Fireworks = Stupidity

Maybe not always, but it seems around here that Fireworks=Stupidity. Both cases in point, I missed the picture for and I'm kicking myself for not having a camera phone.. but I will describe them as best I can....

Picture this (as Rod Serling would say)... a lone man, sitting on a wooden porch. He is smoking a cigarette. Behind him is a store. It is about 3 1/2 feet from where he is flinging his ashes. A sign on the storefront reads, "FIREWORKS FOR SALE. NO SMOKING"

Or how about this... as we are driving around today, we notice a tent erected and outside a sign advertises that Fireworks are for sale in the tent. That's not so odd... it IS just 5 days away from our country's birthday. What is a bit odd, however, is the sponsor of the Fireworks Sale. A 30 foot wide banner outside the tent reads, "Fireworks for Sale. All proceeds benefit the Unicoi Volunteer Fire Department."

F*R*I*E*N*D*S

Live music has long been a passion. Since Austin, and my days at University of Texas, I have loved live music. It doesn't even have to be in a genre of my preference.. For instance, tonight at the Village Pavillion it was jazz. Not a favorite, but what an experience. The music played, the fire roared and the kids played.

We finally hooked up with a family we met last year and Princess Kickapoo 8 was able to play with a friend she met back then. We emailed her dad and let him know when we were going to be here, but they are moving into a new cabin and don't have phone (or cable, ie modem) yet, so they hadn't gotten the message. However, we have made contact and both Princess Kickapoo and Laughing Son 6 are excited since Princess Kickapoo's friend is a twin - with a BOY! which means a playmate for him...
Not to mention that Savannah's brother, Peyton made it to town today and Laughing Son 6 has literally been counting down days for that one... This morning, he came to me and said, "Guess what day it is, Mom?" I said, "Saturday." To which he replied, "Yes, it's Saturday!" I stared at him with a stupid blank look. "Yes, it is Saturday. We'll have fun today, won't we?" To which he replied, "Saturday mom! Today is the day Peyton comes!!" Silly me!

So, we headed down the mountain to the Village and listened to the band. There were lots more kids tonight than last night and lots more close to our kids' ages. Then of course, we ran into Kate and Bill (the twins) and then Savannah and Peyton showed up... Oh, but I haven't even mentioned Riley...

I look up from my chair during the 36 seconds I actually sat tonight and here comes Laughing Son 6 walking around the corner with this beautiful little girl, HOLDING HER HAND!! I tried to get a picture but missed that one... He spent some time chatting with her and her parents and eventually headed over to where Jethro and I were sitting. He introduces her to us, "Mom and Dad, this is Riley. She's 4. That's 2 years younger than me, like Dad is 2 years younger than you, Mom." (I quickly correct him... Dad's only 2 years younger than I am for 2 months per year, thank you very much!) Off they go to play on the scooters (this I have pictures of!) I met up with Riley's folks and they're here through July 4th (which we've heard is a pretty big deal up here) so I'm sure that you'll see/hear more of Riley!

Pix... Laughing Son 6 with Riley on scooters... Big Talker 3 while eating S'Mores started crying cuz he couldn't eat the marshmallow?? (still haven't figured that one out) then Dad helped him understand the marshmallow was IN the S'More... Mom and Drama Queen 5 taking a rest and finally, Jethro racing Big Talker 3.

Children's Paradise

Have you ever met a kid who didn't love the water? I haven't. I have however, met quite a few pools who didn't love kids. You know the sort, an area about a foot wide that is 3 foot deep and the rest of the pool 5 feet or deeper. Well, that is NOT the case up here. Whoever designed this pool knew their clients. It is an L shape pool and the one part of the L is 3 ft deep and the other part slopes to 5. But that means that an entire half of the pool is kid friendly enough that even Big Talker 3 can walk around unencumbered. Jethro doesn't even have to actually get into the pool, he and I can sit on the edge (with me in the shade.. cool, eh? a pool with shade!) and watch as they go crazy. Big Talker 3 spent most of the time there today getting out and jumping in and then going under water to touch the bottom.

Meanwhile, the others are enjoying their freedom as well. Splashing and playing and boy, I've never seen so many kids up here! Laughing Son 6 can swim the entire length of the pool and Drama Queen 5 enjoys paddling around on a noodle while Princess Kickapoo 8, freshly home from her sleepover, practiced launching herself backwards to float on her back... but you should have seen the way she puffed up her cheeks like a raccoon in an effort to hold her breath.

Friday Niter

Every Friday night in the summer time, Wolf Laurel Property Owners Association holds a Friday Niter, complete with Live Music and food.. (I know what you're thinking- or at least what I think- WHAT?!? MY HOA doesn't do that !) So after Jethro finally arrived home, we packed up the kiddos and a bottle of wine and went down to listen. Laughing Son 6 decided he wanted to play tennis (and 1 of the courts is right next to the pavillion where the Friday Niter occurs) so he grabbed a couple of rackets and some balls. But while he was getting those, Drama Queen 5 met a friend (a girl about 9 years old) and they went to the Trout Pond together. So when Laughing Son 6 arrived with the tennis gear, he had no-one to play with... except a 14 year old boy!! ha! What a scene, this 6 year old kid playing tennis with this teenager... and Laughing Son 6 kept hitting the ball over the fence! And then William's (the 14 year old) sister came over - she had to be 12 - and she played ball girl, chasing down the balls! (see picture)

Eventually, here comes the Drama Queen 5 and her new friend back from their walk around the Pond (see picture)... how funny to see all the little tykes with their big friends. Or not so little tykes... I was watching my precious LITTLE Drama Queen 5 as she was running around on the tennis courts later and it dawned on me that she's not so little anymore.. she is looking (and acting) like a big girl! and her hair! look at that hair!! boo hoo! not ready, NOT ready for this!

And Big Talker 3? he hung out with the big kids for a while and then did some exploring and then came over to hang out with his momma. Speaking of Big Talker 3, he pulled off a pretty cute one!

To set the scene, imagine your hand inside of a puppet, opening and closing really fast as if the puppet were talking. So, Big Talker 3 is talking with a grown up and says, "I'm a Big Talker. talk, talk, talk, talk, talk." all the while he is opening and closing his hand like a puppet talking! ha!! what a riot. (I did manage to get it on video, however, I don't really know how to get it to youtube, yet.. will ask Jethro, master of technology if he can do it!)

Where was Princess Kickapoo 8 during all of this? you ask... Oh, did I fail to mention that our little princess spent the night with her new friend Savannah? And then in the morning, she'll be heading into Mars Hill, home of Mars Hill College and an acting camp Savannah has attended the past week. Saturday morning is her performance... she's a boy! Her grandma was working on her beard yesterday! What fun... remember, this is the gal she met 4 days ago. I am having visions of Bette Midler and Barbra Hershey... sniffle, sniffle, cry, cry (the movie Beaches for those of you scratching your head... if you've not seen it, worth the rent!).

A Picture Perfect Vacation Day

The last 2 months before coming on vacation has seen us spend a lot of time, money and effort to ensure our aging (but well-loved and completely paid off) Expedition was in excellent shape for a cross-country trip. We replaced every single belt and hose, rotated and balanced the tires (had them checked to be sure they were okay and they still have 10k left on them), fixed an AC we didn't know was broken, had the alignment done and the tires balanced a second time. We were more than ready. As we pull out of Asheville, after grocery shopping on the day we're arriving, heading up and down the mountainous terrain, the brakes start to make this stuttering action... GREAT! Well, we've not really left the cabin except to travel within 5 or so miles a couple of times, so we've not worried about it.. till Thursday night.
I took the kids down to the bottom of the mountain and then up a few miles along a road with which I was unfamiliar. It was dark, was raining, there was steam coming up off of the narrow, winding, steeply climbing and falling road and I was on my way to pick up my kids and the brakes were acting up. Being a mom, I naturally began to play out this horrific scenario in my head. (I've spoken to other moms who say they do the same thing, but curiously, never have found a dad who does this.) So, I come home and tell Jethro about my vision of me crashing my car on the way to get the kids... I hadn't brought my cell phone, but it wouldn't have mattered cuz my ICE is Jethro at work and I didn't have my purse so no-one would know who I was.. maybe they would have found my insurance card and then seen the Wolf Laurel security sticker on the windshield and maybe they wouldv'e called WL and how long would all of that have taken?? and what about the kids? sitting there the whole time with strangers? and how would Jethro be able to go and pick them up? and I didn't even have the number to the cabin memorized?!!!
So the next morning, Jethro (who is a dad and doesn't realize that we moms think stuff like this all of the time) gets up and takes the car to get the brakes done. NINE HOURS AND $600 LATER, HE COMES HOME!!! I tell you what! (as my mom says) Boy, isn't THAT the way YOU want to spend an entire day of your vacation?!

Picture is by the Trout Pond where we caught the fish... about 200 steps from our cabin.

You and Me Goin Fishin In the Dark

okay, not quite the dark, but it was a bit overcast and drizzling a few drops which is when the fish like to eat... (by the way... do YOU know the song reference above?) Princess Kickapoo 8 had invited her new friend, Savannah, down to go to the amenities center for craft time. They returned home to do even more crafts outside on the porch.. Then we all made snickerdoodles (which she had never heard of!!! can you imagine!?). Afterwards, everyone was gearing up to go swimming when we lost power and the drizzle started. So, we opted to try our luck at fishing down at the pond.

We grabbed 4 poles, Laughing Son 6 dug up some worms and out we headed. Once there, both Laughing Son 6 and Savannah both proceeded to catch a great big ole rainbow trout. (Where was Princess Kickapoo you ask? well, she IS a princess and princesses are very girlie and she was just not digging the whole fish/worm/icky thing, so she was wandering around checking out the flowers.) Anyhoo, both Big Talker 3 and Drama Queen 5 tried it for a while, but couldn't be still long enough, so we all headed back to the cabin. Jethro cleaned 'em up (once again, Princess Kickapoo couldn't be found!! ha ha) and fileted 'em and voila! Savannah's grandparents will have a wonderful trout dinner! (just for the record, Princess Kickapoo was not the only girl around.. once the fish was successfully out of the water, Savannah proceeded to turn into a very girly girl, not even wanting to stand next to her catch for a picture!)

the non-fishing pictures are at the activities center for craft time and Princess Kickapoo with her new friend Savannah.

Definition: "Bu** Whoppin'"

Last night, Jethro and I were playing some rocks (for those of y'all who don't know, that's Dominoes). Jethro is very competitive and he's shooed away all the kids and is very seriously studying his hand...

Fast forward 20 minutes and the very same Jethro is explaining to me why he needs only 5 more points... "See, if I get 5 more points," he says, "then I will have one half as many points as you do and then I will simply lose to you. If I don't get those 5 points and I lose to you by having less than 1/2 as many points as you have, that is a b**t whoppin'."

See, you really can learn something new every day!

Pictures are of the kiddos at Vacation Bible School last week.

Drama Queen is on the mend!

Well, after 2 days of the worst sounding coughs you've ever heard, our little Drama Queen is on the mend. She is so very excited to be able to do things! We went to the play ground this morning and then headed off to the swings (these beastly things which tower 2 stories high!) and finally rode our scooters home!! Yippee! Upon arriving at home, Princess Kickapoo 8, our resident artist, found the arts and crafts supplies we'd left from previous visits. She drug them out and everyone decided to make and paint picture frames. We didn't have any "junky" clothes as we call them, you know, the ones it doesn't matter if they get painted on.. so, we had them all put on their swimsuits. They all created their masterpieces and realizing their attire, quickly asked Dad to take them swimming... Even Drama Queen 5 is getting to go! She is so happy.

World's Worst GeoCachers

Drama Queen 5 is still not feeling good.. in fact, she's sitting in the steamy shower 3 or 4 times on Wednesday. In an effort to do something fun but not too strenuous as to wear her out, we decided to try our hand at geocaching by driving. We found a couple spots located right off of the highway and headed out. The first one we reached immediately and stood in the wide open, great GPS reception, and could not find the cache. The info given by the cache's owner said, "Park and Grab" and we looked for over 15 minutes.

That's okay, we'll hit the next spot aqnd try this one again with Dad (oh, yes.. Dad was playing tennis during Men's Tennis). So, into the car we jump and down the road 4 miles or so into Tennessee we head. The next cache is at a lookout. Nice view, no cache. The directions for this one included a clue. "At the end of the guardrail." So, out we all climb and walk directly to the exact coordinates. We began our search. We looked. We searched. We even used the clue and looked along the entire guard rail... NO CACHE!!

By now, we're all frustrated and Drama Queen 5 is not feeling good so we head home.

Later in the day, Dad decides to give this another try and we all load up in the car and head out to the 2 spots we had already tried and one additional one. The first stop is the one we haven't tried yet. It took some searching and we got a bit muddy, but we found it!! Woo-Hoo! The winds are a changing.

Excitedly, we all pile in the car and head to the next spot.. this one contains a travel bug. This is a character or item which is taken from one cache and put into another cache and then it's travels are logged. The one we were searching for has already logged 675 miles since it's first placement last year. We have the coordinates and we have Dad. Once on site, we find ourselves on the side of a very steep mountain. We cannot access the coordinates directly, we must find a path that leads down the side. This done, we climb around in waist high weeds and grasses in and amongst fallen trees and dirt so soft your entire shoe disappears as you put weight on your foot. Again there is a clue -"Between the stump and the tall double trunked tree" There are plenty of double trunked trees around but only 2 stumps. We searched and searched and searched. Dad was ready to quit, but Laughing Son 6 was really into this so I kept looking. Then I got fed up and said, "Let's go!" but now Jethro is ready to try a bit more... Then he was ready to call it quits and I tried one final time. By now, it's been about 20 minutes looking for this silly cache. UGH!!!

Finally, we decided to call it quits and head home. So much for our second time out as GeoCachers.. Oh, and Jethro looks straight at me on the way home and says, "Yeah! I'm really not liking this whole GC thing!" Ya think not?

The pictures are from the GC at which we succeeded... It was underneath an overpass and pretty cool spot.

Fast Friends and Sick Children

As promised, Drama Queen 5 lives up to her name.. Last year while vacationing in NC Drama Queen (then 4) got sick, very sick and threw up all over the white carpet. Just a little bug, but proof positive of her knack for the dramatic... And if you think that was a fluke, read on!! Our little precious sweet Drama Queen 5 spent the day hanging out close to home (okay, IN the cabin) and in bed today. Every year, she gets this really bad horrible sounding cough. The first time she got it, Jethro was out of town and she was 2 and I knew I needed to get her to the hospital, but I couldn't even get her buckled into her carseat because every time I took her away from my arms, she freaked out and then she couldn't breathe. So, I ended up calling the neighbors to babysit (oh, did I mention that it was 3 am?!?) and we took a ride to the hospital ER in an ambulance. Once there, I found out it was croup, which sounds terrible because the vocal cords are affected.. don't get me wrong, it is bad, just not as life threatening as I had thought!

So, back to today.. the croupy cough which she normally gets around Christmas showed up today. And here we are without a humidifier (we have 2 or 3 at home) which is what helps her breathing.. so we ran a couple of hot showers and let her sit in the steam for a bit ... so that is how our Drama Queen 5 spent the day... Oh yes, that and a 4 1/2 hour nap!!!

Need more proof of her little Drama Queen Self?!? How about this? Last week was Vacation Bible School (or VBS) at our church. For those of you unfamiliar, it is a week long, 9am to noon, free event.. It's sort of like summer day camp... you have a Bible Story time, a Snack time (where you make cool snacks like race cars out of graham crackers, vanilla wafers, licorice sticks and icing), game time and a craft time. Before going to the different rotations, and after as well, everyone meets together for a time of singing and to watch skits, etc...

well, Wednesday, the VBS leader was talking to 200+ kiddos during this assembly about sin and what that is and means. She asks this group of kids, "If you've ever done anything bad, raise your hand." So, most of the kids start to raise their hands. Drama Queen 5 stands up, hands on her hips, and starts looking around..."Laughing Son 6" she calls out (okay, she uses his real name), "Laughing Son 6!! Where are you?" Then she sees him and asks in a very loud voice "Laughing Son 6, Did you raise your hand?!" That's our girl!!!

Princess Kickapoo 8, on the other hand, spent her day immersed in new things. She spent the entire afternoon and evening away from home visiting with her new friend, Savannah, also 8. Okay, Jethro's mom & dad spend lots of time up here and have tons of friends. One set of friends has a granddaughter visiting this week and Mom and Pop and her grandparents decided these two needed to meet... and boy oh boy were they ever right?!? Savannah's grandmom picked Princess Kickapoo 8 up around 1. They went hiking up Big Bald, went swimming, ate ice cream, ate lunch and dinner together and spent the rest of the day playing together and talking non-stop. We picked her up at 7:30 and she was plumb wore out! but ready to do it all over again...

Remember when we could make fast friends (literally FAST) like that? An introduction and that's all they needed? When did making friends become so complicated? I'm thinking of how much fun it will be for these 2 in years future... How they can become Pen Pals and meet up for a week or two each summer.... Jethro and I have already talked a bit about how Princess Kickapoo 8 and maybe even Laughing Son 6 might be able to stay after we leave next year if we time our visit with Grandmommy's and Pop's visit... I have to say that while the kids may be ready for that, I am so NOT!!! I don't even know if I'm ready for the same 2 kids to visit Grandmommy and Pop at their beach house this summer and that is only 4 hours away!!! Wow!! They really DO grow up so fast!!! Oi!

As for the boys today, Laughing Son 6 was allowed a bit of freedom with the walkie talkie... He headed down to the tennis courts with dad this morning and then went back this afternoon and managed to talk some adult into helping him with the machine so that he could practice his swing!! Ha!! And he went through 3 machines full of balls! What a little charmer!!!

And Big Talker 3 hung out around the cabin.. He played with his HUGE Tonka truck practically all day.. For the last year, an elementary school has been being built behind our house. The kids love to climb the playscape in the backyard and watch the construction. For some reason, Big Talker 3 started calling the earth movers (back hoes, bulldozers, front end loaders, etc) monsters. He is fascinated with monsters and he had one but it finally got a little beat up. Big Talker 3 came in last week crying, just devastated... So, right before we left, I got him a new monster. Jethro wasn't sure if we would be able to fit it in the truck for the trip, but I insisted.. Big Talker 3 has played with it on average 3 hours per day since we got here!!!

Speaking of the monsters and the construction in our backyard, it gets very hot out there.. so about 3 weeks ago, on a day that Jethro was out of town, I see Laughing Son 6 walking through the house from the backyard to the garage. I then see him come back from the garage with a 1/2 case of water. Then he comes to me and asks how to spell Water.. and then how to spell Free. I tell him and then watch as he gets some tape and heads to the backyard again. I watch him climb to the top of the playscape, dragging up the heavy water, then he proceeds to try to tape a piece of paper to the wood.. when that doesn't work, he simply holds his sign up for all the construction workers to see. It says, "FREE WATER." It takes a while for anyone to take him up on his offer, but eventually he gets a few folks to come over and take advantage of his generosity... What a sweet heart!!!!! I took a picture, but it's on a different computer, I'll post it when I get home.

Okay, it's time to sit out on the back porch and enjoy the live music being played down the hill a bit at the pavillion. Jethro wandered over a little while ago to see what was going on. It's a private party, so we can't sit and watch, but we sure can sit and listen!

Our First GeoCache Adventure!!

Our little rugrats, curtain climbers, bundles of joy- they are precious to us. In an effort to protect them, we started using initials to blog about them and have removed all mention of our names from any part of this blog. I have been informed that sometimes it is a bit hard to convert initials to their counterparts.. in an effort to ease this calculation, I will hereby be using their "Indian Names" with their ages afterward to help out... Indian names started with our eldest daughter. She kicked non-stop in utero so I nicknamed her Princess Kickapoo. Our second born came out laughing it seemed. From the get-go he giggled and laughed, so we named him Laughing Son. # 3 child has been full of drama from day 1. She was a high-risk pregnancy and has continued to be a Drama Queen even to this day (just keep reading this blog to see what I mean!). Finally, the last little booger to come along has long gone without his traditional Indian name. I pondered and pondered what it could be, but nothing ever seemed right.. I even toyed with giving up on Indian names altogether... and then we went for a walk... For 3 hours, this little guy talked NON-STOP!! He has therefore been christined Big Talker. If you try to call him anything other than his birth-name, he will correct you and say, "No! not Silly-Billy, I'm (birth name)!" "No! I'm not Big Boy, I'm (birth name) !" When we asked him if he was a Big Talker, he said, "YES!" As for Ma's and Pa's Indian Names, we're Talks A-Lot and Toes Stand Up... if you have to ask which is who, you don't know us and shouldn't be reading this blog!! ha ha! For the sake of this blog though, we'll go with Tess and Jethro.

So, GeoCaching (or GC) for those uninitiated is sort of a high-tech scavenger hunt. You first go to geocaching.com and enter where you'd like to GC. Then you enter the coordinates into a GPS and off you go. Once you've reached the exact location, you will find a "cache" (hence the name) containing some little trinkets and a log book. You log your visit, collect one item from the cache and leave one item.

Now, I've been interested in trying out GC for about 3 years now. I enjoy hiking (usually it's in the shade, which is especially good for a fair skinned red head like me who sunburns walking from her car into the mall). Jethro enjoys being outside and even hiking but has never been interested in GC... and this is something I've never been able to figure out. I think it has to do with 4 little kiddos who need to be carried and lots of money for a GPS. Whatever the reason, we've never done it before-until today.

We found 2 sites right along the Appalachian Trail here in Wolf Laurel, one on Big Bald and one along Little Bald. We borrowed a GPS from some friends before we left and today, we went hiking. I told the kids how we were going to find a treasure box with a surprise in it and I showed them the coordinates on the GPS so they could help me find it. We walked right past it the first time and had to back-track through tall grass to finally get to it... we were right on top of the spot but the box was camoflauged in a bushy tall grass area and it was army camo green making it harder to see... but there we all were thrashing about in the area until we found it!!! What a blast!! The kids thought it was so cool! Although Drama Queen 5 did think that it should have contained pieces of gold rather than plastic frogs and wooden coins.. and Princess Kickapoo 8 mentioned that the treasure box itself should have been golden and encrusted with jewels. Oh well, you can't have everything!

Inside, we found the perfect thing for our first GC- a plastic golden retriever that looks just like our Brandy!! so we took the BrandyDog and left a Gatorade (we'll definitely have to get some Texas goodies to leave up here in NC for future GCs). Our family has registered with geocaching.com as ClanOfTexans for those also on the site. We have gone back and logged our find, so now we have 1 smiley face on our map!! Woo-Hoo!!

I'm attaching some pictures of us finding our find... and of big talker... notice his mouth is OPEN... "and then the leaf-es fall down on the rocks and then they turned into butterflies and then there's a momma butterfly and a daddy butterfly and a grandma butterfly and a grandpa butterfly ... and Mom, look at those pretty flowers.. they are yellow and white and look so pretty... mommy do you love them? I love them, they are yellow and white and look bootiful..."

Vacation In Paradise

A few years ago, as we were discussing JJ's brother's family's annual vacation- always to the same place- I pondered, "Why would you want to go to the same place year after year?" Then 4 years ago, Pop bought his father's cabin in a resort community in NC and everyone was invited to visit whenever they wanted to. Pop said that most likely he would sell it, but if it got used enough, he would keep it. We decided to visit there for our next vacation. I no longer ask why anyone would want to go to the same place every year, now I pity those who don't have generous in-laws who so graciously share their vacation homes. And by the way, Pop & Mom have decided to keep it... in fact, we loose them for months at a time as they now have more friends in NC, it seems, than they do in TX.

It took us 2 days to get here this year as we decided that we are just too old to drive straight through anymore. We arrived on Saturday evening, late, but still with enough time to go grocery shopping, and completely unpack upon arrival. We all slept in (except JM who came down pretty early and snuggled with us). We are fully enjoying our first day by exploring on our new Razr Scooters (everyone now has one and IS who already had one got some Heelies to use down on the basketball courts).

Let me set the scene.. maybe I'll go take some pictures and upload them later... We're in a beautiful log cabin (real logs exposed on the inside), set into the side of a gorgeous mountain. We're inside a resort community, which means limited access and tons of acitivites (like being on a cruise ship but on dry land).. We are only about a block away from the activities center, swimming pool, tennis courts, basketball courts, playground, lending library, arts and crafts center and fully stocked beautifully landscaped private trout pond. In true picturesque style, we are directly across a street (which leads to like 6 homes and sees about a car every 3 days or so) from a stream and 2 waterfalls. We're nestled into the hillside with enough slope to make riding a scooter down the drive at breakneck speeds fun for kids and nerve wracking for moms!!! but still flat enough to play football and frisbee in the ample yard. The front porch is huge... large enough for us to all eat a meal on or sit on when it's raining. This is where JJ and I spend most of our evenings, sipping wine and listening the the quiet solitude of this place or maybe enjoying a game of dominoes while listening to some music we're able to get via internet (did I tell you this place was paradise?!?)...

Now that the kids are a little older, they are able to take walkie talkies and explore a bit on their own- heaven for them.. stretching their little independent wings and learning to fly. On Tuesdays and Thursdays there are crafts classes available at the activites center which the kids love. IS is enamoured with the lending library and made sure to bring some Junie B Jones books this year to leave for other kids to borrow. She has already been down the hill and brought back Ben Hur for herself as well as Where the Wild Things Are for TL and KJ and JM each brought back their own books as well. JM chose Great Expectations and KJ, The Three Muskateers (of course, all of these are the younger kid versions).

Last year we were able to go hiking -ALL of us, incliding TL - so I personally am really looking forward to doing a bit of that.. I love spending time outside but am usually restricted by the sun, which my skin HATES! Hiking up here is almost always in shade and now that TL can walk for extended periods of time, look out!! Mom and Pop are big hikers and have left lots of literature on all the best places to go. Maybe they should start blogging!

I'm already a bit sad, though, I must admit, as I look up at the clock and realize that half of the first day is already gone and we're that much closer to having to leave!