The McCains travel to North Carolina (Part 1)

Over Memorial Day weekend, the McCains packed into the car and headed to North Carolina for the week. We had plenty of time and were not in any particular hurry, so we planned a few interesting stops along the way.

Our first stop on Saturday was for lunch at Fort Boonesborough State Park in Lexington, KY. We had a delicious picnic lunch, followed by a short hike. We then got back in the car and drove to Knoxville, TN for the night.

The girls loved playing and eating outside during our picnic lunch.

On our hike, Lisey led the way. We got used to this view during our trip!

On Sunday morning, we drove through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg on our way to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. At the park, we decided to take a short hike before lunch. We found a trail near to a picnic area that was only a 0.75 mile loop, perfect for little legs. The trail marker lied. An hour later, after scaling the side of a mountain, Megan and I emerged from the wilderness, each carrying a tired girl.

After lunch, we drove up to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in the park. From the parking area, we again hiked straight uphill for a "half-mile" (lies!) to the tower at the top of the peak. The view was absolutely incredible!

After some time in the park, we climbed aboard the Blue Ridge Parkway and took the scenic route to Ashville, NC. The Blue Ridge was very twisty and up-and-down-y, but the views were nothing short of breathtaking.

We are very lucky our camera has a "Kids and Pets" setting. We would probably never catch Lisey on camera without it!

The girls on the first part of our morning hike, before they got too tired.

Even Lisey's baby wanted to see the views from the top.

The girls taking a short break, admiring the hills (we don't have these in Indiana!)

A view from the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Monday morning we woke up, took another little jaunt down the Blue Ridge Parkway, and arrived at Emerald Village, an old gem mine designed to give visitors a taste of the old mining days. We had great time panning for gems, and the girls found some beauties!

Lisey loved panning for gems! (Or at least playing in the water)

The girls each filled a bag with beautiful gems and...well...rocks.

A display of our haul after sorting them all by color. Megan decided to have one of the amethyst cut and put into a necklace. We will see how it turns out in a couple of weeks!

After the mining experience, we jumped back in the car and headed to Raleigh, NC. However, that story will have to wait until Part 2...

The McCains travel to North Carolina (Part 2)

Last we left you, the McCains were on their way to Raleigh. We stopped for a delicious dinner of Carolina BBQ, then made it to Grandma's house. Everyone took the tour (some of us faster and with more jumping and screaming than others), and then headed to bed so we would be well rested for our next set of adventures.

On Tuesday, we decided to check out a nearby park that Grandma Jellybean had scouted out for us. The girls loved it, and we we regular visitors during our stay. After a little playtime, we drove around and familiarized ourselves with the area. After lunch, we picked up some NC State shirts for the girls and wandered around the NC State campus. For our evening entertainment, we drove over to Durham and caught a Durham Bulls baseball game. Apparently, the girls love baseball games!

Lisey working the playground.

The Strolling Chemistry Professor at NC State. Rumor is, if you rub his head before your first chemistry exam, you will ace it. Both girls are set!

The family at the Durham Bulls game

Lisey loves baseball games!

The next day, we got up early, piled into the car, and headed to the beach. We got there around 11, set up our sun shade, and got to work filling every crack and crevice with sand. We had a picnic, played in the ocean, and built a lobster palace (a sand castle where the lobsters were King and Queen). At about 4:30, we packed up, Lisey fell asleep, and we headed home exhausted.

One of our few beach pictures (we tried to keep the sand out of the camera). Although the clouds look a little gray in picture, they were not. We had a gorgeous day!

On Thursday, after our looooong day at the beach, we decided to stay a little closer to Raleigh. Among other things, we wandered around the Dook campus and UNC campus. Our favorite part of the day was our stroll through the Duke Gardens...

Hazel in front of one of the many fountains

The girls were tired to begin with, and there was a lot of walking in the gardens

On our last day in Raleigh, we decided to check out the Marble's Children's Museum. The girls loved it! The entire museum was designed to be hands-on and was geared for the 8 and under crowd.

Megan and Lisey trying out the hula hoops

Hazel jumping from coin to coin

The girls testing their balance on the surf boards.

And, to finish up our Friday evening, we visited the ice cream window on Grandma's back porch. It was still open and still serving ice cream sandwiches!

The girls placing their orders

And enjoying the beautiful weather and delicious ice cream

We had a great time, the weather cooperated, and the new roof on the back porch was wonderful. Thank you for a great vacation, North Carolina!

Dancing with Heart

"Dancing with the feet is one thing, but dancing with the heart is another."

(Author unknown.)

5 Years - The Wood Anniversary

This past Friday, Megan and I celebrated our five-year wedding anniversary. According to Megan (and confirmed by Google), the traditional gift for surviving five years is wood. On a related note, we have two children who thought that our off-white carpet looked better with a rainbow of food and drink stains. With these two factors in hand, Megan and I decided it was time to replace the carpet and install new laminate wood floors.

About a two weeks ago, when the project had been officially sanctioned, we decided to give the hearth room and kitchen a fresh coat of paint.

I removed the baseboards (only broke one out of about 25. Not too shabby)

And Megan and Hazel worked on painting the walls.

We then went to Lowes and picked up a box or 67 of flooring.

The before picture (well, after painting but still with carpet)

No more carpet, and the carpet pad on its way out.

The girls testing out the interim concrete floors.

We had noticed that there was a fair amount of paint on the concrete when we pulled up the carpet. Hazel and Elise decided to add a little bit more.

And Megan thought it looked like too much fun to pass up.

Of course, my painting was with concrete to patch the cracks in the floor.

The hearth room with all of the underlayment down.

And so it begins...

We ran into the hardest part of the job pretty early on when trying to get the floor from either side of the half wall to match up.

The mad cutter at work with one of his many saws (I think I used no fewer than 4 different saws on this project).

Megan finishing up the closet.

Ok, if you have seen one picture of us putting down floors, you've seen them all. So, without further ado, some shots of the final product.

The closet.

The front room.

Part of the kitchen. We even put down new floors under the fridge and oven.

And the hearth room. Quite a change from the "before" picture above!

It was a long, hard weekend, but I can't think of anyone I would have rather spent it with. Happy Anniversary Megan!

A Night at the Lilly House Gardens

Last night, we thought we'd take advantage of the beautiful weather we've had all week and go for a walk in the Lilly House Gardens. The girls wanted to get dressed up in their best, and so we couldn't resist taking the camera along to get a few choice photos.

Hazel gets a kick out of spring!

While Elise finds a bed of Daffodils to play in.

Hazel thinks the daffodils are nothing special. We've got these in our own yard, Mom.

Maybe we can find something more interesting in the formal garden.

Now a fountain with purple flowers, that's something special!

Elise is off to see what else she can find.

We went for a little walk through the woods down by the canal, and Elise was in her element. She's such a little explorer.

During our walk in the woods, we found this awesome little yellow bench.

Elise had a blast climbing all over it!

After our walk, we headed back to the Lilly House and had a little fun dancing on the veranda.

Hazel is a dancing queen!

Our little explorer (and her big sister).

And sometimes her big sister doesn't pay very much attention to where she's going.