Spring Break Part 1: The Mountains

No, this wasn't in our back yard, but at the nature preserve at Grandfather Mountain.

 Day 1 of our mountain adventures took us to Grandfather Mountain on a cold rainy Saturday morning.  However, this was a trip that Casey had been asking to take for months.  The museum and the animal encounters at the nature center occupied most of our time, and helped us keep warm.  Despite our lack of warm clothing, we did take a quick trip up to the top of the mountain to run across the swinging bridge. We would have liked to stay longer and hike around more, but the weather was not on our side that day and we kept our visit short, and promised to return another time.

This guy was at Grandfather Mountain as well, Gabe was in heaven to see a real live bear. Actually, three real live bears.

Sunday afternoon and many other free moments during the week were spent exploring the backyard. I couldn't believe that our crazy kids were in the water in the middle of April.

This is our backyard!  Top of the right ridge, property line.

This guy is in the backyard.

And this too.

I think the duckweed actually kept the water sort of warm.

Let's not forget about the waterfalls.

 

He dropped a rock on his head. Look, it is in the shape of a heart.

Easter goodies that magically appeared after church.

 On Tuesday, we ventured into Tennessee to Roan Mountain State Park.  We kept the hikes short because of pending rain. Plus, I wanted Gabe to walk. (I got 1.5 miles out of him.)