Family Adventures

September has been a month of family adventures.  We are working towards our goal of visiting all of the NC State Parks in one year.  This was a big goal, and I started the year pretty skeptical of actually accomplishing it.  However, we spent a week in the mountains and visited nine state parks, taking us over 30 of the 42 state parks!  We are so close, and I think we will be able to accomplish our goal.  We have experienced sunshine, rain, clouds (usually when on top of a mountain), cold, wind, and heat.  We have learned many things along the way about ourselves and our family.  We have all pushed ourselves and become better because of the struggle.   

I have grown to love our times together as a family, even in the outdoors.  I don’t like heat and bugs, so this summer was a struggle, but it has been worth it for the time together.  I definitely want to return to many of these state parks again to spend more time there.  Because we are going to all of them in a year, we often do two parks in one day.  This affords us only a few hours at each park.  While it helps us get a good idea of what is there and what we can do, we don’t get to relax and experience all we could if we were there for a whole day or a multi-day trip.  As I have helped Elijah with his Jr. Ranger program, I have been learning along the way as well.  Most recently, we learned that there is a plant called an American Strawberry.  This plant is not the edible, low-to-the-ground strawberry vine you pick berries from in the spring.  This is a larger bush that has fall berries and is completely toxic to humans!  I have found I can hike longer and harder trails than I thought, and I particularly enjoy the woods and mountains…though I could do without the signs of bears.

I have watched my children grow more inquisitive and adventurous throughout the year.  They have enjoyed various climates and plant life.  Our youngest, Enoch, who didn’t even learn to walk until after he was 2, was traversing difficult terrain and hiking at least a half mile at a time.  He could regularly handle a one-mile trail, especially if it was flatter terrain!  Everyone has enjoyed helping Elijah find animal signs, plants, birds, and rocks for his Jr. Ranger program.  They have climbed rocks, enjoyed waterfalls, nicknamed a hike along a stream with several caves “Bearville”, and fished unsuccessfully in many of the parks.

My husband has led us all with strength, patience, and enthusiasm.  One of the reasons our times are so enjoyable has to do with the fact that my husband is a natural “hype-man”.  He can make almost anyone excited about almost anything.  It can be cloudy and raining on the top of a mountain, and he excites the kids with taxidermy and jokes about falling off a cliff.  We may not have seen the view, but we learned a lot and saw some incredible things.  Sometimes our hikes are more rugged or longer than Enoch is able to handle.  Those are the times when my husband hikes the more difficult trail with an extra 40 pounds on his back as he carries Enoch along.  He is patient with me when I am scared of just about everything that could be watching us in the woods (and probably is).  He helps Elijah find what he needs for his Jr. Ranger program, and bears with Abi’s frequent stops for pictures.  He is the one who leads the pack.  (I have a horrible sense of direction.)  He encourages us to keep going, but stops when he knows we can’t do any more.  He is the reason these adventures have been so much fun.

I am very proud of all we have accomplished so far this year.  I am looking forward to meeting our goal of visiting all 42 NC State Parks.  I may even post a review or overview of the parks when we are done.  I am excited to return to the parks in the future to see what more we can do and learn.  We have already decided we will have to have this goal again in the future so the younger boys can have their chance to earn all of the Jr. Ranger badges as well!