last and best day of vacation - July 17, 2009

Our last day of vacation turned out to be the best, so bear with me as I have a ton of pictures from that day. My kids will be grateful for all these pictures someday, right?

We started the day with an attempt to get a good family picture, or at least a good picture of the kids. Savannah and I are using an online service to build a mosaic picture of the entire family. We are going back to day one of my marriage to Andy and including our entire history of family pictures to create this picture that will eventually hang over our mantle or couch- if we ever get it finished. Andy and I rarely have our picture taken together, so it was worth a shot too.

This one is okay.

I think this one will work.

or maybe we will just do the kids - Joshua took these pictures by the water as we headed toward the park--He, Tessa, Zach and Mom were going to the Ripley's Museum, and Joshua was the only one who could climb down the rocks to take the pictures. He did a nice job, don't you think? I didn't even crop these.

I turned the camera on Joshua for a nice shot of him.

always the ham - I have numerous pictures of Julia from this day

We had a conversation on the trail about how funny Wyatt is and how he has a nice smile. He insists that people like him because of these two traits. I reminded him that as his mother I would like him even if he wasn't so funny and didn't have such a cute smile.

On the trail to Grotto Falls, Julia would stop and pose for a picture. I don't know what the puckered lips are all about. She is only five, but sometimes she blows me away with the things she comes up with. When we were headed back down the trail to leave, a mouse ran across the trail in front of Wyatt and Andy. I didn't see it, but Julia told me a story about how a mouse was in her preschool class one time, and they tried to catch it but couldn't. Miss Kris had to sweep it out the door. Then Julia proceeded to make up a song about a mouse being in the house and mama had to sweep it out. It was really cute, and she sang it most of the way back down the trail, and she even made two variations on it - one where she would sing "there's a mouse in the house, my baby says." She is a riot!

The trail was easily managed by Wyatt and Julia. We had no complaining, and the view for most of the trail was terrific. Wyatt does not normally like this kind of stuff, and he didn't complain. I think he was holding back in hopes that he could use it as a bribe to get something for being good. Not working Dude! You behave because it is the right thing to do.

Reaching the end of the trail, we got to enjoy this great waterfall.

One of the goals was to give Savannah an opportunity to paint a picture of her surroundings. So, we stayed at the end of the trail for quite some time. We were prepared with some art supplies for the little people too. Wyatt wanted to draw on the rocks so that they could have happy faces in their home.

Andy found a place to do some sketching. This created only one small problem . I was trying to keep two little people happy and away from Savannah's paint. Wyatt backed into her painting and got a nice streak across the back of his shorts (most of it came out in the wash). Julia suddenly had to use the bathroom. Uhh, not so easy for a girl to do outside, so that got a little messy.

Julia and Wyatt did great on this trail. They had fun and they liked it very much. On the way to the car, Julia told me that she wanted to be a "nature girl" when she grows up. She then changed her mind to say she wanted to be a coach. I wish I could remember her exact words, but somewhere in that conversation, she stated, "God has changed my life." I can't remember what she said next, but then she said, " I have learned that looking for something special is the greatest gig." Yes, she really said "greatest gig." Where she learned that, I have no idea.

Wyatt loved throwing stones in the water. That got to be a bit of a problem when people started going down to the water, and he continued to throw rocks - ahhh, boys!

love the perspective in this picture

Savannah did not finish her painting. She outlined her idea and took a picture of the scene she was painting. I have an 8X10 on order so that she can use it to finish her work. I am anxious to see the final product.

Having to cross streams on a trail is just cool! I guess the current lingo would actually be "BEAST."

The only down side to our time on the trail is that Zach was not there. When we went to the aquarium, we were able to get a deal on tickets to two other attractions. Zach wanted to see the haunted house and the Ripley's museum, but none of the rest of us did, so we got him the tickets because Joshua and Tessa also wanted to do those things. I know he would have loved this. Although his favorite part of vacation was the haunted house. I really think the whole group would have loved this, but Tiffany and her family are not at all into the outdoor stuff, so they wouldn't try it. My dad has a bad knee. Mom is still recovering from her back surgery. Tessa was still on crutches while awaiting her hip replacement, and Joshua and Tara actually made it to the falls during our failed attempt on Monday.

We returned to our van to find that just minutes into our looong drive out of the park, the gas light came on. YIKES! Then the cars in front of us came to complete stop. What was up with that? They had sighted a bear. Oh, I can't tell you how tempting it was to get out of the van and take a picture of that bear that was right there in plain sight. Fortunately, I am not that brave or stupid as the case may be. What a cool thing for God to let us see on our last day of vacation. The bear crossed the road right in front of the van in front of us, so we really got a good view of him. Unfortunately, this is the best picture we got.

When we returned to the cabin, we snapped some more pictures. This is Tessa.

Savannah and Tara

Julia was the ham, of course. I let her wear make-up. What can I say? We were on vacation.

Is she too much, or what?

Rock'n'Roll!

The plan here was to take a picture of the four of us with my mom and my girls (the only granddaughters). However, Joshua got sick, and Mom was taking care of him, so we just got the four of us. I can't tell you how many takes this took and how goofy some of those pictures were.

We ended the night with dinner out. There we made a few mistakes that kind of blew the budget a little bit. You can't keep leftovers on your last night. Tara and I both ordered the fried green tomato BLT. What were we thinking? That meal was huge! We should have just split one. Savannah ordered the adult helping of chicken tenders - again, too big! The child size would have been perfect. It was the biggest kid's meal I have ever seen.

After dinner we shopped some more, and Wyatt got the long awaited wallet. He then proceeded to point out that it has a place for a credit card, so he needs one of those. I plan to get him a $5.00 gift card to Target and let that be his credit card. He also said that he needs a license because it has a place for one of those too. Wyatt talked his grandpa into getting him a cap gun, so he really cleaned up on this trip.

Julia was happy to get a dog purse. I was happy to get back to the cabin and into bed. It was a very full and fulfilling day.