Live a Meaningful Life

Two Sundays ago we made an early morning trip over to Tanglefoot for a bike ride. JG was excited-this was going to be his first extended ride on his new bike.  Of course, we had to stop to get in some exercise and flips.  John Gannon (Mr. Safety) was SCARED TO DEATH to do a simple flip. Coaching, encouraging, shaming--none of it worked! On the way back we stopped and as he made a feeble attempt, I took my arm and flipped him on over, He screamed with terror but was really proud of his accomplishment. He did it a couple of more times--FINALLY!!  The fall colored leaves, draped the sides of the road and made the trail so beautiful!  And those leaves also were great camouflage for this guy!  I am telling you, I just can't get enough of seeing seeing these boys beside their daddy!  And another...Snakes were really active. As a matter of fact, we actually saw 3 copperheads that morning.   And not only were there venomous friends, but non-venomous

We headed out last Thursday evening for a weekend in the outdoors. I mean, can you find a better back yard than this?  Our destination was the Nantahala Outdoor Center. They were having their annual Guest Appreciation Festival (GAF). We have been going to GAF for the past 12 or so years (we have missed a couple). We ended up camping on some private land at a campground called Hanging Dog Creek Campground outside of Murphy, NC (about 40 miles from our destination). It was a quaint little place. All of the campsites were right along the little creek, which made it pretty scenic. We picked up Blaze from the Ocoee (Thunderock) on our way through. He and our two boys decided they were going to sleep by the creek. Here was their set up for Friday and Saturday night.  I tried to sneak in a picture before they woke up. One of them caught me!  It really was a neat little peaceful place (just a small piece of property-owned/operated by a laid-back family). Jackson loved the