While the ladies manned the fort (8 kids), we went hiking on the Appalachian Trail. We put in at Newfound Gap in the heart of Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We hiked northbound on the trail for 5days/4nights. We were weather channel savvy and hiked to the first shelter prior to the monsoon that arrived the first day. Thankfully, we stayed fairly dry. We had gusty rain through the majority of the night.

The following morning (Wednesday), was clear and cool. The hike took us by Charlie’s Bunion and over the sawteeth. Vistas were clear and beautiful. Several spots gave a 180-degree view. I’ll post some photos without many captions (too much effort involved). We hiked shelter-to-shelter backing off a little from the mileage obtained in the previous years. This made for a more relaxed experience. You will notice that there is a photo of a grouse. his name is Ricardo (don’t know how he earned that one) and he is a resident of the TriCorner Knob shelter metro area. Saw lots of bear scat but no bears. I do want to put a plug in for the new sleeping pad I bought this year. It is the REI Lite-Core 1.5. This pad was worth every penny. Light, compact, luxurious. I was not paid by REI to say that, but wouldn’t refuse it if they like the publicity.

The hikers this year were Andy Wells, Micah Lewis, Chad Bailey, and myself. We also had some rain on our hike out of the park, but a steak dinner made it tolerable.

All in all a great trip. Fun Facts about Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, TN:

1. These two towns have a pancake restaurant/resident ratio of 3:1. I was amused and counted twelve dedicated pancake establishments as we drove the main drag of Pigeon Forge. This is not counting the Shoney’s and TWO Cracker Barrel stores. What gives? Who decided that pancakes are the official food of Appalachia? Did I miss this in my schooling?

2. You can buy a Funnel Cake 365 days a year in Gatlinburg.

3. There were at least 5 stores that I’m confident sold a Braveheart-like sword.

4. Halloween is creepy in Gatlinburg. Hard to tell who is wearing a costume or just out for a night on the town.

All I know about Glenn Beck is that he is on Fox News and called Obama a racist. I don’t know the context, so have no argument one way or the other. I watched a rant that he produced in regard to the Fort Hood shootings. Regardless of what you think of the guy, I recommend watching this. He’s a little dramatic, but his points are well made. It’s approx 16 minutes long and at times, the dubbing is a little off. Comments?

The One Thing: 11/11.

Yeah, I know, it’s a little late. The Baileys and the Wells came in town and we had a picnic. Also included is a few shots from the mountain house vacation and Halloween. I didn’t take the time to arrange them in the proper chronologic order. Things to note:

1. Avery (jr) is a slip-and-slide maniac.

2. Ghost costumes are cheap.

3. Watermelon is tasty.

4. No birthday party is complete without an inflatable monkey.

Trust me, these are worth the time. I had the Spies Like Us scene playing in my head all day.

Couldn’t resist another.

Can anyone else think of humorous exam clips that I’m leaving out?

Today, Thomas the Tank Engine came to town. We found out too late to go to this last year, so we have had tickets for 3 months in anticipation.

I know that there are a lot of pictures, but it’s been a while since i’ve posted, so bear with me.

I know that there’s a lot of photos, but it was that kind of a day. To explain a few of the photos:

They had a huge tent with 7 or 8 train tables, a temporary tattoo tent, a story-telling tent, a small train, a big train, a petting zoo (seriously?), a costumed Sir Topham Hatt, some kid with a Rat tail(!), a gift shop, and a musician who let the kids bang the fool out a triangle. It was a fun and tiring morning. As expected, Avery had a great time and cried when we left. Gratitude is not his strong suit at this point. Highly recommend the Day out with Thomas experience if it’s heading to your town.

Avery (Jr.) had a banner day in the misbehaving category. His random devious acts consisted of the following:

1. Bold-face lie about going potty when we could see that it was bone dry.

2. Throwing his sippy cup point blank into Parker’s calvarium.

3. Peeing on Parker’s head on purpose during bath time.

Needless to say, not his best day. We asked God to forgive us at bedtime and hope that tomorrow brings a slightly more obedient little boy. The bonus goody I speak of is another flavor of Publix premium ice cream: “It’s Your Birthday Cake.” As described on the box: “Premium birthday cake ice cream with blue, orange and green frosted cookie pieces and swirled with ribbons of blue cake frosting.”  Diabetes 1, Diet 0. Oh well, this stuff is REALLY good and highly recommended. Jen is currently hearing Christina’s engagement story, hope to have some updates on that soon.

In the order of their occurance:

1. Benjamin Baxter James born to Scott and Jaime James at 12:44pm in Birmingham, AL. Their blog is off to the right

2. Christina Wells and Andrus Ashoo are engaged, maybe 3pm ish. Congrats to them.

3. Amanda Mixon and Brad Knight are engaged, 7:30pm ish. Congrats also go out.

Can’t think of a bigger day in recent memory! Don’t have many more details at this point, but just enjoying the moment for all of them.

Here are some shots of my garden as of late. A few are obviously earlier in the season.  I love my garden. I love the flowers and the veggies.  I’m not sure I love the ‘pumpkin vine’ that’s taken over the back half of my yard!!  Actually, I have no idea if it is a pumpkin plant or a watermelon plant.  The one fruit that’s on it makes me think it’s a watermelon, but when I google pictures of the pumpkin plant, this thing looks a whole lot like that. Who knows. I’ll post a pic of it later and let you decide…

Enjoy!  Oh, be on the look out for the carrot pair that looked for all the world like a pair of lady’s legs!! Hilarious.  Visions of ‘A Christmas Story’ lamp come to mind.  And, yes, we did eat them!!

My sweet son and I had an interesting discussion this morning, and to him, it was probably run-of-the-mill, but to me it was hilarious. 

I was getting dressed for the day and he was curious about what my bra was – never really seemed to care before.  Anyway, he asked what it was and I just said it was another shirt mommies put on under their other shirts…(no, I was not going to go in to detail of what it was called and why we wear them, b/c I don’t want to be embarrassed by it at a later date, can you just imagine?!) So, he said, “Little boys don’t wear that.” I said no, little boys don’t. and then he stopped and thought for a second.  As he walked out of the bedroom he said very matter-of-factly:  “We don’t have time to put that on.” I just had to smile. How true, how true.   Little boys only have time for things that are deemed highly important – they’re busy people, you see.  I love you Li’l A!!