Fourth of July Mountain Trip

We decided to meet Brett's dad and his wife Rose in the mountains for a four day weekend over the fourth of July. They have a 30' RV they use to camp in, and we have a 10' tent! So, we decided to give camping a try with two young kids. We were excited about the adventure and the escape from the heat, but not sure how it was all going to go down with a 5 year-old and a 2 year-old... Well, on the positive side, we really LOVED:

• getting to catch up with Ron and Rose


• the cooler weather (70s / 80s during the day and 60s at night)


• the sound of the running stream when sleeping at night


• the starry skies


• the "hikes" we did with the kids


• the s'mores! (every night!)


• the escape


• the magnificent views from the Blue Ridge Parkway


• the small-town fireworks

However, with two young ones who need a nap and who get cranky REALLY easily when they are tired... it was a lot of work for the parents. The packing was work, the driving was work, the setting up the tent was work, the food preparation was work, getting the kids to nap was work, the disciplining was work, the packing up to go home was work, the driving home was work, the unpacking was work, and the laundry was work! Man! I needed a vacation from my vacation! I loved being in the mountains, but, honestly I can say with confidence that I will not be participating in or preparing for any camping trips any time soon. I'm more of a cabin kind of girl!

These pictures are not really in order, but oh well. There's a lot of them!

S'more time!


Pierce cramming his mouth full of chocolate!



You know you want one of these!



The river on one of our "hiking" trips (0.3 miles each way!)

Breaking it down in front of our humble abode.

Happy Fourth of July!

Ron fixed baby back ribs for dinner on the fourth! Yummy!

Playing in another very shallow and wonderfully cool and clear river in Cherokee, NC.

Doing some serious hiking! The kids loved it!

Taking a break half-way through our hike (about one hour total walking time).

Sydney and Ron playing in the stream behind our campsite. Brett and Ron built a small, I mean monstrous and magnificent dam in the river that I'm sure they would like me to devote an entire blog post to, but I think this picture will suffice.

Pierce got in the stream and helped with the engineering efforts as well. Later, Brett saw a frightening snake in this stream, trapped him, then let him go! Gee, thanks! As you can imagine, the kids didn't go back in again!

Pierce and Ron working hard.

The kids were thrilled to play in the tent as soon as it was set up!

Fishing in the stream was fun, but didn't produce any dinner!

Yes, I dressed Pierce in a Polo Ralph Lauren 3-button shirt on a camping trip. Yes, he trashed it. Yes, the stains came out. Yes, I only paid $1.50 for it second hand, so I guess it didn't matter either way! And yes, he is so handsome in it!

That's all folks! No more camping pics for a long time I'm sorry to say!