Hiking and Tweetsie Railroad

During my family's annual trip to Camp, we took a few days to go hiking and visit Tweetsie Railroad.  The hike up Grandfather is something we always look forward to but it had been at least 8 years since I did it and I honestly couldn't remember much about it.  Derek and I love to hike and have done a few strenuous hikes and from what I could remember it seemed to be on par.  I mean if my 9 year-old niece and 6 year-old nephew are going to do it then it can't be that bad, right?  Somehow I forgot about all the ladders, ropes, rocks, and climbing.  It is certainly not for the faint hearted as there are some really dangerous parts and I can't imagine trying to do it in the rain with the rocks being slippery (which I'm pretty sure we did back in my youth).  Fortunately it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed our hike along the seven peaks of Grandfather Mountain.

Lauren and William at the start of the Daniel Boone Trail

View from the first peak

About a mile in we weren't sure this guy was going to make it but with some encouragement, he made it the whole way!

This was the first of many of ladders for us

At the start of Attic Window 

Midway through Attic Window, this was the view up from where I was standing.

And this was the view down.

We made it!  Note the warning signs for how difficult the trail is.  We definitely saw people in flip flops and walking dogs
try to go up this path.

Derek and the Mile High Swinging Bridge

All our hikers for the day

Our next big adventure of the week was to Tweetsie Railroad.  It's cheesy, outdated, and a bit overpriced but still holds a lot of nostalgia for us.  It was great to get to bring Caroline there to enjoy the train, animal feeding, and her first rides.  She even got up on stage during the cloggers performance and did her own little jig!

How could these cuties end up in jail?

Caroline is not impressed by the wagon

Paige kindly road the rides with William

And Caroline S. road with Lauren

She was not afraid of the animals and she really wanted them to eat the food from her hand.

Checking out the donkeys

This was like a dream come true.  She LOVES Llama Llama books and got to meet a real llama!

First time on a Merry-Go-Round.  Maybe not her favorite but she lasted the whole ride without crying.

This proud little lady getting her picture taken with the performers

One afternoon the three of us went over to Linville Falls to do a small hike on our own.  We wanted to be able to do a hike with Caroline and this was the perfect place.  It had been so long since I had done it that I could barely remember so it was like the first time for all of us.

View of the Upper Falls

Smiling and signing for Dada 

Family photo at the lower falls

It was a terrific week at camp and we really hope to be able to go back again next year.  Life gets hectic and it is nice to be able to take a week to disconnect from work and reconnect to family. It certainly won't be 8+ years until we return this time!

Finally Back at Camp

My family first started going to Camp Linn Haven when I was not even a year old yet.  Every year since then (excluding the year we got married), my family has spent a week at camp with some of our dearest friends.  Thanks to my brother, some of those dear friends are now actually family too!  I spent many summers up at Camp as a kid and teenager attending kids weeks, family week, and working in the kitchen.  It was at Camp that I had my first job, learned responsibility and independence, and made so many memories.

Evidence that we have been coming for 30 years.  Check out that tiny handprint on the bottom!

Due to limited vacation time in those early years of a career and multiple moves, Derek and I had not had the chance to go.  In fact, Derek had never been to Camp at all.  We decided this year that we had to go and I am so glad we did!  We loved getting to enjoy the cool mountain air, hike, play games, camp fires, and the wonderful company.  Caroline had a blast getting to play with her cousins and have endless space to practice her new skill, walking.

Per usual, I didn't pull out my camera nearly as much as I probably should.  So this first post features the few pictures from around Camp and I will post again about our hikes and visit to Tweetsie.

My parents brought a little push cart for Caroline to use and she walked herself all over the place!

And if she wasn't walking with the cart she was walking with her cousin, Lauren

Walking along my favorite path around Camp.  This creek is so peaceful.  

Pavilion at Camp 

William, Lauren, and Caroline

And then they decided to be silly 

One of the few times we can get everyone together

Story time with Grandma

Plunking rocks into the creek was one of her favorite thinks to do 

Rock plunking excitement!

We got to sing one of Caroline's favorite songs: "If You're Happy and You Know It..."  She was a little distracted trying to practice walking.

Walking around in the grass

More coming soon!

Christmas 2014

Keeping up with my 3+ month delay on blogposts, I bring you Christmas 2014.  I have had a few ongoing projects that have kept me busy but now that I am done, I will hopefully get caught up.  I have so many pictures to share of the last few months including Caroline's 1st Birthday and I just can't wait to get those up!  My engineer brain can't skip around so we are going to keep going in chronological order.

With this being Caroline's first Christmas, we wanted to start some of our own little family traditions.  One thing that was important to us was to be able to do a Christmas morning at our house.  Since Caroline wouldn't realize if it was actually December 25th or not, we did it a few days early so that we could make the drive to GA/SC to spend some time with our families.

Looking at her Night Before Christmas book

Checking out her pull toy owl 

So excited to get Baby Stella 

Yay Baby Stella!

Merry Christmas. One of traditions is new pajamas on Christmas Eve.

I did a little photoshoot with Caroline before we hit the road 

First we drove to Derek's parent's house where we had lunch with a good friend, visited the lights at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, and took a trip to The Children's Museum of Atlanta.  We certainly kept ourselves busy and enjoyed our short stay in Atlanta.

Lunch with Teresa!

Out past bedtime for the lights

Lights at ABG

The sky had a strange orange glow and this statue had its hair flowing in lights.

Learning about the piano at the Children's Museum.  No doubt lessons are in your future. 

Daddy showing her how to play 

Playing with the kinetic sand.  Paci was necessary so she wouldn't stick it in her mouth.

I think Derek may have enjoyed the Museum more than she did.

Checking out the tractor

Family photo after Christmas Eve service

Caroline with Derek's parents

Opening presents on Christmas Eve in our matching pajamas Derek got us for Christmas

On Christmas day we drove to Spartanburg to have Christmas with my whole family at my oldest brother's house.  Unfortunately I didn't really take any pictures.  The following day, we drove to Columbia to spend some time with Caroline's godparents, Katie and Adam, before driving to Aiken to stay with my parents for a couple nights.  After that we drove all the way back to Louisiana.  It was a whole lot of driving for one week but we are glad we got to spend the holidays with our families this year!

Caroline and her cousin Lauren in their matching outfits