Far away from trouble and worry

You belong among the wildflowers
You belong in a boat out at sea
Far away from your trouble and worry
You belong somewhere you feel free
~Tom Petty

Today I introduced Squiggles to my mountains.  We took an eight-mile hike to White Pine Lake.  If you haven’t been there, shame on you.

A very old, borrowed baby backpack (thank you Family Jones) transformed me into Squiggles’ personal transportation device.

And of course my parents wouldn’t dream of letting anybody have mountain fun without them…

The trail meanders through several meadows, replete with vibrant wildflowers during peak summer weeks.

Squiggles has always loved being outside, but today she reached new levels of exuberance.  She laughed frequently and tried to point out every single flower and tree (quite a task, but she’s very tenacious).  She spent almost the entire hike leaning to her far right so that she could see over my shoulder and didn’t seem to notice that this asymmetrical configuration became slightly uncomfortable for her beast of burden…

She also played peak-a-boo with grandma and grandpa, and danced while we sang songs along the trail.

The lake was stunning, as usual.

We had a picnic lunch by the lake, where I tried to get the baby to smile sweetly for the camera.  No luck, as usual.

Grandma made the baby laugh by throwing rocks into the lake.

Grandpa refilled our water bottles with his new filter.  Best water on earth.

Just as I was fondly remembering how I used to walk out on this log when I was young,

Grandpa snatched my baby and took her for a close-up of the lake.

So I found some flowers to amuse me.

It was a perfect day.