Anya, Lately

Anya turned 6 in March!

She has developed her own unique sense of style,

learned to ride her bike,

and lost her first tooth!

(And did it with style...on a picnic in Kentucky!)

Excuses, excuses

I haven't posted anything on this blog lately.

This is mostly why:

But we're at least 3/4 of the way done. We think.

The Hike Along the Little River

On our last day in Gatlinburg, after the morning clouds had lifted, Mike, Pat and I took the kids on what was supposed to be a short 1.2 mile hike to a waterfall.

When we got to the trailhead, it turned out that it was a much longer hike than we'd thought, and as we were discussing the issue...

...it started to hail.

We ran back to the van, piled in, and headed back down the road toward the cabin.

It stopped hailing.

An extra long hike was still out of the question, but we had promised the kids an adventure, so we pulled over by the side of the road to let them have a closer look at the river rushing over the rocks.

They thought that was pretty neat.

It was so beautiful that we decided to go farther upstream.

We found a horse trail to follow, and Isaak found an accommodating Grandpa.

We stopped for a group picture...

...and it started to hail. Again.

And it hailed harder than it had the first time.

So once again, we ran back to the van. The kids happily exchanged their wet shirts for dry ones, and we headed back down the road again toward the cabin and the nice warm fire.

We had promised the kids an adventure; they got one they'll never forget!

Galivanting With Grandparents

While Grandpa Pat and Grandma Suzie were here visiting last week, we took a trip to the Smoky Mountains. We stayed in a cabin in the Gatlinburg area, and spent our days exploring, hiking, playing games, and learning (of course!).

(This is NOT the cabin we stayed in.)

* * *

We enjoyed the wide open spaces and the mountains,

explored little pieces of history (like old churches and graveyards),

got caught in a hail storm while we were following a trail,

and enjoyed sitting in front of a real wood fire.

The best part, though, was doing it all with Grandpa and Grandma!