Time for an update!

I haven't gone through photos recently, so I'll just tell y'all what's been happening.

Jesse is pretty well settled into Samford and the rest of us are still getting used to his being gone. Although he is not living in a dorm, he isn't technically living at home either. He comes in late at night and leaves early in the morning, so during the week we hardly see him at all. He's enjoying classes and has made several new friends, as well as connecting with other freshmen that he knows from off campus.

The rest of us have started school as well, Sam, a freshman, and I, a junior,  are really plunging into Spanish and Physics this year. We have this great Spanish program with workbooks, quizzes, CDs, even games in Spanish, so I'm excited about that. Nathan, in 3th grade, will be doing a lot of reading this year, and of course the twins, in 7th grade, are really getting into math.

Piano lessons have started again and we've been haunting a nearby park, biking, running and playing football.

I'll update again soon.

Tex

This has been a sad week for us. Sweet little Tex, our pastor's Papillion that I puppy-sat for, was hit by a car and killed in front of his house Wednesday.

His dear family can use lots of prayer.

Sliding Rock

Here is a collection of videos we took at Sliding Rock. Sliding Rock is a completely natural water slide in Pisgah National Forest. It's a sixty foot sloping rock with 11,ooo gallons of water per minute pouring down into an eight foot deep pool of fifty degree water. Signs are up everywhere warning people not to go down if they can't swim, but our joke is that once you hit that water, you'll learn how to swim in a hurry!

The last people in the video are several guys who showed what cool and crazy things you can do out there. But don't be deceived: the rock is very rough and bumpy and will even tear up denim eventually, so the tricks are more painful then they look.

We're home!

We arrived home last night and are still orienting ourselves in a world with endless hot water and electricity. We had a wonderful trip! Swimming, hiking, tubing, and, of course, camping, and we have loads of pictures to go through. Because of a conference tomorrow, Daddy has had to head right back to work, but Jesse has already 'retired' from his job at Publix and his Samford classes don't start for another week, so the rest of us are relaxing today. I'll continue posting about the trip after I've looked through some photos.

Photos

Here are a few photos from the trip. More pictures and video will come later!

This picture was taken the morning of! We're ready for a nearly seven hour trip.

A video of us setting up the tent will be in another post, but this is Nathan setting up the sleeping bags inside.

This is a truly random picture, I never even meant to take it! I was sitting on a log that fell over the Davidson River, and although it's hard to tell, I was pretty high over the water.

Here is an interesting thing we found while hiking: a caterpillar nest woven on a tree branch. It looks much like a large spider web, but you can see and hear the caterpillars munching the leaves trapped inside!

This is a tree that was growing out on a rock jutting over a stream. The roots all have to grow out on one side!

We did see a snake during one hike.

A panoramic view from Looking Glass Rock. Click on this one to blow it up.

This is a (professional) photo of Looking Glass Rock. It was a difficult hike with the trail climbing 1700 feet (mostly switchbacks), but the view was definitely worth it! It is supposedly named for the reflection off the granite face when it's covered with ice in winter, 'looking glass' here meaning 'mirror' instead of 'spyglass'.

Of course s'mores and marshmallows were an almost nightly treat!

This picture is not zoomed in! He really was this close to the van. We came upon him under this apple tree and apparently he's used to vehicles passing his favorite spot!

The butterflies were everywhere! We must have come during their season.

The waterfalls were truly gorgeous. In this photo the water is actually over to Jesse's left. When we arrived, the locals told us that it was the worst drought since they first took records!

Here you can see the water!

Time for cake! Of course, we still had to celebrate Maddenoliday! To quote from last year's post:

"For those of you who have not heard of this classic holiday, it was invented two whole years ago, as a day to celebrate the release of the new Madden football video game. Maddenites, as die-hard fans of the game are called, have their own website to talk about the game; songs, based on classic Christmas songs, with lyrics about the game; and a blog to discuss new ideas to introduce to the game!

No, we are not Maddenites and do not often play video games, but we did enjoy last year's version of the game and we will use any excuse to have a holiday!"

More picture later.

Slideshow

This is a short slideshow of pictures I took while the boys were setting up the tent. According to the times on the pictures, the entire setup took only twenty minutes--and this is a brand new tent!

And we're off!

One more hour and we'll be hitting the road!  The Blue Ridge Mountains for ten days! The house is bustling with sleepy people as a few last things are slipped into suitcases. Oh! I still have to feed my snake! We appreciate prayers for road safety and we'll wish ya'll were here!