Lake Powhatan and Biltmore Visit

Our visit to Asheville to see the azaleas and tulips in full bloom in the gardens at the Biltmore Estate this past Sunday was . . . wow! It didn't disappoint us. The gardens were gorgeous. And we got to see the four Lewis XV rooms just opened April 4 in the house.





Sabbath afternoon we took our trailer to camp in Saturday night in Pisgah National Forest at the Lake Powhatan campground. It was very nice - with nice-size quiet campsites and no bugs or poison ivy even.

Here we are with our "little house" in front of "our big house." :)

Eight Happy Campers

Easter weekend we had Friday and Monday off, and we had Ruthie here visiting - what a great combo! So Friday morning we hooked up the Casita (for its maiden voyage) and headed west to Meeman Shelby Forest State Park north of Memphis to camp with Ryan, Carrie, Jaclyn, Ryan and their newest edition, Toby.
He stole the show on the weekend and claimed the prize for being in the most pictures we figure. What a sweet little poochie he is.
Even though the weather on Friday en route through the Murfreesboro area was high stress with several tornados on the ground that God helped us avoid, the rest of the weekend was just what we needed.
We had beautiful weather as we enjoyed (or annoyed some might say) the great outdoors. This owl was beside the nature center and kept a "close" watch on Ryan, who was enjoying playing frisbee nearby.



Our two sites side by side in Dogwood Ridge campground








Jaclyn and Ryan with Toby

Carrie and Ryan

MJ and Randy





MJ and Ruthie on the banks of the mighty Mississippi













Barge watching along the Mississippi Sabbath afternoon









Sat. night Hand and Foot group










Making memories as we "set the campfire burning and sit around the blaze. . .








Sunday morning was Easter egg hunt time -while Toby stood guard over the vacated campsite.











What's the matter, Carrie? What a nut!




Jaclyn went all out and filled about 3 dozen eggs that we hid for them.



Sometimes push came to shove during the intense hunt!




Ryan seldom leaves home without at least one tennis racket - that did manage to come into play during the weekend.












Sunday night we stayed with Ryan and Carrie and forgot to take any pictures of the yummy pizza supper Carrie made for us.





We visited Ryan at school Monday morning. We got to meet several of the staff and his principal and observe one of his kindergarten classes learn some floor hockey skills. What darling little kiddo's he shepherds. And yes, we saw sheep on the hillside behind his country school there in Millersville.

Birthday Surprise Party for Ruthie

We enjoyed surprising Ruthiefor her 60th birthday last weekend at Jeff's west of Chicago. Mom and Coleman were her first surprise to arrive from Florida, then Ryan came with us, and on Sunday Milton showed up at the party. What a hoot. Ruthie was NOT easy to deal with Sunday, trying to get her to Chicago to "sight see" in the rain. She would have no part of that, so we went shopping instead, and John and Ryan went to pick up Milton at the train station under the pretext of "sight seeing." Here are a few pictures of the weekend - that ended with a snowstorm Sunday night.

In front of Jeff's house after church Sabbath

At the park in Jeff's neighborhood - Jeff didn't get to do this many times to John as a kid!

Sharing the slide???

Pizza heaven for John - Giordano's

We had a birthday celebration Saturday night for Ruthie, hoping she would think that was it.

Wiii fun Saturday night. What a slugger Mom was - she hit a home run!

Settlers of Catan fun

Ruthie was so shocked to find Milton waiting around the corner at the party!

I was amazed the smoke alarm didn't go off!