July 4, 2015

Greetings from the St. Louis Arch! If we would have had another option other than seeing the Arch ON the 4th of July with 1 MILLION other people in the 90 degree heat we would have taken it, but since we were only passing through, we took what we could get! Between waking up at 5am, driving for 10 hours, the Arch and the Cardinals game, we were wiped out by the end of the day!! Next stop: Kansas City!

June 26, 2015

Our first full morning in Michigan was spent at VBS in a Jerusalem Market. The boys all had tunics to wear and they got to make bread, weave, make soap, sing songs and make necklaces. They had a great time!

January 17, 2015

While Charlie is looking for work, we decided to take a road trip to Albuquerque to visit Jenny and to take our minds off the current situation for awhile. It was a long drive, but the boys were champs as usual. Our first stop in the morning was the children's museum, which was really fun until Owen puked all over me. He was a little out of sorts for the rest of the day, but the rest of us enjoyed a really good New Mexican meal and then rode the Sandia Crest cable car to the top of the mountain. It was a really warm day on the bottom but it was only about 30 degrees at the top. By the time we got up there Dylan had a fever and was a little out of sorts, and he fell asleep on me for the first time in ages (in the freezing cold!) The boys were exhausted after such a busy day so we put them in bed and hung out in Jenny's backyard around the firepit. Good first day!

August 10, 2014

It was a long ride home... you have to entertain yourself somehow!

August 9, 2014

Our very last morning of vacation was just as busy as the rest of the week! We started with a short hike to Silver Run Falls and the boys played around in the water, then headed to White Water Falls to see an amazing waterfall that was way taller than even Niagra! It was super sad to say goodbye to everyone, especially since we don't know the next time we'll all be together again, but it was a great week full of fun and memories and family time. Yay for family vacations!

August 8, 2014

Friday was a rainy day. Like, torrential downpour for more than five hours. I'm not sure I've ever seen that much rain at one time in my whole life. It was intense! It was a great day for playing darts, LRC, legos and watching a movie. Elise, Kirk, Charlie, Viv and I headed out for a short hike around Iron Bridge just as it finished raining but we stayed surprisingly clean considering how much rain there was. 

August 7, 2014

Our big day in the actual Smoky Mountains has finally arrived! We woke up pretty early to get a jump start on the day and headed to the furthest away location, Juney Whank Falls hike. It was a short one (.3 each way) but it was very kid friendly and the waterfall was really pretty. Clingman's Dome was next - the highest point in the National Park. It was just over half a mile up to the top but it was steep and straight up. The observation tower was pretty crowded but it was really cool to see so far away. They pointed out the NC/TN border too. The mistake of the day was heading into Gatlinburg, but we had some ice cream to soften the blow a little ; ) The Englert's and Koslow's headed home after that but we went to Cherokee with Grammy, Pappy, Leah and Viv to eat dinner and play in the bubbling brook. That was the boys' highlight of the day!