Family Newsletter #11

Hi family!

It's been a long while since we've sent you a newsletter, but today, on Pemi's 15 month-versary, we want to share a special moment we had with him that felt like the beginning of a new chapter in our life together.

We've been on many "weekend adventures with Pemi" (WAP) so far, dedicating time to simply be outdoor with Pemi: walking, looking at leaves, eating a picnic, playing in the dirt. Over time the adventures have developed: from Pemi mostly sleeping through them, to him pointing at and commenting ("bah!") on everything he saw. We have written about every one of them on the blog that Andrew built to share a record of Pemi's life with you (password: )!

Last saturday we went on the 36th weekend adventure, and this one was the beginning of a new type of adventure. This was Pemi's adventure.

We went to box hill, the ultimate destination for London trail runners trying to practice running uphill (or downhill). We came here last year for the first Weekend Adventure with Pemi (he was 6 weeks old), when Andrew was training for his race in Nice. This time we did another asynchronous adventure (see WAP #34). First Jasmine ran up and down boxhill while Andrew walked with Pemi, then we switched, and after Andrew's run we had a picnic and a walk together in the woods.

So far, nothing extraordinary, a simple plan. It was when Andrew and Pemi arrived at the bottom of box hill, that things started to change. Pemi (!!) started walking the path up, unphased by the steepness of the ascent or the steps so high they got to his waist.

Andrew thought he'd maybe walk a few steps then stop to play in the dirt, but unrelenting, step by step he kept pushing up. Jasmine met them almost a third of the way up as she was coming down. Meeting on the trail was so fun! Smiles and hugs and babbles were exchanged.

Seeing Jasmine run past and down, Pemi took one look at the trail... and started going down after her.

Once Andrew was running, Jasmine and Pemi were still on the same trail, and Pemi was enthusiastically going up and down the steps until he found the large trunk of a cut tree in the middle of the trail ,and adopted it as his drums and also his throne from which to greet hikers as they went by.

It was an amazing experience to let Pemi take charge of his hike and his adventure: the beginning of a new phase!

And yes, he was very very tired in the evening :)

We look forward to sharing many many more Weekend Adventures with and by Pemi with all of you!

Hugs, Jasmine, Andrew and Pemi

PS yes, the title is playing on "walks" being both a noun and a verb ;)