hike

hi.

it's the first post of the new year, and be warned: nothing about the following verbose display will be inspiring, goal-oriented, or recapping the previous year.

rather, it will be about a little adventure walk a friend of mine and i took this past wednesday with 5 little ones between us, all under the age of 5.

and what an adventure it was.

i give to you the hau'ula loop trail.

it's the itty, bitty red spots.

it's a nice little 2.5 mile hike. nothing dicey.

did i mention we had 5 kids under the age of 5.

one of which wasn't of walking age.

and another, gwen, who just decided walking wasn't her thing that day.

so up the trail we went. we left around 3 to 3:30 in the afternoon.

it was slow.

remember, 5 kids under 5, 2 not walking {read: each mom carrying a babe.}

so we reached the summit. YAY!!!!!

snack time began... teddy grahams, graham crackers, goldfish, clementines, apples, water, raisins...

it was a downright by-invitation-only soiree!!

then i noticed the sun was leaving our party.

so we headed down the other side of the loop.

cause when there are options, why go back the way you came right?

wrong.

you see, it had in fact been raining all day. and the "other way" was muddy.

around 2-3 inches of mud.

and when it started ascending instead of descending,

we and our muddy, slickery selves became slightly concerned.

so we turned around, reached "summitt" again, and headed back the way we came.

it. was. dark.

really dark.

we resituated the babies, so that i was wearing molly's baby sling over my left hip with my gwen inside. her adorable baby cha-cha was in the backpack. she held her two boys' hands, and i either carried addi on my right hip, or she walked clutching my right hand.

'cause we're talking about some steep drop-offs here folks.

and remember how we're muddy and slickery.

and it's dark.

so i was kind of freaking out. i'm way into hiking. love Love LOVE hiking, but not in less-than-optimal circumstances. say, for instance, in the dark with slippery, steep hills, and 5 children under the age of 5.

did i mention no flashlights?

yah, no flashlights.

and one, dying cell phone between us.

so, in such a situation, us speed walking/jogging down the skinny, slickery trail, it happened.

i slipped.

thank goodness gwen was in the sling rather than in my arms, and at the moment i was holding addi's hand rather than carrying her.

my right ankle rolled completely under me. i held tight to addi with my right hand, and threw my left hand down so i wouldn't land on gwen.

then i screamed. (sorry molly...)

a lot.

molly grabbed the girls. i grabbed my ankle.

all jorgensens were screaming and crying.

molly acted fast.

"the battery's dying. do i call husbands or 911?"

i screamed again.

she chose 911.

less than a 1/2 hr later the firemen arrived. mind you, we were less than 10 minutes from the summit, so they hiked quite a ways to get to us. and by the time they arrived the sun was rolled back in it's blankets getting some zzzz's. we had passed the time by saying prayers and singing songs at the top of our lungs. and laughing at the echo from molly's whistling.

i was trembling from the pain, and grateful for the dark so that my girls (and molly...) couldn't see the salty wetness streaming down my face.

there were 3 firemen: the fire Chief and 2 others. they assessed the situation. one attended to my ankle. the Chief was talking on the radio. the 3rd was checking my vitals (BP, pulse, did i know my name...) then the Chief turned to us,

"we're gonna have to chopper you out."

to be continued...