Remember...

Happy Halloween

Five Fun Things We Did This Week

1. We went to see the National Players in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
2. We made pumpkin pancakes.
3. We went to the Guitar Center to look at electric guitars for Reeves and acoustics for Embree.
4. We had a scavenger hunt in the local cemetery during American Sign Language class.
5. We went trick or treating twice (and it isn't even Halloween yet!)

What fun did you have this week?

Your Children are not Your Children, 

They are the sons and daughters of life's longing for itself. 

They come through you but not from you, 

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. 

You may give them your love but not your thoughts, 

For they have their own thoughts. 

You may house their bodies but not their souls, 

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, 

which you cannot visit, 

not even in your dreams. 

- Kahlil Gibran

These lovely words are posted today on Kind Over Matter.

 If you have never read this blog...

I encourage you to check it out.

Our fall trip...

Normally, we would spend our fall break at our place in the mountains. This year, we thought we would visit my parents in Johnson City, Tn and go on an adventure each day.

Downtown Asheville, NC

Whenever Todd and I have a free weekend without the kids (which is rare) we always seem to end up in Asheville. We love walking around downtown, soaking up the atmosphere, visiting art galleries, watching people as they go about their day, and window shopping. Of course, we love eating there. We have tried many different little eateries in the nooks and crannies of the city. One of our favorites is Tupelo Honey, where we took the kids this week. Even if you can't get to Asheville...they have a new cookbook coming out! My bet is that it will be worth the money. Of course, I always leave singing a little Van Morrison!

Other scenes from our time downtown...

Reeves' new hat

 Embree enjoys the mountain breeze

 The cat in the glass gallery

 The Grove Arcade

Embree takes a photo of herself in the Arcade restroom 

 Dad and Brice watching a glass blowing lesson

 The glass blowing lesson

 Brice LOVED the clock shop

Street Fair...one of our family favorites

Day 2: We went to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

NOT Gatlinburg. NOT Pigeon Forge. 

We actually went to the Park itself. 

The closest to a tourist trap we got that day was a 

lovely little apple orchard on the way. 

The rest of the day was spent picnicking and exploring Cades Cove and other parts of the Park. It was a beautiful day.

 Culling the blemished apples for cider and apple pies

 A picnic in the Smokies

 Embree, Reeves, and Dad...

rock hopping minutes before Embree fell in...all the way!

 A little fall color

 Cades Cove

 Just before leaving Cades Cove Embree spied a BEAR! 

Several other people saw it too. 

She said she was "too stunned" to take a picture.

Crossing from Tennessee into North Carolina. 

Newfound Gap at dusk. 

This is home.

Day 3: We visited the new Bat Exhibit at the Gray Fossil Museum in Gray, TN with our cousins. We love the bats that swoop around our house in the early evenings. It was fascinating to learn about all the different types...over 1,000. Did you know that the different species of bats make up 1/4 of all mammals? Wow!!

We finished our day at the bookstore, 

watching a little Ranger's baseball, 

launching a toy rocket, 

and munching a bunch of Nana's pumpkin pancakes. Yum!

A nice vacation...just the right length. 

Lots of great food, new sights, and family time.

Happy Fall!