Small Group Camping

So 3 out of the 5 couples in our small group went camping a few weekends ago. I don't know where we were, but it was in the Smokies. Both of the other girls had never been camping. One said she'd never do it again, the other didn't sleep well, but said it was fun. Here's some pics of the weekend.

Us riding in the back of the truck to go to the lake or river or bathrooms.

This lake was beautiful. Had mountains all around it. Justin and I swam to the rock outlet across the way and then to the back set of trees and then back to the shore with the orange balls. I've always wanted to swim a long way across a big lake. I can mark that off my list of things to do before I die. Thanks for going with me Justin!

Here's the group at a lookout close by.
Here's the 'kitchen' at our camp. The tents were kinda spread out to form a triangle around it.

The guys camped for 2 nights. They set everything up for us girls to come the following day. It was very sweet. This is the firepit area. The guy on the left had camped here as a boyscout about 20 (ish) years ago and made these "benches" with his troup. They were still there!

AT Hike story.

The short version of the story is that we (my buddy Tracy from Missouri and I) planned on a doing a little over 40 miles on the App. Trail in the Smokies last weekend. Unfortunately we ended up being picked up and taken home about 8 miles down the trail on the first day after Tracy bruised his ankle and was having some knee pain. A bit frustrating for both of us, but we enjoyed the rest of the weekend just hanging out and catching up. SOOO....the answer to the poll I posted was "0"; darn. The picture is of a bear we watched for 10-15 minutes on the Cades Cove loop in the Smoky Mtn. Nat'l Park. It was up in a tree for several minutes before climbing down walking around in the grass about 100 feet from us. The picture makes it look small, but it was pretty big for a black bear. Definitely something I don't want to run across in the open without a car to jump into.

Katie Visit

Justin's sister, Katie, and her kids got to come for a visit last week. We went to the beach/lake at Concord Park. The kids had a great time, but Isaac wasn't enjoying the sand too much. He didn't like it on his legs or feet, but digging was fun.

Nana, this was day one and I think Aunt Katie made a friend. Check out the hand! He he he. (Ok, so she had the snacks....)

We went camping at Elkmont in the Smokies. Isaac's first time roasting marshmallows!

Karsen and Olivia took turns roasting doggies.

Karsen was looking at all the butterflies. There was a bunch more flying around than in the picture.

You can't see Nate or Aleah because they were in the center of the fountains getting blasted! They loved these fountains in downtown Knoxville. Olivia liked being swung in by daddy...despite the face.

Here's the gang. Aleah, Justin, Olivia, Tami, Isaac, Nate, Katie, Karsen. Thanks for coming Katie! It was tonz-o-fun!

Happy 4th of July

We spent the 4th at my parents' house. Grandma got Isaac and Olivia some new toys at a garage sale. They are sporting their helmets/bike. My Nana (on the right) came up for a visit from Georgia.

We took Luci swimming in the lake. She's had much improvement since last year. She doesn't splash her paws above water anymore.

She brings sticks in water back better than balls in grass.

This was our grand finale. The two flaming chicks caught all the others on fire and eggs were flying everywhere! Thank you Justin (and Grandma/pa for providing them) for a great show!

The snappers were the favorite with the kids. They could only pop them by stomping on them. It was VERY funny to watch.

OOOO.....sparklers!

Isaac and Olivia's first fireworks!

I think Isaac made it till about 9, then hit the hay. We woke Olivia back up for all the neighborhood firework shows. She really enjoyed watching from my parents' driveway. We went inside after about 30min because of all the bugs. It was a fun day. Thank you G&G!

Swim Class

Olivia took swim lessons at the University of Tennessee. Kicking and moving around was no problem. Face under water took 'til the last day. And she only went under up to her eyes, but she didn't choke....so yay! We all had fun. (Justin took her a few days too!)

I think she really likes the water!

She stuck her tongue out for everything! It was funny!

She had to jump off the side to me. I think it was harder for me than her because she is so tall and I had to lift her up onto the ledge. I kept losing my balance and had to stabilize myself with a leg on the wall. he he.

This was her "horsey ride". The tongue helped here too!

Summer Hair Chops

Pre-hair cut. I didn't realize it was so long!

Pre-cut. His was usually curlier. It was a little smashed for the cutting.

The Cut. It was quite the challenge, especially Mr. Isaac!

Post-cut. Here's the best shot I could get. They were watching tv.

Cute Kids, and Sweet Too

This is what happens when Isaac wants to eat yogurt. He DOES NOT want any help. So I don't give any.

I grabbed this picture one night before I went to bed. I was thankful the flash didn't wake him up. I could watch the kids sleep all night if I could stay awake. Isaac (and Olivia) likes to pour water on himself when we play in the pool. Check out his lips. He makes fish lips quite often.

Olivia was licking the popsicle off her leg.

Isaac got to play in shaving cream during Olivia's nap. He only took one bite of it.

Here, want some of this cool stuff?

Olivia got to play in some too. We added food coloring to hers. Her entire belly was green. She thought it was so funny to have Luci lick her clean. She was doing a fine job too!

G&G bought them some "horse heads with sticks" (you know the toy i'm talking about???) to ride, except the horses stay at their house. SOOO...at our house, they improvised and decided to ride fly swatters. They still had the "giddy up" sound effects to go with it. It was quite funny to watch.

After getting up several times before her nap, she was told to go to bed and tuck herself in. We found her like this in the upstairs hallway about an hour later.

One of our summer projects was to stain the deck. (It's taken a while to get done, we still have the back side to paint.) Olivia did her own painting project while I painted one day. We'll get some before/after pics of the deck on here soon.

This was a shot I forgot to get on here when Nana and Gramp visited. They were dancing. Good job Gramp!

The bike train. We keep the bike inside because Olivia can't reach the peddles well enough yet. But they LOVE the car rides outside now.

Happy 5th Aniversery!!!!

Justin and I took an overnight to North Carolina for our 5 year aniversery on May 30. First we stopped at Max Patch in the Pisgah National Forest (NC). It's a BIG hill covered with grass. They used to land airplanes on it. Had some great 360 views. Had some MAJOR bugs flying around up there. We also stopped at Chimney Rock (NC). We climbed a bazillion stairs. This was a section of the stair squeeze. We took an elevator most of the way down.

This is part of the view from Chimney Rock. A little cloudy/rainy, but still pretty.

We hiked up farther to this point. You can see the Chimney Rock/flag area in the background.

This was part of Hickory Nut Falls at Chimney Rock...one of the waterfalls used in Last of the Mohicans.

We also went to Hot Springs Spa in Hot Springs, NC. We stayed the night in Ashville, NC. Also stopped by Cherokee, NC and hiked another waterfall trail. It was a great get-away filled with lots of outdoor fun. Thank you Justin!

Click It!

A picture from my final day of class; Portrait Photography. I start my next one in 2-3 weeks on retouching, etc. using a few photo editing programs.

Gramp and Nana Visit

Isaac enjoying the pool. We had that installed a week or so ago. We got the upgrade and had decking put in around the whole thing. The kids love it. Tami turned on the water and the kids had a blast filling up bottles over and over. It was a fun show to watch.

Olivia teaching Tami how to ride the trike. Olivia's starting her out slow in the garage where it's flat. Isaac's taking notes from the 4-wheeler.

Gramp giving Isaac a ride.

Olivia painting her own nails with the real thing. We might need to call it 'toe' polish instead of 'toe-nail' polish for a couple more years. She painted Tami and Nana's nails too. Unfortunately, I wasn't there to save Isaac. He ended up with a painted nail too.

Nana getting done up at Olivia's Backyard Salon & Spa.

Gramp and Nana, thanks for coming! We really enjoyed your visit. Love ya! - Justin, Tami, Olivia, and Isaac