Eva at Tent Rocks again

Eva and I took Vince and Ambier to Tent Rocks yesterday before they left. Here are a few of my favorite things Eva did and said there.

We got there a little later than normal, so we had less time for the hike. But Eva hiked faster than I've ever seen her. At one point, she said, "We're making it on time, that's good. ... I must have some magic in me."
"To make you go so fast?"
"No, to make us ALL go so fast."

There's a huge tree there that started growing a very long time ago at the bottom of a sandy slot canyon. The canyon has eroded a lot since then. You can tell because the tree's trunk starts about 8 feet off the ground and there's a cage of roots between there and the canyon's current floor. We always stop there and the kids climb around on it. Today was no exception, even in a bit of a hurry. Eva climbed up to the trunk and posed for some pictures with Vince and Ambier, then started to climb down. Vince offered to jump her off of there, but she declined. "I made it up, I can make it down," she said. Then as she inched her way down the root, it turned into a sort of a mantra. "I made it up, I can make it down. I made it up, I can make it down. I made it up, I can make it down. ... Right, Dad?"

"Yeah. It's a little bit harder coming down than going up, but you're doing well. You almost made it."

"I almost made it? Good, 'cause I'm getting a little bit scared."

A similar comment: Every time we'd get to a narrow, steep or rocky spot, she'd look up and see Vince and Ambier and say, "They made it up. We can make it up." And she was always right.

It did get pretty slick on the steep ascent out of the canyon. There was a 45-year-old guy with huge Vibram-soled boots on just crawling up with a couple of his friends. Just inching their way up, talking about how certain of their friends wouldn't even be able to make it and feeling grateful that it was a loop so they didn't have to return this way (not a loop, sorry kids). We followed them a while and I really wanted to say, Excuse me, can you please let my 4-year-old and her tennis shoes by? You're kind of slow.