The wonders of car camping.

 I never knew something could be so easy & fun.  You can pack most whatever want/ need and DRIVE to your campsite.  No walking (although I do love the hiking aspect of backpacking), but with little kids, this is awesome.  We had a blast with the Darnell's and it was a simple weekend full of a lot of nothing- talking, cooking, drinking coffee, more cooking, walking to the bathhouse, more eating, bathhouse again, fires, etc.  Such a therapeutic weekend to be outside with family.  I recommend it to anyone.  Oh- and we went to the North Mills River campground which is 30 minutes from our house!  Can't beat that!

Here's our set up (minus the Darnell's tent to the left of our's).

Exploring the campground in our pajamas.

We even celebrate a birthday!

And drove away from the campsite (in said cars) to go GEM MINING.  Now THAT is a cultural experience- what am I going to do with all of these "gems"?

And she lost ANOTHER tooth....the Tooth Fairy does indeed deliver to campsites.  FYI.

Got to be with these lovely people....our girls were awesome outside even in the cold!

And have moments like this.........

Summer fun.

So I didn't post all summer because we were having SO much fun!  Here are some highlights of the summer....

4th of July in Black Mountain with Grammie & Granddaddy- complete with small town parade in Montreat & fireworks.  We had the BEST time with them!

Swimming lessons with Ms. Jacki for both of the girls.  Lily learned how to swim "like a mermaid" underwater!

Visiting the Adventure Science Center in Nashville.  We also had a great time with both sets of grandparents, swimming with Em, Dave and Evelyn & meeting our new cousin, Eli!

The Krawczyk crew comes for a quick but super fun visit.

Taking some time out of the sun to do some "Mad Scientist" experiments.

Aunt Sandee & Taylor spend the week with us.  Here we are at Lake Tomahawk- we forgot how long & hot the walk would be. (:

Our new cousin, Eli!  Yay for Chris & Danielle.

Cousin photo shoot in our sweet dresses.

Visiting Great Grandpa & Grandma in New Hampshire.  We LOVED our time exploring NH- the farm, swimming under the covered bridge & visiting Ricker.

The Accardis visited and we loved every minute.  We met sweet baby Alice and Piper loved taking care of Cam and I loved being with Erin.  We all won!

Playing at Montreat park- a summer staple.

The grand finale of summer was sending Piper to Crestridge for a week!  She became our first Crestridge Cutie Pie.

Back to school....2 months later.

 Well, trying to update the blog regularly has proved to be a difficult task, but alas, I'll start trying again to update it once a week!  We'll see how it goes.  As always, I think our world is best described in pictures.  Here are our photos from the first days of school for Pi & Lily.

1st grade!!!!

Doesn't she look snazzy in her new outfit and shoes (they light up!) she picked out???

In the Kangaroo class!!!!

Lily at her school- loves those butterflies!

Goodies I made for Piper's teachers on the first day....