We used a similar carrier when our daughter was wee. It worked quite well. One of our ground rules was that the parent carrying our DNA also employed a stout hiking staff; it was a great aid to stability. I wouldn't want to take a tumble with a baby on my back.

did you bring plenty of hot sauce for him?

We had one of those for my son when he was a baby, Denis, and we've got a small one for our daughter, but it always made me nervous. My husband used it with our son, but I was always worried that I'd slip and fall, even with hiking sticks. I keep in with the baby's BOB, but I think I'm going to give it a go on the paved trail around here. It'll be a good workout, me thinks.

One thing about the baby, she keeps me on safer ground. If she can't get there in her stroller, she doesn't go. That said, when talked with the Ontario Volunteer Emergency Response Team's Canine Unit on the weekend, and they told us the story of a woman and her baby and toddler who got stuck a the mucky lake bottom at the camp we stayed in last weekend, and triggered a SAR operation because she was lost to boot and couldn't tell them where they were in the park so they could come dig them out.

Hi Bacpacjac, nice to see your setup.

Its a bit frustrating that so much gear is designed for one or two people, things are a bit different if you need to cater for a whole family !

What works for us is to set out the breakfast into individual servers, including raisins, sugar, sizing (big or small) and any other additives you like, into ziplock bags.
I boil a kettle of water and we put the ziplocks into a cup/bowl to support the bags and so that everyone can hold their breakfast without burning hands etc.

Then we pour the boiled water into each bag and zip it up for a few minutes to “cook” before eating it - from the bag,

Using two stoves (perhaps ever two different types of stoves) means that we have enough water to make breakfast, and can be heating up water for a coffee at the same time.
The kettles and most of the hiking pots we have are too small to make enough water for breakfast and coffees in one go, so its two stoves, or two rounds with one stove.
I like having two stoves, so I have a “spare” (you know the mentality ... lol ).

Thanks Aussie! I'll have to give the ziplock trick a try! When we kick it up to family cooking, I either

Use the two stove method - bacpacboy and I both carry a stove in our day hike kits and our BOBs:

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp2ILHEFa-U

-or-

Take a grill and bunch of stuff to cook over an open fire:

YouTube gear video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OoRiOVRoGg
YouTube cooking video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKYdW_pTeYA

-or-

Bring even bigger pots and pans(i.e. my dutch oven)


Ziplocks would be a lot lighter!