Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend has finally arrived. It signals the end of summer vacation for the boys. And we typically go on one last summer backpacking trip as a family. Our destination was Snoqualmie Lake in North Bend. That lake seems to be a favorite of ours. We did a personal best, hiking 8.5 miles in only 4 hours!! Pete was expecting 6 hours, so he was very impressed with us. Plus, there were no tears on the way up by anyone. Pete was disappointed when he found out someone already claimed the campsite that he was hoping to grab first. We instead grabbed a spot right off the lake. The downside of that spot was the grass was wet and squishy. We had camp already set up for the night, so we decided to make due with it and try to grab a different spot the next morning before other hikers start to come in. Pete got a campfire going for us and cooked up some fresh steaks for dinner. DELICIOUS!! We were so exhausted from the hike that we were in bed by 7pm. Clifford was the first to fall asleep. The rest of us layed in bed awake, hoping to do some star gazing. Saturday morning was spent cooking up breakfast and meeting our camp neighbors at the next campsite. The gentleman's name was Erik. He was there camping with his girlfriend Melissa and a friend (can't remember her name). Pete was thrilled. It was like talking to himself. Him and Erik had the same interests in camping, gear, movies, etc. It was crazy how well they hit it off. They even exchanged emails. So after breakfast, we decided to take a dip in the lake. Pete and the boys went ahead of me while I put my swimsuit on. At the last minute, I decided NOT to put on my vibram toe shoes. Big mistake! I wasn't in the water more than 10 minutes when, in waste-deep water, I stepped on what I thought was a stick. HARD. It hurt. I walked out of the water to look at the bottom of foot, thinking maybe the stick slightly punctured my foot. Instead, I see a gash with blood gushing out. Some moron threw a piece of glass or metal into the lake, and I was the lucky one who stepped on it. I laid on a log while Pete and the camp neighbors worked on bandaging me up (their friend happened to be training as a nurse!). It looked like I would need stitches, so after we had some lunch we worked on packing camp up. At 3:30 in the afternoon, we were ready to make the long hike out. I somehow managed to hike out on my bad foot in only 4 hours, with Pete carrying both his and mine backpack! Those 8.5 miles seemed to take forever! It wasn't until we reached the car when I finally broke down crying, in pain. We then headed to the hospital in North Bend. The staff there were awesome, getting me in and stitched up in only an hour. The worst pain of all was when the doctor had to stick the needle in the wound to numb it. I bit into a washcloth and smothered my face into the pillow to keep my screaming and crying muffled. I received 7 stitches in all. The stitches can come out in ten days. I've spent the remainder of this holiday weekend just sitting around. I'm really afraid to walk on my foot. I have to buck up though. I have to take the boys to meet their teacher tomorrow afternoon, and then school starts on Wednesday. This definitely made for a unique adventure for us!