HIKING! WE LOVE HIKING! Well, we love getting to the top of mountains, and we like seeing cliffs and waterfalls and things along the way. Sometimes the actual HIKING isn't much fun at all.

Last Thursday, we did Mt. Kearsarge. It's a fun one because there is a cell tower on the summit to check out. There is also a fire tower building/lookout deal. We were able to go up to the lookout, and the view was crazy amazing. The ranger who was working that day also gave Colin a brochure listing ALL of the currently-in-use fire towers in New Hampshire. Oh, joy. Thanks alot, sir...I can hardly wait for him to get obsessed and for us to then have to visit each and every one. Yippee.

The hike was pretty uneventful, except for this. Yeah, that part was awesome. And I took this picture in the car on the way HOME. We were hiking earlier...ya know...during the HEAT of the day!



Here's the only other thing that was really noteworthy on that trip. Apparently, Sydney has been working on a new pose. Ha--didn't notice this one until I looked back at the pictures. She's somethin' else.





Okay, now. Yesterday's hike? What a GREAT time we had! We went with my best-friend-since-like-forever-ago Sarah and her kiddos.




Here's kinda what the whole drive up looked like.



Sydney also made everyone SHHHH! when we were hiking, because she could swear she heard the ice cream truck. Is that an early sign of dementia onset due to dehydration?

We hiked up to Arethusa Falls. SO COOL. The tallest waterfall around, and really a sight to see. So cool. See that little tiny dude at the base of the falls...green shirt? Yeah...that should give you the idea. Very cool.



We were able to chill out there for over an hour, eat some lunch, and let the kids play. There was also the occasional "GUYS! STEP BACK FROM THE EDGE, SERIOUSLY!" from the Moms.






After the falls, we tackled the hike over to Frankenstein Cliff. It wasn't a bad hike, but the cliff was only sorta-fun because there really was a higher-than-acceptable risk of death at the edge. I don't know why, but I didn't expect it to be so actually, ummmm, cliff-ish? So, we made the kids stay way away from the edge, had a quick snack, then headed down.



The hike back down? Yeah, really? It was surprisingly steep & kinda scary. The kids did great, though. I think the "biting it/eating dirt" count was Colin 1, Sydney 2, Nate 5, and Adam 2. It was a little unnerving because for much of the descent, you kinda needed to lean IN to the mountain, because the choice on your other side was a drop-off.

Here's the whole cliff part of the deal in the background from the parking lot.



And THIS??? This is my chili-cheese dog that I wolfed down when we got to the bottom. I mentioned to the lady at the lodge that it was the BEST chili-cheese dog I'd EVER had. She laughed & said that she heard that alot from people who'd just hiked for 6 hours. Ya know, that her little store also had the best water, the best Clif bars, the best ice cream, etc. Funny--it is amazing how much better food tastes when you're pretty sure you've earned it!!



A good day. A fun day. Good friends, good times.
Headed to Strawberry Banke Museum later today. Let the good times roll.