard and had no idea what was wrong with me. I proceeded to explain to him that "I was so upset because I had just realized that after we had the baby, we would never be able to do things like hike at Oak Mountain anymore." haha Ben tried to reassure me that we would of course be able to do everything we love to do, including hiking, with a baby. We later laughed because usually I was the one having to reassure Ben with this whole "life with a baby" thing, but in that moment I had completely lost it and he had to take on the reassuring role. I guess that's why God made pregnancy last for 9 months; its gives you plenty of time to prepare and get mentally and physically ready. But, anyway, sure enough, Ben was right and here we are just 3 1/2 months after MH was born taking our first family trip out to Oak Mountain to hike around.
A few weeks ago, one of Ben's coworkers let us borrow her Baby Bjorn because her little boy is too big for it now. (Thanks Shelby! :)) This was our first time to use it, and we absolutely LOVED it. We had actually bought a cheap baby carrier a while back and ended up taking it back because it was too difficult to assemble and use and we didn't like it. This Baby Bjorn was so easy, and MH seemed to like it too!
Ben's parents actually drove down to Birmingham for the day to join us. Before going to Oak Mountain, we all met Jack and his girlfriend at Johnny Ray's BBQ for lunch. Jack and Courtney went to Oak Mountain with us for a little while, but I unfortunately didn't get a picture of them. Here is one of Ben's parents though!
We hiked for a while, and then decided it was time to start heading back before it got dark. Here is Ben and his parents looking at the map trying to figure out which trail to take to lead us back home. We definitely didn't want to end up lost and hiking like 10 miles like we did in this post!
On the way back, Ben decided to carry MH and we turned her around so she could see everything.
Of course the doggies loved being able to run freely outside!

We made it back to the main paved road, and as we were walking back towards our car we decided to let Emma near the water to see if she would swim. Last time we went, she wasn't too big a fan of swimming and we practically had to force her in the water. This time, she was totally different. She kept going and going and going. We kept yelling for her to come back to shore, but she paid no attention to us. We wondered how we were ever going to get her back.

Ben kept throwing sticks trying to get her to fetch them and bring them back. She would swim after the stick but wouldn't come close enough for us to grab her. Ben and his dad took turns walking back and forth along the shore trying to get her. Eventually she came in and we hooked her leash to her.
We had a great time at Oak Mountain, and loved having Ben's family join us for the day. It's so funny how I got so upset thinking that we wouldn't be able to do these types of things with a baby. In reality, we can still do everything we love, we just have to make a few adjustments. And, in my opinion now, having her along with us makes everything SO much more fun than it ever was before. Crazy how that happens!

And just for kicks, I laugh every single time I see this next picture...Doesn't Ben look like Mr. Mom? hahahaha Who knew this is what his life would come to...