Mountains

If I haven't said it a million times yet, I love being outside.  So despite still not feeling that well, I was determined to make our second annual cousin mountain day still happen.  Thankfully the Russells were available still on Saturday, and after a little delay we were fueled up and ready to roll.

Our littles were excited, and we were prepared for motion sickness this time and did our best to prevent it.  They were all enthralled with a book on CD that I had picked up for our journey, score.

About 2 hours later and throw up bags in place (but didn't have to use them, although it seemed mighty close), we made it to the DuPont Forest Welcome center.  The park ranger was excited to give the littles Smokey the Bear Pins.

We enjoyed our picnic lunch and were thankful it didn't feel as cold as we were expecting.

The trail was pretty easy, which was great for the littles.

Although they love to venture off the trail to explore as well!

The Russells captured many of these pictures to share!

There was a lot of sweet handholding along the way.

My nature lover had a hard time keeping up, at times, as she kept finding interesting items that captured her attention.

All the littles were enamored with this tree, and each wanted to take their picture inside of the hole.

Our first waterfall was a beautiful one!

I don't know when I will learn not to attempt to take pictures with my kids looking directly into the sun, at least these pictures give me a little chuckle!

Taking time to take it all in!

We met some horses, and their owners, along the way.  They were very friendly and the women scooped Ezra up for a closer look!

The waterfall where they filmed a couple of movies was pretty enchanting to say the least.

The fellas of the trip!

The kids did make me nervous from time to time, as they love to explore so close to the water.

It was a nice view along the way as well!

The littlest of the crew hung in there without complaining most of the time.

Although not in our plans, when we drove right by Pretty Place, we decided it would be worth it to check it out. 

We lucked out as a wedding had just finished, so it was open.  I have never been there and it truly is breathtaking.

We hung out for a bit while the kids ran around checking things out from the different views.

Next up was Caesar's Head, as the sun was beginning to set...

It appeared magical as well!

It was fun heading down "Devil's Kitchen" with the littles...

As we headed to Traveler's Rest for Dinner, Danielle noted that there was one more pull off on the road that we could check out...

The kids wanted to continue to explore all down the rocks (and this Momma was right there with them at heart) but I knew we needed to head to dinner.

We decided on Farm Taco, as there was more of a chance for something I could eat.  The wait was pretty long, but the kids found things to keep themselves busy.  That is until the cold got to us and we headed inside.

The food was great and they had some fun presentations.  Having chips for the kids is always wonderful in keeping them busy and more content in waiting.

While we took turns in the bathroom after we ate, which is a long process it seems with my littles (why must they always go when we eat Mexican???), a silly game of telephone was in order.

Then it was off to home, where finishing the audio book and car naps were a great nap cap for such a day of memories sealed in our hearts!