Opa and Oma visit - Sunday

Ahhhhh, the perks of having church at 4pm on Sunday instead of in the morning. We had a relaxed breakfast then a big push to get ready to go. Not to church yet, but to a hike and picnic lunch at Picchetti Ranch & Winery. We had to make two trips; luckily it is not far, just 2-3 miles away (so convenient!). As it was still early, we opted to take a hike first, before lunch. At first, it was a nice leisurely hike. The boys explored all the way around the pond, stopping for every rolley poley in sight. There was a large downed tree which everyone had to climb. Then off to a seemingly short easy hike called Orchard Loop. Oh. My. Aching. Back. Are we never doing that again! Most of it was easy and fun, even a bit in and out of the trees. But then trouble started as it went straight down. Scarily steep. Then, as Opa pointed out, if you go down, eventually geography stands that you will have to go back up. But I was hoping for a gradual incline back up. We did have a bit of a gradual incline for awhile...giving the opportunity to enjoy some trees, and a fun push-the-stroller train games. Then came the Yikes. The portion of the trail that went straight up was KILLER. Poor Art started with the stroller while I pushed him, then we switched for a bit until my footing got so unsteady I got nervous. There were some little plateaus cut out on the trail which helped a good deal. Zachary walked up the entire thing as though he had been training for months for this - with little effort. Wyatt struggled, holding onto Oma's hand to keep himself from slipping. Just horrible. We could not even take Yannick out of the stroller because he had fallen asleep! We did make it to the top, out of breath, and sweaty. The slow decline back to the winery was a relief. I was ready for some lunch and wine tasting. The lunch I got, the wine tasting was nixed. After a picnic lunch, Zachary started playing soccer with some other kids. Wyatt finally came up to join in. It was so nice to see Z initiate joining in. He has come so far! A bit after 1, Art took his Dad, Z, and W back home and left his mom and I with the still sleeping Yannick. He awoke as Art was gone, and not in the best of moods. He was able to keep it together by sitting with me in the grass while we waited for our handsome carriage driver (Art) to return for us. Almost straight-away Art and I had to turn around to go pick up the rental van which would take us to church tonight and to the Aquarium tomorrow.