Meet Lukas. Lukas joined our family on Emelie’s first birthday and has more or less been a part of everything we’ve done since then. Although for over 2 years, Lukas didn’t have a name. Whenever anyone asked Emelie what her baby’s name was, she looked at them like they were crazy and said, “It’s a baby” or some variation of that. Lukas got her name (yes, her. Don’t let the name fool you. She is most emphatically a girl.) after our visit to San Fransisco and the Bay area. We stayed with Staffan’s cousin and his family, and their youngest son is named Lukas.
Though I don’t believe I’ve mentioned Lukas in our blog at all before, Lukas participated in just about everything we did. But it wasn’t until the Grand Canyon that Lukas had herself some real, and at times independent, adventures. So it was time for her to be featured in a post.
Grand Canyon National Park is a large park, and most of the roads are closed to private vehicles (something I think a lot of other parks could benefit from emulating). Visitors get around by using the shuttle system, which we found to be effective, efficient, and depending on your driver, even entertaining. The only part that was a little tricky was that we had to take Peter out of whatever stroller/backpack he was riding in and hold him in our laps. I’m not sure why, but rules are rules. It just made getting on and off with both kids and our stuff a less than streamlined experience. And as we shuttled from the campground to the head of the trail we planned to hike, one of us got left behind in the shuffle. “Where’s Lukas?” someone asked, beginning the conversation familiar to parents everywhere. “I thought you had her.” “No, I had my hands full with…” “Is she in the…” Double-checking everywhere when we all knew exactly where she was.
So we sat at the bus stop where we’d gotten off, one of us a bit teary eyed, and waited for about 30 minutes for that particular shuttle bus to loop around and come back. Thankfully Lukas was none the worse for the wear, and after a happy reunion and a few jokes from the funny bus driver, we were back on track.
Lukas got to see a lot that day. She seemed to really enjoy the Grand Canyon, and even posed for a picture along the way.
And since Lukas really didn’t want to ride in the backpack with Peter, and Lukas’ mommy was a bit tired and grumpy that day, we found ourselves asking the “Where’s Lukas?” question a lot. She was left at several scenic overlooks, picnic stops, restroom facilities, and even got a little too close to the edge of a cliff once or twice. All in addition to her solo bus tour. It was a quite a day for little Lukas. And the poor thing had to do it all naked except for that bandaid on her arm. Life is tough when your mommy is only 3.