This afternoon, my parents dropped by. Laina had just woken from her nap and we decided to take the new backpack for a test run. We all piled into the car and drove to a nice trail close by for a little hike. We went about 5 miles all together I would say. Jorg's back survived, my dad's feet survived, even though he kept getting debris stuck in his sandals. Most importantly, Laina seemed to really like riding in the pack and was chortleing and babbling along the whole time. Here's some shots of the afternoon:
LAINA wanted to try walking a bit at first.




















THEN she decided to ride along:



A NICE portrait with Grandma!


After our walk, we were all tired and mostly hungry. We had brought snack along for Laina, but she was ready for a full dinner. We decided to go to Thai food rather than go home and cook. By the time we got to the restaurant, we were a full 2 hours past our regular dinner time! Laina was a trooper and didn't complain at all. Of course she had snacks on the trail, so she hadn't been deprived.
Dinner was GREAT and Laina was a hit with the waitress. We got free strawberries for a treat special for Laina and she ate all but 2 of them! It's so funny how she eats the strawberries. She likes to plunge her thumb right in the middle of the berry and then eat the berry off her thumb. Funny kid! Table manners are something we'll have to work on, too. But for the most part she did great.