Summer........

What a great time of year. Warm weather, pool time, less laundry, trips to Dollywood, trips to the BEACH, hiking, waterfalls, outdoor music, creeks, festivals, and on and on.....


I suppose we wouldn't appreciate the warm weather if we didn't have to bear the winter as well, although I am not too sure about all that. All I know is to have a nice mild summer climate, you inevitably have to go through the coldness of winter additionally in most parts of the world. We certainly have lovely summer, spring and fall weather in the mountains of western North Carolina.

Speaking of these mountains, I learned yesterday that my family's roots literally date back to the 1700's of the colonists who came to these mountains. My brother, Jonathan, has done quite a bit of research on our family's genealogy and both sides have lived here since.....well, before America was born. No wonder I am still here and have never wanted to leave. These mountains run deep in my blood.

I believe Dolly Parton says it best in a song:
(you must imagine Annabelle or Lucie singing these words)
These are my mountains, my valleys
These are my rivers flowing like a song
These are my people, my memories
These are my mountains, This my home


The goal for this summer is more hiking. We went up on the parkway last week and this is a picture of Uncle Jonathan and the boys discussing the leaves they collected (and left there by order of the park ranger lest we get a ticket). We had planned on hiking to some falls on up the road, but the road was closed due to a rock slide. We made the most of the day anyhow.




















Completely unrelated to the rest of the post, is a random picture of Annabelle and her make-up. This little gal just looooves that stuff! After our dentist appointments (which is a story for another post sometime) on Monday, I let each kid get a prize at the store. Caleb got a little toy tent and camping Dad and son. Adam got a pack of Silly Bandz (don't get me started on those things) and Annabelle got some make-up. She looks gorgeous with her red sparkly lips and blue eye shadow! (her words)




I will close with a couple of shots from our first Dollywood trip of the year....