Life's Joy in North Carolina

Well, we have officially made the move. We have NC driver's licenses at least. Living in a two bedroom apartment while trying to sell our house back in Louisiana has been fun. The kids love the pool, I love the workout center and how close it is to Target. If only we could sleep well from hearing car doors outside our windows from the parking lot and heavy footsteps overhead. Nevertheless, kids start school next week and hopefully having a "back to school routine" will help us settle in even more. We are praying for a good school year since Kindergarten and 3rd grade are both important years. I think they will enjoy their teachers and I hope them being in public school will make this transition year a little easier for all of us.

The men's ministry at our church, Mt. View Baptist, invited families to come out for a minor league baseball game last night. It was the Hickory Crawdads vs. Augusta ? somethings. We lost. But it was still awesome!  It was Duck Dynasty theme night. Mountain Man from Duck Dynasty was there judging a beard contest. Then there were fireworks at the end. It was late but so much fun. We got to sit in good seats with backs right behind home plate near friends from church, eat good ballpark food, enjoy a real family friendly environment. The kids even enjoyed watching the game, not to mention meeting the mascot, running the bases and doing the chicken dance.

a beautiful cool night at the ballpark

fireworks after the game

So to celebrate the last weekend before school starts we decided to enjoy a rare non-rainy BEAUTIFUL day and go exploring. Picture it... sunny, blue skies, high in the low 80's, not humid, the crisp smell of mountain forest air. We took a hike! We explored the nearest mountain you can see from almost anywhere in Mt. View, Baker's Mountain.  It has several marked trails ranging

from easy paved trails, to strenuous for even a conditioned hiker. We opted for the shorter but scenic route. Trust me, it was harder for mom and dad than for the kids. It must have been the altitude. (wink!) We took our time, stopped and made lots of pictures of leaves, rocks, critters, and trees. All together it was probably about a 2.5 mile hike. The view was so worth it! Then we had a picnic lunch when we got back to the pavilion by the parking lot.

mom & her boys

the "thinker"

"Wow!"

the adventurer

the whole family above Hickory NC atop Baker's Mtn.

As if we hadn't had enough adventure this weekend, we decided to take one more stop for today. We traveled 20 miles northwest to Morganton NC to go to Apple Hill Orchard Cider Mill. Its a family owned farm where you can go pick your own apples, visit the country store, enjoy a frosty cup of apple cider slushie, and take in the view of acres of rolling hills covered in apple trees heavy laden with fruit. They have many varieties of apples and peaches too but today we just picked Gala and Golden Delicious. It was so much fun but there were so many apples the boys picked two buckets full in less than twenty minutes. It was still a good lesson in buying local, homegrown produce. We ended up with about a half a bushel of apples. The apartment smells wonderful right now as I am cooking up a batch of apple butter in my trusty slow cooker. YUM.

And that is just part of the new adventures of the Mearse family. We are finding life's joy in North Carolina.