We hike! (Laurel Falls)

Well, we just went on a little family hike last Sunday!  Feels kind of funny to say that since we haven't really been one of those hiking families, but living near one of the country's most awe-inspiring national parks is a beautiful thing.  And even more beautiful than that, perhaps, is the fact that both of the Harper kids are now fully self-sufficient!!! Woooohoooo!!!! Probably the main reason that we haven't done too much hiking and such since we've lived in Tennessee is that for all of that time we've had a little one, and the thought of hiking w/ a stroller or a kid backpack (we saw people hiking with both on Sunday) plus all the additional little kid gear was more than we wanted to tackle.  We're just not that hardcore. :) Now that we've got two "big kids" we decided it was time to give it a go!

Both kids were absolutely wonderful on the hike, which was about 3 miles round trip!  They enjoyed every minute of being out in nature, and we enjoyed every second of watching them play and pretend together!  We will be hiking again soon!

Cate was super excited to be in the "fairy forest"!  Tinkerbell lives here!

The two long-legged Harpers leading the way

Total brother-sister sweetness going on the whole day

Rock writing. Max made sure that any hiker who wasn't already familiar with the word 'fart' would be by the time they finished the trail ;)

Laurel Falls at the end of the trail! Beautiful!

Me and my babies!

Jake and Max went down the steep rocks to the lower part of the Falls.  Manly!

coming back up

Not to be left out, Cate did some pretty impressive rock scaling on her own :)  

On our way out ...

Our traditional last stop for chocolate dipped soft serve

What a perfect day!