Rights of passage start early in our family :)

When I was pregnant I read about other cultures traditions around pregnancy, birth and children. We adopted a few of them for our own family, taking the parts we love out of religions and cultural traditions to make our own traditions. It's something we did for our wedding too :) 

So the one thing idea we loved was to make a big deal of the first time you place your baby onto the earth. How we ended up seeing it was, until you place your child onto the ground he is still more connected with the sky, the universe, and the heavens than with earth. So the moment you place his feet on the earth the ties from the sky break and new ties are created, ones that keep him grounded and connected to nature and fully part of this world.

We have always found the top of mountains particularly spiritual places so we decided to challenge ourselves. To climb Slieve Donard and place Ché Phoenix on the ground at the very top. Slieve Donard is 850m and a tough climb (without a baby!), it took us 4.5 hours to reach the top and 2.5 hours to get back down. We are so proud, the sense of achievement is still buzzing inside us and the hike was nearly a month ago! 

A journey to a Dream - Slieve Donard hike
In the car park ready to go!

A journey to a Dream - Slieve Donard hike
About an hour in, sandwich and milk time :)

A journey to a Dream - Slieve Donard hike

A journey to a Dream - Slieve Donard hike
Around half way, you can see the sea in the background near where we started

Looking forward from half way, at the top is the wall which runs along the peaks of the Mourne Mountains, when you reach there you know its only about an hour to the top but it feels like 3!

A journey to a Dream - Slieve Donard hike
Giggles with Daddy at the wall :)

A journey to a Dream - Slieve Donard hike

A journey to a Dream - Slieve Donard hike
A fellow hiker offered to take these next two pics :) 

A journey to a Dream - Slieve Donard hike
We made it! The very highest point for hundreds of miles!

A journey to a Dream - Slieve Donard hike
The reason for it all...

A journey to a Dream - Slieve Donard hike

A journey to a Dream - Slieve Donard hike

A journey to a Dream - Slieve Donard hike
love this shot! cape blowing in the breeze and everything! Epic!

A journey to a Dream - Slieve Donard hike
We sent positive thoughts and love from the top to Nelson Mandela who was in hospital at the time.
We wished him peace and happiness he will always be one of the people who inspire me most to
be the change I want to see in the world.

A journey to a Dream - Slieve Donard hike

A journey to a Dream - Slieve Donard hike

A journey to a Dream - Slieve Donard hike
We stayed at the top for about an hour, I could have stayed so much longer!
But the mist was rolling back in so we headed back down. Slowly, on shaky legs...

A journey to a Dream - Slieve Donard hike
The lower half of the hike runs along a beautiful crystal clear water way, which starts as a spring and by the time you reach the bottom is a beautiful river with rocky waterfalls and pools, we sat by it for a while, Ché Phoenix loves to watch water. This was the first time his feet dipped in a natural water way :) On a side note it was shocking and disappointing to see rubbish in such a stunning pace so we filled our backpack with every piece we saw on the way down, starting with the can in this photo...

5 comments:

  1. Well done on your climb. It would be too much for me.lol
    Sylvia

    ReplyDelete
  2. Awesome blog post! Thanks for the love for Mandela :)
    Kathy

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well done guys! Love the pics :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congratulations! What an awesome experience! The photos here are simply gorgeous, too! I love every single one of them, but I'd have to say that your family portrait through the grass is just perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Very interesting post! I like your responsible and very inspiring parenting style!

    ReplyDelete

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