Lately the struggle has been real trying to carry Hugo around in his carrier. At 8 months old he's already in 18 month clothes and his last wellness exam placed him in the 91 percentile for weight. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not very strong and carrying him around is so. hard. Since Scott can work multiple weeks in a row, it really limits how often we can get out and hike as a family because he's the only one who can carry Hugo!

I love being outside when it's nice out and I love hiking. I love the burn and the tightness of air in my chest as I'm making my way up the switchbacks. I love being rewarded with stunning views or waterfalls for all of my hard work and if you can't tell, I really miss it. So, I've been exploring family friendly paved "trails" that give you that same feel-good-feeling but without worry of a carrier. Surprisingly, we found quite a few!

Here are five family-friendly trails that are great for strollers, bikes, and other fun things!

Travel Tuesday: Meeker Days

This weekend Scott and my little man Hugo were burnt out. Hugo hasn't been sleeping well and has been getting up 2-3 times through the night again and often fights taking his naps. Yikes. Of course, we're all tired but Saturdays are the only days we have available to get out as a family and I look forward to them all week. It took a lot of convincing the husband that we wanted to go somewhere this weekend so we kept things simple. We went to Meeker Days!

Meeker Days is a festivaly type farmer's market that downtown Puyallup, WA hosts once a year to celebrate Ezra Meeker (the guy who founded Puyallup and a few other sections of the valley). I used to go to Meeker Days almost every summer with my grandparents when I was growing up. They always had a ton of fun things to do, booths where individual crafters sold their goods, and delicious food. Yuumm. Since it was Hugo bear's very first Meeker Days, we just had to go. So we did.

Travel Tuesday: Long Beach, Washington and Cape Disappointment State Park

Welcome to a new series on the blog... Travel Tuesday! Every Tuesday you can expect to find a variety of travel adventures, tips for traveling with baby, and other travel related posts.

First, a little bit behind the idea of Travel Tuesday! Scott and I used to travel and hike a lot before we got married and had Hugo. We would hop in the car, grab a few energy drinks and snacks, turn the radio up and ask: North, South, West, or East? We spent our weekends traveling anywhere and everywhere with no destination in mind. Of course, being settled eliminates a little bit of the same spontaneity but that doesn't mean that adventuring is impossible with littles! They love to explore too and it's so fun watching them light up as they experience new places.

Postpartum Depression

"Have you blogged lately," asked my mom.
"No, I haven't."
"Hmm, that doesn't sound like you.." my mom countered with a concerned expression.
"I know."

And that is what postpartum depression looks like, for me.