"They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered."
Genesis 7:19
After a wonderful breakfast Friday morning, made by daddy, we all started piling things in our huge van. Sadly, it was raining (below picture) and so most everything we were bringing outside, to the car, was rained on (even though I was the umbrella girl - let's just say, I need some practice!)!
Rain
Hannah prepared to read!
We all brought books (Henty's and the Bronze Bow plus some other magazines and, of course, the Bible!). I finished a whole book (300+ pages) in 2 days!
It was about 3 hours before we arrived at the Visitors Center at Humpback Rock. After some potty breaks we piled into the car once again to head for Humpback Rock!
A beautiful tree by the Visitors' Center and Eden.
Here's some background on Humpback Rock and why we choose to hike it.
Daddy and Mommy once climbed Humpback Rock when they were in college (Longwood University) with one of Mommy's room-mates and some friends. I wish I could post the pictures - daddy was being silly as normal! :-) So, they decided we were going to hike up Humpback Rock to bring back memories and also to enjoy the Fall scenery as we advanced to the top.
The hike is on the scale of "Moderate to Strenuous." Lydia was carried by me (Kimber) for a few minutes and then she was put in the Ergo with mommy and stayed there the rest of the time. It was so cold that she hardly made any noise! Josiah was carried by daddy in many different positions when the hike became harder.
Alexis on a Tree Branch.
Caleb with a Mountain in the Background.
This picture is in the parking lot connected to the trail for Humpback Rock.
Left to right: Seth, Alexis, Caleb (on top) and Josiah (on bottom) by a tree.
(Also in the Parking Lot)
All of the children. (Oops! missing Lydia!)
Left to right: Caleb, Alexis, Hannah, Seth, Josiah, Eden and Kimber
If you can't tell all of us are wearing lots of layers - it was really cold out. I had on 5 shirts and many of us had multiple sweaters and coats!
Some Fall Trees
Lydia all cozy in a nice warm coat!
(We didn't have a pink or purple coat for her so the red one worked just fine!)
On the trail!
It started out pretty easy and then got slightly harder without any steps as we advanced. At one point some of us had to bend over pretty far as we went up the path but that was for a short time.
Josiah
Leaf-covered Trail
Taking a break!
Josiah and a rock.
Josiah was removing stones from our path hence the stone in hand.
Daddy and Josiah lagging behind.
Well, Josiah has such short, stubby legs that he couldn't walk as fast as us! He did a good job as we walked though!
Seth enjoying a short rest.
We tried to take it easy as we went up so we wouldn't be breathless when we got to the top.
Hannah
Mommy and Lydia
Looking down the trail
Josiah and Daddy
This was one of the steeper parts. The rocks sometimes were not lodged firmly in the ground so they would shift as we walked on top. Thankfully no one was hurt other than myself (Kimber). I was trying to go up a really steep part and also take pictures at the same time, so I wasn't looking where I was going and I went up the muddy side. Now, mud is more slippery than solid stone so.........I fell and scraped my knee. Thankfully it didn't hurt that much!
(I didn't scrape anything else because of all those layers I had on!)
Josiah enjoying a little rest on a log.
Hannah and Caleb
Another slightly steep part with lots of rocks and mud!
We're there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After about 40-60 minutes of hiking we reached the summit of Humpback Rock!!!!!!!!!!!!
Caleb, Seth and Hannah enjoying the view below.
Wow! What a view!!!!!!!!
At the edge of the rock enjoying the beautiful Fall scenery!
Eden
Mommy and Lydia!
Everyone except Mommy on Humpback Rock!
Another view.
Those feet in the picture....when we got to the top one of the littler ones came running up and said "Mommy, there's a man in a hammock up here!" And there was. There was a recently-graduated man reclining in a hammock between two rocks. Yikes! He seemed to enjoy it. I don't know if I would. Thankfully he was kind enough to let us make as much noise as we liked without being bothered. When it started drip-dropping he nonchalantly just pulled part of the hammock over himself and looked as if he was going to fall asleep! Suspended between two rocks! :-) He survived, nonetheless!
The other side of the mountains with a hardly-visible road on the right.
Hannah
Lydia
(This was her first time hiking!)
Josiah and Daddy.
Mommy was nervous the whole time because one of us could carelessly step over the edge and....I don't need to put the rest on here. Thankfully, Jesus kept us all safe!
Enjoying the view and weather together as a family.
Daddy helping mommy down the rocks as we turned back.
Some funny stories:
As we were about half of the way down the mountain, three men in their prime were huffing and puffing their way up the hill - sweat beads on their forehead. "How much longer?" they asked out of breath. "Are we half of the way up?" another asked. "Almost there - about 1/3 of the hike left," daddy replied. "Okay, thanks," replied the first as they huffed and puffed their way up the mountain to the top! We're thinking that they were going to try and set a "world record" and see how fast they could get to the top. Obviously, it was a little bit more difficult than they thought!
--
As we were again, going back down the mountain, people kept asking us how much farther. One couple in what seemed to be their 50's were watching all of us (especially the younger ones) go down the mountain as they sat on a bench.
"They all made it up?" the grandfatherly-looking man said.
"Yep!" daddy answered.
Heaving a sigh and looking at his wife like "if they can do it, I guess we can."
Hannah and Eden setting up lunch.
Josiah after a fall.
We had a great time together. One of our favorite things to do is hiking and this was no different!
I'm going to be updating about the rest of the weekend all this week so stay tuned!
Willingly Jesus',
Kimber
Waiting for the pizza 
Seth's Hand-Drawn Airplane 
The sky on the way home 
