Mountain Getaway

This past weekend, we packed up the truck and headed West to the mountains for our first family mini-vacation - our first trip as a family of four not to a relative's house. To quickly describe the weekend, I'd say it had its' ups and downs but overall was pretty good.

We picked the boys up from school just after lunch on Friday and hit the road. We thought they would sleep a bit on the way up but that wasn't really accurate. Eli is a great traveler, talking about everything and nothing and generally commenting about what he sees. Cole, on the other hand, is not so great of a traveler. He would go from happy to content to not happy to crying / screaming without a whole lot of warning. The last 45 minutes of the drive were especially tough as we were all ready to get out of the truck (it did take us 4-1/2 hours to get to our destination).

Once at our cabin, we were all very relieved. We had packed all of our food so once we were there, we were there for the night. The boys explored and played - it was kinda like being at home in that monster trucks were everywhere. Friday night we grilled hamburgers and watched 'Cars'. After putting the boys to bed, Tim & I fell asleep on the couch until 1am. We made the mistake of trying to go into our bedroom where Cole was in the pack and play and it woke him up. Tim ended up getting Cole back to sleep and I was then relegated to a twin bed with Eli.

Saturday morning we headed to Crabtree Meadows where we hiked to Crabtree Falls. This hike was MUCH different than the last time we hiked there. Almost 3 years ago - actually my first entry on the blog! - was our anniversary trip the mountains and our hike to the Falls. I was 8 months pregnant with Eli and Belle was physically strong enough to do the hike with us. From the parking lot, you can go 0.7 miles down to the falls and then 2-ish miles back out, a lot more gradual climb out. Well for safety's sake, since I was worried about having a kid on my back and falling down, we hiked the long way in and then the steep short way out. Tim & I both wore backpack carriers for the kids knowing that Eli wouldn't make it the entire time. He hiked for a while put then wanted to be carried. I first put him in my carrier and actually carried him a while. He was huge in there, seemed to be half my size. Then he got down and walked again but shortly decided he wanted to be carried. I then took Cole from Tim and carried him while he loaded up Eli. And Eli is quite a load! We took a break and had a snack at the falls and enjoyed the rest. The boys were getting antsy so we headed toward the steep way out. Tim & I both got our workout in that day! Funny thing was, while we were working so hard to get the boys back to the car, they both fell asleep in the carriers!! After the hike, we took a short break at the camp store and then headed toward Mt Mitchell. One day I'll have to do a Mt Mitchell post and look at some of our pictures from there. Mt Mitchell holds a lot of memories for us. We started going there early in our "courtship" and did several rides to the top, including Assault on Mt Mitchell (looking back I think we were insane!) and even got engaged at the top of the old tower. There is now a new tower, old one has been demolished so it was kinda cool to take the boys up there, a new beginning of stories on the top of the mountain. You would think that with all this activity the boys would be tired. Well, you'd be wrong. They finally settled down for naps about 3:30pm, giving us some well deserved and much needed quiet time.

Sunday morning, we headed to Emerald Village to do some gem mining. We thought Eli would really be into looking for cool rocks. He was interested in rocks but not the intended activity. He wanted to run around and play in rocks. Cole enjoyed it and wanted to get into everything he could. He was a handful! Our gem mining experience was a quick one - we did get some colorful stones though - but we hope one day the boys will actually be interested. After gem mining, we took a quick stop in Little Switzerland and the Switzerland Inn where we got married. I still love it up there and we hope to go stay there again soon.

After an early lunch, we packed up and started heading home. Thankfully the boys fell asleep and the first hour was quiet, allowing us to get off the mountain and back to I40 before they started making a lot of noise. Eli, again the great traveler, just babbled, told stories, sang songs and just observed everything around him. Cole was again high maintenance and his "want" changed every few minutes. He was probably good for about half the ride but when it's a 5 hour drive (yes took longer coming home), half of that in an enclosed vehicle seems like a lot. We were all happy to be home having survived our first family trip.

So yes, parts of the weekend were rough but parts were really good. Making new memories at some of our favorite spots was really cool. Reliving our athletic endeavors and thinking about what we have done in the past was cool but also depressing (Blue Ridge Parkway rides, training rides for Assault on Mt Mitchell, me hitting 46 mph on my bike coming off the top of Mitchell and then the event itself) - we're in no where near that good of shape! But we do hope to instill in the boys a love of being outside and being active. I don't think we're going to have any problems. So far so good.

the cabin

I thought this was cool - all our shoes lined up (and yes I do have big feet!)

Cole wants to walk and run so bad - he did some practicing with Daddy

excited to go hiking

Sherpa Daddy

We saw two really cool bright orange lizard / salamander things. Can anyone identify them? Brad?

our little hiker boy

leading the way - "walking stick" and all

Daddy and his boys

Doesn't Eli look huge in my carrier?

the switch

Daddy and Eli at the overlook

Mommy and Cole - same overlook

family self portrait 1

at the waterfall

Crabtree Falls

going for a closer look

this reminds me of a picture of Tim at Niagara Falls - I'll have to post it and compare

Another picture Mommy?

My not-so-little boys

family self portrait 2

This cracks me up. We took them off our backs, set them down and they were still asleep!

Mommy & Daddy self portrait (aka Evia & Tim)

new tower at Mt Mitchell

Marker - highest point east of the Mississippi

Family shot in the tower

and at the sign

I forgot to mention that the boys took their first bath together Saturday night. Eli loved being able to dump water on Cole and Cole thought it was funny. I took a lot of photos but some had to be censored.