Our Trip, Part 2

Here are a couple more pictures of the beautiful waterfall we hiked up to. This first one is my family with Kathleen (Daniel's birthgrandma) and her husband Nick.




We spent the night at their house in the NC mountains, with a small stream flowing outside my window. The next day we drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and went to another waterfall, where Caleb had fun climbing on the rocks.




The mountains were just BEAUTIFUL!! We don't see anything like that in our area!! At one stop, a bagpiper was playing a song, looking out to the mountains. Dad requested he play Amazing Grace, so he did, and it was wonderful!



On the way back we stopped at Sliding Rock. We wished we could have done it, but we didn't have towels and swimmwear (plus it was cold!) so we just had to be satisfied with taking pictures. It reminded me of the movie The Swiss Family Robinson!



We met a lovely Christian couple at our next stop. They are singing evangelists, and they sang How Great Thou Art for us, right by this majestic waterfall.



Back at the house, the next day, Daniel had Kathleen close her eyes, and he led her to the log cabin he had made for her for Mother's Day.




Later that day we had a target contest. Caleb was the winner, and the prize was a pocket knife.



Here I am with Nick, wearing one of his hats to keep the gnats off. :-)



We also had fun swimming in this small waterfall by their house, and we also panned for gold in the river.



The next morning we said goodbye to Kathleen and Nick, then headed off to the ocean. We stayed in an ocean-front hotel for two nights. It was so much fun swimming in the Atlantic!! It was a lot warmer than the Pacific.





While in Charleston, we also visited Fort Sumter by ferry,





and we went in some gift shops and walked around, looking at the old homes and such. Uncle Tim and Aunt Lauri met up with us, and we went to the market, where lots of vendors were selling their baskets, artwork, and more.





We enjoyed walking along the beach both evenings we were there. We left around noon the third day, and started for home. We drove 27 or so hours in two days (17 in one). It's so nice to be home!!! We are so thankful to God for keeping us safe, and for blessing us with wonderful memories!



Life is very busy for us right now (we leave for our missions trip on June 4, plus we have to plant our big garden), so I may not write anything on here for awhile, but I may post some more trip pictures sometime. I took almost 900 pictures!! :-) Is there anything anyone would specifically like to see more pictures of?

Wild Ride

Here's a picture and movie of the men that went kayaking over the waterfall (read post below). Watch the second waterfall in the movie, and pretty soon you'll see a blue kayak come down.

Our Trip, Part 1

Hello Readers,

I’m sure you’ve all guess by now that we’ve been on vacation!! Yes, that’s right. It’s been such a blast! Here’s an update on where we went and what we did (most of it is from my trip journal – sorry if this post is too long, but I like detail and lots of pictures!).

The first day we left our house a little after 7:30 in the morning. We drove 9 hours and finally arrived at Uncle Andy, Aunt Laura, Caleb and Jesse’s house in WI. We slept overnight there. They were great hosts!



We left the next morning around 8:30 and drove another 7 or so hours to go to the solar training camp in IN. Soon after we arrived, everyone else came as well and we had hot dogs and hamburgers for supper. Everything at the solar training camp is run by . . . you guessed it . . . solar. Solar lights, solar electricity, and even solar showers (below).



We had our very own cabin – it was very nice! It had a composting toilet, which was interesting.



It had rained/was raining that day, so everything was very muddy and wet – including the steep trail to our cabin!



That evening we watched a solar training DVD, and had some discussion time, and the next morning everyone was up around 7am to eat breakfast. Scrambled eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, and cinnamon rolls . . . all cooked outside . . . yum!!



After breakfast the men took down a solar panel (and then put it back up) for practice. The ladies who were involved in doing the Fiestas all had a meeting, and we discussed for quite a while the specifics of preparing for and running the 3 or 4 Fiestas we’ll be doing in Honduras. That went really well. I think we all feel a little more prepared now, and it sure helped to have two people who had been there before answer our questions.



We practiced playing a few of the games and telling the Bible story, then we had lunch. Supper was grilled BBQ chicken and chocolate cake! Afterwards everyone left except Mr. R., who owns the camp. We stayed one more night. One of my favorite things at the camp was the beautiful clear streams, and there was also a cute little bridge.



The next morning we had breakfast with Mr. R. and then we left for the Creation Museum. It was a blast!! We were there for two days – Sun. afternoon, and Mon. morning and afternoon. On the first day we walked through the extensive outdoor gardens, and we all enjoyed seeing the zonkey, zorse, wallaby, camel, and more at the petting zoo.



Indoors we viewed the Planetarium (my favorite!), the Men in White movie in the Special Effects Theatre (that was so neat – but I can’t tell you why in case any of you ever go there!!!), and the self-guided tour which takes you through the Garden of Even (Ethan calls it that), Noah’s Ark, and LOTS more!!!



Tuesday morning we left the hotel and drove for about 6 hours until we came to the M. family’s house. It was so good to see them again!! Olivia (Mrs. M.) was the Rev. Mother in the Sound of Music movie that we made, and since they’d moved down to NC, we hadn’t seen them in a long time!! Baby Jeb was SO adorable! We had such a nice time visiting with them.



After leaving the M.’s home, we went to Uncle Tim and Aunt Lauri’s house near Charlotte. We stayed there for three nights. They had all the days planned out as to what attractions we would see, but they kept it all a surprise!! We had a lot of fun, and we learned so much. When you homeschool, you’re never really graduated, and you never really have a summer break!!! Here is a list of where we went:

First we went to the Transportation Museum:



Then the Reed Gold Mine:



The next day we rode the Light Rails train to downtown Charlotte:



Where we went to the ImaginON museum for kids:



And we also walked around this building that has things around the side that you can touch, and they make neat noises and light up:



We went to a few more places, and then rode the tram back to the vehicles. We had lunch and Uncle Tim and Aunt Lauri’s house, and then my siblings swam in a pool while I relaxed and took a nap! All that traveling can wear a person out.

That evening we watched Andy Griffeth, 18 and Counting (the Duggar Family) and some other shows on their huge HD TV. The next morning we packed up and then went to the Billy Graham Library, where Aunt Lauri volunteers. It was wonderful! It was more like a museum than a library, and it showed lots of movies and memorabilia from his life. It was very well done. Mr. Graham always thought of himself as a humble farm boy, and he said that he didn’t want any glory, since God’s Holy Spirit is what worked through him to save souls. He and his wife led amazing lives – they are such a good example for us to shine for Jesus in this dark world.



This is a picture of Billy Graham's niece with my mom and Aunt Lauri:



After the Billy Graham Library we went out to a pizza buffet, and then we drove a few hours to Daniel’s birth-grandma’s house in the mountains. We unloaded our things and then drove and hiked up to a BEAUTIFUL waterfall!! Right when we arrived at the good viewpoint, some kayakers went down one of the waterfalls! I got a movie and a picture – it was so neat (and scary!) watching them do it. I post that right after this one.

God’s creation is just marvelous, isn’t it?

Part 2 coming soon!!