Hiking in Maui... with a BABY!

 
We planned a last minute trip to Maui!!! My in-laws are going to watch the girls and the baby is coming with us because they are afraid he will wail as he is going through a mommy-crack phase. I'd rather go on vacation alone with my husband. We get very little alone time where we get to just be pals... chit chat about nonsense, eat too many snacks, binge on tv, take silly pics -- oh the pre-kid good times. Too much parenting and too little friendship building. Also, the kids get me feeling all maternal and not exactly sexy. So yes, vacation is goofing around, eating snacks, chillin, frolicking and pretending we have no kids. I suppose we can still pretend that we do not have any kids with just baby in tow... right?

When we went to Oahu we hiked ever single morning.  I want to do the same on Maui -- hike in the morning followed by a swim in the ocean.  I was concerned about hiking with baby in the ergo because my hips were killing me from quick hikes up Runyon Canyon.  For non-Angelenos, Runyon provides a quick 45  minute fairly steep urban hike.  So I went to REI and purchased a heavy duty framed carrier (Deuter kid comfort II) because if I could not do any easy Runyon hike, I'd surely have to give up my hiking in Maui delusional fantasies.  The carrier weighs 6 lbs.  It cost almost $300 with tax -- well for that price it had to work miracles. Wrong!! It was beautifully built but I hated it.  I could feel every extra pound and my center of gravity was completely off.  I for sure would have fallen on a steep or narrow path.  I returned the Deuter the very next day.

I then did mad research on hiking in an ergo vs. framed carrier.  I am a virgo, obsessive research is how we roll.  Based on scouring mommy message boards because I like subjective information, I had a new reinvigorated faith in my ergo.  Hands down people were gaga over their ergo.  These posts suggested wearing the ergo right at the hips and wearing it a bit loose.  Also, it was suggested to put the baby in the carrier on your back, pull up babies legs and do a little bouncy bounce to get baby's booty in the very bottom of the ergo carrier.

I've got a monkey on my back -- A3's little foot is sticking out!!

I made the quick adjustments and was able to hike up Runyon with no problems.  Nothing hurt!!  Sure, it was a workout, but no pain at all.  Then I did something psycho.  I decided to really put the ergo to the test. I put A3 (20 something pounds) on my back in the ergo and pushed A1 & A2 (about 70 pounds) in a double stroller from my house to the pediatrician's office in Beverly Hills.  I realized very quickly that Los Angeles has quite a bit of elevation.  The 8 miles round trip wore me out; but, the ergo was AWESOME.  A3 slept and would wake up and I'd swivel him to the front to give him a snack or a bottle.  He was 100% comfortable.  My muscles ached the next day, but not because of the ergo.

Update:  Baby and I killed hikes in Maui. Sure, the kid got sweaty and my husband was the pack mule, but my body felt great.  We hiked 5 hours a day to waterfalls, volcanos, geysers, etc.  in total comfort.