Pilot Mountain

I feel like we got away with something. The kids had Monday off of school for a Teacher Workday. Andrew took a vacation day. And we had the funnest little family outing. And it wasn't even a holiday. Woo hoo!

We drove to Pilot Mountain, NC. It was gorgeous! The leaves are breathtaking. And you get to drive all the way up to the top. It's not much of a mountain compared to the ones we're used to out west, but it definitely stands out in this rolling landscape. There aren't many opportunities to see the horizon in NC. Up there, you can see it all. And I just wanted to drink it all in.

Here's a pic of the mountain in the distance.
And the trees on the sides of the road.
And the top of Brandon's noggin.

Here are some of the views from the top:

It was FREEZING when we first got there.
We even saw a few snow flurries.
We packed a picnic lunch, but ate in the van.

Caroline didn't mind the cold a bit.
She was SO happy the whole time we were up there.

They have hiking trails, some of which
are perfect for little families.
Even when one of your family members is
being grumpy and complaining and whining
and doesn't want to hike.
But I won't name any names.

Don't these two look cute together?
(Yes, this was totally staged and they
are rarely this lovey-dovey with each other.)

We took a trail that was labeled as 8/10 of a mile.
Sounds short and easy, right? At least I thought so.
It took a lot longer than I expected.
I had flashes of "I Shouldn't Be Alive" going through
my mind. I could just see the headlines:
Family of five survives for three days while trapped
on the sheer cliffs of Pilot Mountain.
Thankfully, our hike was uneventful.

Our trail went all around this pinnacle
that you can see in the background.

Andrew wants to make this a yearly
tradition. I'm SO on board with that.

We took some family pics.
I think these are the first ones of all of us
together since Caroline's birth pics.
I found myself thinking, "Are all of those OUR kids?"

(thanks, Destiny, for the photoshop job!)

It's just about impossible to get a five month old
to look at a camera that's sitting on a tripod.
But at least she isn't screaming, sleep, or sticking
her tongue out. We'll take it.

I realized that even though I take all three kids all over town with me, we haven't done many fun things as a whole family since C was born. Both Brandon and Whit have mentioned this little day trip in their prayers. "Thank thee that we could go up to the mountains." "Please bless that we can go back to Pilot Mountain." So sweet.