Riding Horses

 We have been promising the kids since last summer that we would take them horse back riding and it was the perfect opportunity this week since Doug was off. They were so, so excited to go and couldn't wait to get up on the horses! It was also kind of special because we took them back to the place where Doug and I had gone on one of our very first dates. The kids did great! Doug had a horse named Liberty, who was a bit of a trouble maker, honestly, but he could handle it. Noah rode on Dakota, Rachel on Huck, and Kate and I were on Chester. Our horse was just as sweet as he could be and you could tell he was very used to the trail and what he was supposed to be doing. Rachel's horse liked to stop and eat the leaves and at the very end of the ride, he jumped the low fence with her and spooked her a little. She did fine though as the road ran right by the trail and Huck just walked down to the barn alongside the rest of us. It was a beautiful day and the rain that was coming  held off until we were all done with our ride. Such a special day and time together.

Happy 4th of July!

We had a lot of fun on the Fourth of July this year! We went over to Mom's house for a bbq and got to enjoy playing with the cousins. Amie, Oliva and Dave were still in from Hilton Head and Chris and all of her family were there also. The kids had fun swimming and playing outside while we all watched and grilled. It was a good time. :) We shared burgers, hotdogs and all kinds of yummy food. Before it got too dark, we headed home to let the kids enjoy some sparklers before we watched the fireworks on tv. I was so glad that Alcoa had their fireworks display this year. So special. Loved our day together.

The Lost Sea

We took the kids to see The Lost Sea down in Sweetwater, Tn. They thought it was very cool how we had to walk down the long lit up yellow tunnel to get to the cave under the ground. Even Kate couldn't wait to see what was down there. We went on a tour of the cave - checking out the caverns and seeing the rock formations. This cave didn't have nearly the amount of formations that the previous caves we had explored. The cave had been open to the public in earlier years and they were allowed to go in and do pretty much as they pleased and a lot of the rock formations were sadly destroyed.  At the bottom of the cave there was a large lake that we took a short boat tour on and got to see lots of Rainbow Trout. The fish had been released in the bottom of the cave to see if the water came out in other areas around the cave, but the fish never left the cave. They now have to feed the fish because there is no natural food source in the lake. It was pretty incredible to see how big they were and the kids thought it was cool to see them jump when the driver of the boat threw food out to them. It has some pretty cool history they tell you about that you can read about here. Good times.

Kate @ 4 Years

 Our littlest girl is growing fast... I hadn't caught her in all of her 4 year old glory in a while.... Need to capture the other two as well.... Love them all so much....