We love the White Mountains... We try to get there as often as we can. It's pretty much become our families favorite place. The kids love it just as much as we do. K man will just randomly ask "Can we go drive up the big mountain?"
We made a quick escape a couple nights before Daddy left for his deployment a little over a year ago. Things were so intense at home, we were running around (in what felt like circles) like chickens with no heads. We were nervous and scared and sad and pretty much every possible emotion ever known to man. We had to just get out of here... so we packed up and went up north. we could only go for one night because of the circumstances. It was chilly and not very clear, but we had to drive up Mount Washington. So of course all year K man would pop that question... pretty much whenever we drove by a big hill ;)
Finally when Daddy had his 2 week leave time, we went up and K man got his wish. Well... of course ever since then, he will once again randomly ask that question "Can we go drive up the big mountain?"
We decided since the last couple times we made the drive up it was pretty foggy.. we would make a day trip up with the kids. We picked a day and crossed our fingers. Boy did we luck out, it was a beautiful sunny day, and it was warm too. Now Im a fan of fall and the cooler weather that comes with it, but I knew that it would be much colder on top of that mountain, so a nice warm day was perfect... instead of being 32* up there, it was actually in the 50's. However the wind... that was more like 70's... yep averaging about 70 mph winds up there that day!! The foliage was gorgeous though!!
It was a great day, just enjoying some good family time. The kids really do well in the car, of course there are moments, but we really can't complain. We left home as early as we could manage... I think it was around 8:30. We packed a cooler with snacks and drinks, but we went out to lunch once we got up there before we headed to the mountain... then we made a pizza hut stop on the way home. We make it a point to pack jammies and time our drive home around bed time. usually works out good for us. We ate dinner, then headed to the car to change everyone into jammies and popped a movie into the dvd player in the backseat... and then they were out. ;)
Of course before we headed home, we enjoyed the day. Walking around, or should I say, trying to walk around on the mountain. Poor E  was so scared, she was almost in tears :( She was so afraid she was going to blow off the mountain. At one point we got out to walk around for a minute at one of the many spots to pull over and "view" along the winding path up... The three girls stuck with me, as K man and Daddy were walking ahead.

They were exploring... or so I thought. he later informed me that K man had to pee.... how you pee on a mountain in 70 mph winds is beyond me...sorry to who ever was standing down wind!

So I tried to sit the girls down and get a picture of the three of them, I though it would distract E from her fear of blowing away. Thinking if I sat her near some big rocks she might feel more secure... it didn't work...

~Bet you can't tell which one is E~

I can never get enough of the views from the top when it is clear. It is just absolutely amazing! SO breathtaking to see what God has laid out for us to enjoy.

The kids were ready to get back in and head down, they were done with the wind. I wanted to snap a few more picture though so I walked to the end of the parking area to do that. He backed the car up to where I was and got out and joined me for a moment, then he got this picture of me attempting to stand still in front of the great view. However it was hard to do so without falling over.

We got back in the car and the kids were saying "Mommy we thought you were going to blow off the side of the mountain" I assured them that wouldn't happen and we headed down ;)

At some points it is so narrow on the road, you have to stop and let people get by and you get mighty close to that ever so steep edge!

~Isn't he Hilarious~

We decided to go play around near the river down the road... it is very rocky and shallow and we could just let the kids walk around. It was really pretty too. We parked and we could have easily walked right down to the rocky edge by way of a nicely paved path, but Daddy can't pass up an adventure, so we went his way....

~ me thinking my husband picked a great route to the river~

we got there... we played... some got wet, and it was fun!

It really was time well spent. We had some wet sneakers we aired out in the trunk on the way home, and K man had a soggy bottom. Not sure how he did that, I turned around to see him back up, try to catch his balance, fall backwards over a rock (all in slow motion i swear)... then catch him self, look up as if he has got it and fall back right into a small puddle in the rocks on his bottom. He was a good sport and went onto "skip" rocks.

I love days like this... I live for days like this... just taking off and heading out on adventures with my family. They are awesome and I love every minute of this quality time we spend together making memories that will last us a lifetime. And what kind of adventure would it be if we didn't do some dancing or make an attempt at taking a serious picture of our four crazy kids!

Thank you Lord for Blessing me this much