Camp Yellow Violet

It was the kids Spring Break the end of this week and we decided to take them on our first family backpacking trip. We hiked to a back country campground about a mile and half into South Mountains State Park. There were wild yellow violets all around our campsite. Grace was more excited then I was. We have only seen them one other time. I did not even know violets could be yellow until a hike a few years back here in NC. The kids called named our site Camp Yellow Violet, and their rock climbing club had the same name.

 I was hoping the hike up would have been less steep, but it was such a beautiful day and the kids were so excited, it turned out ok. The last bit up and over this water fall was tough. But everyone was proud to say they had climbed a mountain! Grace kept singing a Kelly Clarkson song to herself and to cheer us on, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger..." This time of spring the redbud and dogwood are blooming. You can see some redbud above Jason's head in this picture. It so beautiful to me to have forests that bloom!

High Shoals Falls

Luke and Noah have been learning about rocks and minerals in science the past few weeks. They kept teaching all of us things as we hiked, it was fun. The falls in on Shinny creek, pronounced Shiny, why it is spelled that way is a wonder, anyway, there was a ton of mica in it. The boys kept finding pieces large enough to flake apart with your fingernails and the sand was glittery.

 

 Happy 43rd Birthday to me! Jason snuck some cupcakes in his pack!

 I got some great pictures of my kids. I am not a pro but I am happy with how these turned out.

Grace made herself a trap and tried to catch a fish. No luck. But she had fun!

 Poor Luke. He has 2 teeth so loose they are hard to eat with, but he won't let us pull them. Well, actually I have tried and I honestly can't get either one out.

It's too bad Sophie did not wear this barrette the whole trip. Jason taught the kids to make fire with a flint and steel and she burned off part of an eyebrow and some of her hair! She didn't get burned though and laughed about it. Later Grace caught some of her hair on fire too. Makes Jason and I sound like super lame parents, we were both there close when it happened. No one got hurt though!

Both of these wildflowers I have never seen before. The top one looked like a stiped calla lily and the bottom ones are a deep red trillium. My picture does not do justice to how beautiful they are! I thought trillium were just white. I will have to find out more about these!

Friday night it started to rain so we played Go Fish and Old Maid in the bigger of the 2 tents. By bedtime it was pouring. When we left Thursday there was not supposed to be any rain but we got NC'd. It rained all night long. This is the girls in the morning bored and cold and not at all excited about packing up and hiking out in the rain.

The kids did super well. We were all wet, dirty and cold when we got down to the car and it was kind of a bummer to end the trip that way. Especially for me since that meant coming home to dry stuff out along with cleaning and putting things away. But it was ok. The kids helped a lot and then we dyed Easter eggs. Jason's tent was so dirty he had to rinse it off with the hose! It leaked pretty badly too. Sadly I think it may have reached the end of it's tent life. Sad. So many adventures in that tent, including Jason and I deciding to get married.

I got THE BEST surprise when we came home. Quinn was watching Molly and feeding the other animals. She and her kids totally cleaned our whole house as a bday present and then she left super yummy gelato in the freezer for me! And some hot sauce that she says is really yummy. I was soooooo happy and surprised! Molly had so much fun at Quinn's, and was played with so much, she totally crashed when we got home! I am glad we didn't bring her. Wet dirty dog may have been more then I could handle today.