Summer vacation '09

After picking up Paulie and Elizabeth from camp, much to the delight of their siblings, we headed to a mountain cabin nearby (about 10 miles from their camp).

Being so close to the Pisgah National Forest, many activities were available to us during our week in the area. The first adventure we took advantage of, on the recommendation of Paulie and Elizabeth, who both took the fishing class at camp and went on this field trip, was the Pisgah Fish Hatchery and Center for Wildlife Education. We fed the fish and examined the different varieties.

We also picked and sampled the raspberries.

Then looked for local wildlife,

enjoyed the walking trails,

examined the cute babies (did I mention that our good friends, the Callahans, travelled with us?)

then picnicked alongside the waterfalls/river.

We also stopped to visit Dolly's, aka the camp's Big Scoop, on our way back to the cabin.

When the ice cream ran out,

we had a mini-photo shoot with the kids that went predictably awry.

We ventured out to a nearby waterfall on the 2nd day after retrieving the kids from camp. The scenery alone was amazing! (This waterfall was about 2 miles from the cabin we rented.)

The other end of the waterfall area created a mini-waterslide, which as you can imagine, thrilled the kids. Natural waterslides?! Go figure. ;)

After playing in the falls for a while,

and resting for a while,

some interesting wildlife crawled up next to us. He hung out for a while and then floated down the waterslide himself.

One last dip in the cool pooled water,

and a dip of Judah's little toes (he was less than impressed),

and we headed back in for the day.

**Part 2 tomorrow...stay tuned!