Gospel Light Christian Camp

Last Thursday we headed to Hillsville, VA to go to a family camp!!!  We were blessed to have been invited by some friends of ours who go to the church that we used to go to.  His brother and his brother's wife and their 7 children (with number 8 on the way) take care of this Christian Camp that their church owns.  They are an amazing family and I am not sure how they find the energy to host so many people and do ALL the cooking!!!!  We were blessed to be with about 8 families, most of whom we know from our old church, but a few new families that we got to meet for the first time, as well.  We had such an amazing time fellowshipping, playing games, hearing good preaching, having family movie night, swimming and a water slide, and fireworks.  Well, Hunter didn't care for the fireworks (screaming!!!).  We were fed three meals a day and stayed in rustic cabins.  The weather was perfect - cool in the mornings and evenings, hot during the day, and a quick rain in the afternoons to cool things off.  The boys had such a great time and are still talking about it, wanting to go back.  Hunter thanks God at every prayer time for allowing us to go to family camp.  We headed home Monday and while it was nice to have some of the comforts of our own home back again, we are hoping that God will allow us to do something like this again! :) 

Our cabin

 

Area to play sports/games

The boys/dads shooting skeet

One of my good friend's little girl. 

And one of her other precious little ones

More skeet shooting

LOVE this dog - Ivan!

This girl sitting with Andrew is such a doll~

Hummingbird Festival

Saturday we spent the day at Ijams Nature Center in Knoxville for their 3rd annual hummingbird festival.  We are usually looking for something family friendly to do on our weekly Saturday family day that is cheap/free and outdoors if it isn't too hot/cold.  The place was huge and very pretty.  They have lots of trails and an exhibit center and a kids play area and a lake and a boardwalk.  For the hummingbird festival, they had vendors setup and food and of course hummingbirds.  We got to see the banding demonstration where they tag hummingbirds and then let them fly free.  They migrate from here all the way to South America and Mexico.  We had a laugh about it afterwards because these hummingbirds were in little pillowcase-like bags.  The man would pull one out and then do various checks on the bird while explaining what he was doing and discussing different characteristics of the bird.  Then he would put the tag on them and someone else would take the bird and release it.  I'm pretty sure the hummingbirds DO NOT like the hummingbird festival.  Any way, it was neat to watch.  We actually have a hummingbird feeder (and a hummingbird) on our front porch; the bird visits daily usually.  I just think they are the neatest things. 

Bagged and Tagged!

This was a part of the children's play area.  It was like a little fairytale land with these things all over the place and little wooden playhouses.  It was cute!

Totally unrelated, but I just noticed.......THIS IS MY 1000th POST!!!!!!!!! 

Smoky Mountain National Park

We have been to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge lots of times now, but never into Smoky Mountain National Park.  We decided to take a day trip there yesterday, especially while Sean is on break from school.  :)  We ate lunch in Pigeon Forge (I had been craving a steak salad from JT Hannah's for weeks) and then we went to the park.  We visited the visitor's center and then did a 2.6 mile hike to Laurel Falls.  After that we had a picnic dinner next to the river.  Almost as soon as we were done eating, it started pouring rain, so thank God we were not still on that hike!!!!  We had a great day soaking in God's glorious creation and spending time together as a family, making memories. 

View from the hiking trail

Alas, we made it to the waterfall!!



The stragglers :) 

Ryan even walked the whole 2.6 miles!!!  Hunter walked 1.3 miles.  Andrew=no miles :).

This was the sign at the start of the trail and it was VERY truthful!!!!  There were lots of steep drop-offs that made me sooooo nervous with the boys!!!!  When we had asked the rangers what was good to do, they mentioned this family friendly, paved trail........I expected something totally different!!!  Nonetheless, it was fun and we all made it back safely!

We worked up an appetite!

Zoo Time

We have been enjoying our season pass to the zoo.  I think this is about the 5th or 6th time that we have been since March.  We went today and packed a picnic and we all had a great time!  Here's some pix, even though it really has nothing to do with the zoo.....just a flower in the butterfly enclosure!!!!  :)

And the boys playing at the zoo

And this is Hunter the other day holding my pink umbrella during a walk in the neighborhood

Camping!

Ryan has been talking about camping for a long time so Sean decided to take him yesterday......all the way to our back yard!  We ate hotdogs on a stick and roasted marshmallows for S'mores.  Then, it turned night and me and the youngest two headed back inside for baths, tick removal, Bible time, and bed time.  In the A/C.  In comfy beds.  Ryan and Sean slept outside in a tent.  In the heat.  And in the rain.  And they LOVED it.  They played Go Fish and Dominos and Angry Birds.  When I last peeked out after midnight, I could still see the light glowing from their flashlights inside the tent.  I missed my hubby, sleeping all by myself, but I am so glad they had that father-son time.   

Breaking the rules....a no-no....feeding my 10-month-old hotdogs.

 

 

 

 

 

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Yesterday was my birthday and I felt very blessed to have such a special day with my family.  I am also thankful for all the phone calls, texts, and birthday cards from friends and family.  Thank you for thinking of me and for helping to make my day extra lovely!!!!!  Here's some snapshots of what we did!!!!  :)

First I got to open cards and I especially loved this one.  Ryan, all by himself without any help, wrote 'hug" on my card!!!!  Then, I went and got a mani pedi :)

lol - first time seeing a sign like this!!  After my manicure and pedicure we went to McCloud Mountain for lunch. 

View from our table

This one, too.

Another silly sign!



Trying to take a picture of ourselves by ourselves.



And then someone came along and offered to help.



Wild blueberries on McCloud Mountain

And wild blackberries, too.

 

 

And finally cupcakes after lunch at Scrumps, which the owners were also finalists on Cupcake Wars on Food Network.  The cupcakes were fabulous!

And here's a few random camera phone freebies from the day before.  :)