The Great Smokies Part 2

Still hiking, but Liam, being ever so cute, bummed a ride from this beautiful lady (one of the wife friends).


At the falls! This was a fairly moderate hike. And, even though Ace didn’t want to hike, it was a great one to do. I don’t think he complained much on it…which is a surprise. And the reward of a cool breeze and pretty waterfall was great. Josiah kept pointing at it saying, “Wa wa fall”


A man pointed out this salamander before we left. Slimy, no? Thankfully, there was a barrier to keep my little gooey ooey boys (and girl) from touching it.

On the way back down, taking a rest.
Yes, it took two to walk with Liam. I’ll admit that.
Liam kept waffling back and forth trying to decide if was going to marry one or the other.

And the big reward was we got to see a bear when we got back to our car!! One of our friends said she saw two small bears. We were trying to figure out where the mama was as this bear was quite small in black bear standards (I think). At any rate, we had talked about paying about $10 per person to take the kids to see a bear and other animals but free was waaaay better. He was very high up in the tree just chomping at the branches. Very cool!

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And we’re back!

Sorry for the delay! We’re home from our vacation to the mountains. I’ve got to get the pictures uploaded so look for posts next week.

Aside from a three year old who felt the need to streak after playing in the pool it was a pretty mellow trip!

We borrowed two teenagers to go with us and when I realized I could ask for their help, they were really useful. I’m so used to doing it all on my own or with Mark’s help that sometimes it slipped our mind to hand off a child or have them buckle someone up or watch them. They were a ton of fun though and I’m afraid they’ve become addicted to the game of pool.

So stay tuned, we’ll get back into the swing of things next week.

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At the Beach


Carrie with Roman and Mandi with Jacob

Liam’s first reaction to the beach!

Uncle Scott attempted, in vain, to build a sandcastle. As soon as one tower was built, Ace and Liam would knock it down!


Making cookies with Aunt Heather!


Ace loved the babies. He was able to make them both laugh a lot!
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We’re Home!

One week and 9 hours later, we are home from vacation! We had a wonderful time and I’ll post pictures from our “Bamapalooza 2007” trip later this week. First to unpack. I just wanted to send out a quick note that we are home.

No major injuries…biting flies and dodging crabs all week….Zoe got a splinter in her finger and Liam did good (minus having his thumb closed in the door by Zoe) until last night at our pit stop, he pulled the hairdryer down on his face causing a bruised lip and bloody nose. I’m glad Mark had him or we would have been searching desperately for an ER in the middle of nowhere!

It really was a fun trip with all of Mark’s college roommates and their families. There were 10 adults and 5 kids (all under the age of four) total. Mark definitely has a unique friendship and family bond with these guys. They got Ace out of saying, “Underwear!” all the time…but now (thanks, Uncle Ryan), he says, “I want to ROCK!” What are uncles for huh?! Ace and Zoe have taken calling these four special guys their crazy uncles! Uncle Scott has magic and can make a fire light up in a fireplace with a little wave. Aunt Heather was brave enough to take all three kids on in an effort to make sugar cookies…they may have looked funny but they tasted good.

What a fun trip. We’re looking forward to our next “Bamapalooza” trip in two years! We love you all!!!

I made it through without having a baby…contractions have been really strong and frequent (not consistent) all day today…I think most of that is because of sitting still riding in the car. We’ll see if there is any progress at the doctor’s tomorrow.

I have got to unpack and get some stuff together for Josiah’s baby book…it’s crunch time now!!!

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