Fall in the Mountains

This past Sunday through Tuesday, we travelled up to Bear Den Campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway and met Ron's folks. We all enjoyed being together in our rustic cabin and getting to visit with one another. We also enjoyed the gorgeous fall color the mountains offered on the parkway.
Of course there is going to be hiking when Ron is involved, and these photos are from the hike we took to see Linville Falls, in the Linville Gorge area. The sky was robin's egg blue, the air was crisp, and the reds, yellows and oranges of the leaves were simply beautiful. It was a wonderful, relaxing couple of days, and we all came home refreshed and ready to take on Halloween! More on Halloween to come...

Pumpkins... Before and After

Last weekend we took the girls to a farm to pick out their pumpkins. The farm is actually a Christian theraputic riding farm, and they offer pony rides, games, a story trail, treasure hunt, face painting, in addition to a "pumpkin patch" from which to select your pumpkin. Basically, it is just tons of fun, and this was our second year going. We thought you may enjoy seeing the girls with their pumpkins... pre and post-carving.

Crop Walk

Last weekend our family joined with several members of our church to participate in the annual Crop Walk, which helps raise money for the poor both locally and throughout the world. McKenna is entering an annual contest called "Reflections" this year through school. The theme for this year is "How I can make a difference..." We thought this would be a great opportunity, so she grabbed her camera (she is entering the photo portion of the contest) and snapped away during the walk. Below are some of the photos she took.

By Popular Demand... the "Rat Hamster"!

This is for you, Dad! See how big your former backyard-squatter has grown?! McKenna loves this "little" guy. We never dreamed Flower would get so big! She really needs a new cage. Anyway, as you can see, she is alive and well. :-)

Walking With Dinosaurs

Last evening, we had the privilege of going to see Walking with Dinosaurs, the Live Experience. Originally, McKenna and I were just going to go ourselves, as the cost for 4 people was prohibitive, and as well, Molly took one look at the ad for the show on the internet and promptly requested a babysitter. However, a friend of ours who knew we were going to the show had received 4 free tickets from her place of business. Her husband and daughter had no interest in going, so she offered to swap her 4 tickets for our 2. We accepted her kind offer and started preparing Molly for the show. We needn't have worried, as she did great!
The show was simply incredible, very much on par with the kind of quality you would expect to find at Disney World. McKenna was in dino-heaven, and we all came away from the experience in awe of the scale and magnitude of these incredible creatures. (Not to mention the artists and others who produced this spectacular show). Here's some photos from the show. They give you a good idea of the scale of the dinosaurs and quality of the production. Enjoy!

Like Father, like daughter

It seems like not a day goes by that I don't hear some form of the exclamation, "OH MY! McKenna looks just exactly like a clone of her daddy!" And, indeed, one of the first sentences uttered from Ron's mouth upon seeing his seconds-old firstborn was, "Oh no! She looks like me!"

Yes, there is no denying the strong resemblance between this Daddy's-girl and her Daddy. And just to prove how much Ron is wrapped around McKenna's pinkie finger, here's a photo I couldn't resist posting of McKenna and Ron at a picnic our church had at the UM Children's home last Sunday, which included, among other things, face painting. Only his daughter could convince Ron to get a pink butterfly painted on his cheek. Now that is proof of the strong father-daughter bond right there, folks!