Family Hike!

Over the New Year break, we met up with some friends for a hike at Crowder's Mountain nearby in Gastonia. I (Sara) had never been to Crowder's, so I had no idea of what intensity of hike to expect, but it ended up being a doozy in our circumstances. It was four miles round trip to our chosen summit (you can hike to two different ones), and given the fact that Mark was carrying a thirty pound toddler on his back, I am pregnant, and the couple with us is also expecting (whose names shall remain secret on the internet since they have not announced) we were passed quite a few times. A very fit woman with her dog exclaimed excitedly, "y'all made it!" when we were close to the top... I guess we looked tired haha.

Overall though, it was fun, and I would love to do it again, just maybe without children. Or when they are older and can walk themselves. Or on another one of the trails that didn't have such a steep incline (for my fitbit/fitness tracker users, I got almost 80 flights of steps and about 12,000 steps in our hike). We may have overindulged on our post-hike meal... I'll never tell.

Another funny story before I share pictures- Anna Kate notoriously will NOT fall asleep in random places. I have always wondered when friends share photos of kids asleep on the floor or at the dinner table how that happens, since AK loves her bed and even very rarely falls asleep in her car seat despite us providing proper exhaustive methods. Apparently all the girl needed was to be in a hiking carrier, since Mark started to feel her head bump his and she was asleep! I wish I had gotten photos, but I was trying to keep her awake so that she might take a nap on the way home (she didn't).

Daddy and Anna Kate checking out the view.

Family photo at the top!

AK was full of questions, and had no fear of the edge- she may be our adventurer yet.