Hikers are friendly

We try to take a trip every fall when the leaves change color.  We decided to go to Vermont this year and to combine it with our conference getaway (since we try to go stay at a hotel for conference as well).  This years trip was really fun.  We decided since Christopher and Michael are only in 1st grade and kindergarten they could miss a couple days of school (don't worry we did their homework in the car on the way home). ;)  We left Thursday night and got back super late Monday night.  We drove up to Burlington Vermont and found a fun hotel to park ourselves for the weekend.  Here is the funny story.  We like to live on the wild side and rarely reserve a hotel beforehand.  We just find one when we get where we are going.  (Sometimes they look nice online but aren't when you get there).  Evidently there are lots of colleges in the part of Vermont we went to and most places were completely booked up for parents weekend.  We just kept driving north and eventually got too tired so we parked the car and slept...in the car....for most of the night.  Ya, we're crazy like that.  Actually the kids slept pretty well.  Jeff and I....not so well.  But we woke up and finally found a great place that had one suite left and they let us check in at 7am.  So then we all crashed again and slept till like 10am.  Ahhh, memories.  :)  Friday was really rainy so we just drove around and saw the area and swam in the pool.  Saturday we watched conference and took a few little nature walks.  Sunday we watched conference which was so amazing.  I loved Pres. Uchtdorfs talk, (he is so inspiring), Pres. Packer (he just tells it like it is), Pres. Monson (he is so Christ like) and Pres. Eyrings, (he is so kind and wise).  They were all great talks.

So, on to the title of this post.  On Monday we decided to hike Mt. Mansfield, the highest peak in Vermont.  Now, when I say highest peak...that is in New England terms.  It is 4400 feet in elevation...which I think is what the valley's of Utah are.  :)  But still, it was such a great hike and a great experience for the kids.  We drove up this super steep windy road to the base of the hike.  (There were actually many different trails going to the top of this mountain, some as long as 200+ miles coming from Canada).  But we did the last 1.5 miles to the top.  It wasn't super long but most of it was rock and so it was lots of rock scrambling and you had to follow the little markers closely.  The boys LOVED it and they did the entire 3 mile round trip without any help, expect for a little hand holding where there were some ledges.  Annie walked some of it too and then Jeff carried her on his shoulders...and had Jacob in the carrier on his front.  My hero!!

Anyway, we passed many people going both directions and only saw one other child who I think went all the way to the top.  Everyone was so nice and most people said, "My, you have your hands full" (which I hear daily here in NJ).  But everyone was so kind to the kids and told them how great they were and how they should be so proud of themselves and what great little hikers they were.  At the top everyone came up to us and wanted to take our pictures and talk to us and tell us they've never seen anything like it before...a family with 4 kids at the top of this mountain.  It really was a great experience and I think the boys were very proud of themselves.