Our trip to the Mountains

 My mom and dad live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  It is where I grew up and I love going back there.  It always feels peaceful and comforting.  It has become a tradition that the girls and I go to my folks' for about a week every summer.  Mostly because we want to spend time with my parents - aka Memaw and Pa - but, also because I enjoying revisiting the mountains and want my girls to experience that as well.  Here are some (long overdue) highlights from our trip earlier in July.

One place we always go is Moses Cone Lake.  It is a beautiful walking path surrounding the lake.  Sometimes we see people riding horses.  There are always lots of Candian geese, too.  We took some old bread to feed them and  animal-loving Rachel and Megan had a blast.

Emily, on the other hand, was scared of them.  She ran away and had to be rescued by my dad!

Here are a few nature snapshots I captured  - great reminders of why I love it so much up there in Blowing Rock!

Water Lillies - parts of the lake were just covered with these.

A mama duck and her babies!

A pretty little waterfall~

Mountain Laurel

A blue heron

The next day we headed out the Blue Ridge Parkway to Grandfather Mountain.  My brother's family joined us and the girls had a great time hanging out with their cousins.

 I LOVE this picture of my mom and dad with their 6 grandkids!!!

They are standing in front of the "swinging bridge".  It crosses a ravine in the mountain and is an entire mile above sea level.  After this picture, we all crossed the bridge - some of us a little more cautiously than others!!

These super strong cousins were able to hold up this gigantic rock with very little effort! ;-)

Rachel had so much fun she actually let me take her picture and even smiled for it!!

Emily loved her stuffed bear from the souvenir shop!  (Thanks, Memaw!)

On our way back down the mountain, we stopped by some property that has been in my dad's family for many years.  The scenery is great and the kids really got a kick out of wading in the creek!

Please ignore my backside that looks incredibly ginormous in this shot!!  (At least I hope it's only in this photo!)



The next day, we headed over to my brother's house.  Despite lots of clouds, the cousins had tons of fun splashing around with each other.

Then all the little went back to Memaw and Pa's house and had some dress up fun!

It was a great week.  We enjoyed spending time with family so much.  Being able to do that in the setting of the Blue Ridge mountains is just icing on the cake!