Summer vacation '09, continued

In addition to spending time in the local mountain habitats, we also made some time for crafting. The favorite candlemaking activity came along with us and the mountains even inspired new creativity in the candle decorations.

Charlie's first experience making candles seemed to be a good one.

Paulie made a bird candle,

and Philip made a squirrel.

We also made plenty of time for walks and gathering wildflowers. This bunch came with a hitchhiker that completely blended into the white petals...until he ventured out.

Plenty of time was spent stacking and playing cards and other games as well.

We made the trip into Asheville one day and visited the earth science museum, among other things. The older kids completed the scavenger hunt,

while Finn spent most of his time running out of the mine yelling, "Fire in the hole!"

We found a fountain to play in,

then soaked up some warmth and the sights of downtown.

Another day we made another trip back to Pisgah National Forest to see Looking Glass Falls.

And we figured while we were there, we might as well slide down the famous Sliding Rock. The slide on this waterfall is 60 feet long and lands in an 8 ft deep pool at the bottom.

Kids under 7 have to slide with an adult so Philip and I slid together.

The littles (and Elizabeth, who decided that a 60 ft slide into freezing water wasn't her cup of tea) waited on a safer rock nearby.

Once the boys were sufficiently hypothermic, we headed back toward the cabin, by way of a rainstorm picnic and more ice cream at Dolly's.

We did manage to find a few interesting rocks while we were out.

And we even decided to felt a few.

Thus endeth summer vacation 2009...school starts tomorrow so there's never a dull moment around here!