Mother's Weekend Hike

After Mother's Tea, and a day of work, I dropped my car off at home and the boys and I headed up to NH. The last time we had the opportunity go up, we were skiing. We had a few things we needed to take up to the house and it was a great excuse to also escape the thick layer of construction dust covering our primary home. While there in the spring, a waterfall hike is a must. Despite a very foggy and somewhat rainy start to the morning, we took our chances, headed up to Franconia Notch and started out on an adventure.

The Fog Clearing Off the Notch

Covered From the Rain

I very quickly got discouraged that this would not end up being an enjoyable hike. Water is good for waterfalls but there was almost too much water...the beginning of the trail pretty much looked like a river. It was tricky to navigate it with 2 small boys. But we stuck with it a ways and eventually the path turned into an actual path. Stroke of genius on Mike's part for the boys to wear rain boots in lieu of hiking boots by the way.

The Path\River

Where the Water Should Be

Cute Boys on a Big Rock

Admiring the Forces of Nature

Keeping These Guys Close on the Bridge

Dry Brook

Now what you see in the photo above is the narrowest part of the brook to cross. Even if the little guys hadn't been with us, I don't think I would have been comfortable crossing it. We explored around a bit up and down stream and couldn't find a safer passing. I was ready to turn back but Mike thought we should carry on. With Mike's long arms and legs, one small fallen log for help and a very nervous Mom, we handed kids across and I somehow made it across too. Obviously I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think we could handle it safely with the kids but it was definitely on the stretching my comfort level of safety on that one. I looked up the trail after our return to the car and read about the crossing at "Dry Brook" that "might be tougher in high water." You don't say. Luckily, upon our return, there was another group coming across that brought with them a 2nd log to add to the crossing. And the groups helped each other cross from either side. It was much less dramatic on the way back.

And because of Mike's persistence, we made it to the first waterfall on the Falling Waters trail. Mike and I had done this trail with Mike's father as the last leg of our Lafayette Mountain hike way back before kids were a part of our world. And I must say, not a bit of it looked at all familiar. Of course it being the last part of an 8 hour hike, we were likely nose to the trail to get back to the car as quickly as possible at that point. So we got to experience it a little better this go round.

And of course, this is where we stopped to snack.

And there were still some snow remnants about.

Snow!
Cade's learned to "cheese" every time the camera's around.
Cute and good that he understands but doesn't really make for the most genuine smiles.

Family Self Portrait
Dylan wanted no part. Don't worry, I didn't let him escape so easily!

Got Him! Kind of.

I went up and took a look from the top.
Looking down to my guys.

Top of the Falls

Hiking Back

Cade is quite the little hiker. He wants to do it all by himself. It makes for a slightly slower pace but I am down with that if I'm building a little mountain man. The most fun the boys had was at the end of our trip when they tromped through the water in their rain boots and threw rocks in the water. The simple things.

Splish Splash

Rocks

The Always Gorgeous Franconia Notch

Then is was time for our post hike tradition...ice cream!!

With the beginning of the day giving us spooky fog and the threat of rain, it ended up being perfect weather for a hike. Nice Mother's Weekend gift from Mother Nature to me. Back at the condo, we got to watch our resident Groundhog (name yet to be determined) play around the rock wall.

Sunday, actual Mother's Day, was a busy day. It was an early departure from NH to get Mike to his soccer game in Massachusetts. The boys and I continued home, I unpacked the car (never a small job after a trip to NH) and a search for part of our sand\water table ended up with me spending some time cleaning the basement. Not exactly ideal for what I would picture myself doing on Mother's Day, but the cleaned space was something that had needed to be done for a while so I enjoyed a sense of accomplishment. Then the boys and I got showered, lunched and ready so that when Mike got home from his game, we would be ready for our next adventure.