Camping at Rock Island St. Park

One advantage of Daylight Savings Time is being able to leave school on Friday and get to a campground before dark. We took advantage of the beautiful weather this weekend and checked out Rock Island State Park for our first time, 95 miles away over mountain, curvy country roads.

Sabbath we drove to a hiking trail on the other side of the Caney Fork River, but still in the park. Randy couldn't resist stopping to talk to the cows along the way :)

The kayakers at the base of the falls first worried us, but then entertained us.

We enjoyed lots of beautiful wild flowers along the trail.

Since Randy is back into wood cutting,
he noticed somebody hadn't made such a great cut in this log.

The trail was high up on the bank along the river most of the way.

These falls were at another overlook that we stopped at after the hike.

We biked a 3-mile loop trail along Collins River, that was sometimes steeper and narrower than we wanted to bike, but it was fun.

When we came out of the woods into this opening, we had an audience!

The cabins in the park are very nice.

We met this gentleman and his wife in the campground. They invited us inside their RV to hear "How Great Thou Art" and several other hymns. He learned to play the dulcimer after he retired and he did very well.

This is the handle on his wife's walking stick - he also took up carving when he retired.

They were from Alabama and had a very "adequate" RV.

Sat. night we enjoyed roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over our rip-roaring campfire,
a perfect ending to a perfect Sabbath.

Harrison Bay, Ethan and Emily Spice up our First Day of Spring

After our Sabbath School potluck at Gadd's house yesterday where we ate out on their lovely deck, we headed out to Harrison Bay for a walk to enjoy the glorious 70 degree weather.

Boaters, hikers and bikers were out in full force enjoying the day, like we were.

We stopped by Dan and Lori's to see Ethan and Emily on our way home.

What little dolls they are. It's always fun to see them. Emily is cooing and smiling up a storm these days at just under two months old.

Ethan was in his cute little bumble bee suit.

And last night we went to a CA faculty social and saw "The Apple Dumpling Gang" for our first time. It was a very enjoyable first day of spring!

Jaclyn, Ryan, Ryan, & Carrie Entertain Us

It sure was nice having these 4 kids home last weekend.
(Jaclyn was gone with Stephanie to visit their relatives when we took this one.)

The girls made good use of my new pillows after dinner Sabbath
while we waited on the weather to clear up.

Once the weather settled down, we ventured outside.

Kelli and Jonathan's dog, Rylee, took us for a walk :)

The basketball still bounces it appeared.

The ping pong table got some usage too.

Saturday night was game night as usual - we enjoyed Ukrainian Manners, Wits and Wagers, Settlers, and another game (can't remember its name) the girls played while the Ryans, Randy and I played Settlers.

I loved hearing Jaclyn and Carrie make music again.

The SAU tennis courts had a serious visit from the Ryan's too on Sunday. Then to top off their day of exercise, they helped Randy bring some wood home. He sure appreciated their help with that job. What a big help they were.

Spring Break Brings Powder to Copper Mtn.

Last week was the a very memorable week of skiing for us at Copper in Colorado. Not only did we get about 5 new inches of powder that fell on us our first day of skiing, but we enjoyed skiing with Carrie, Ryan and John for our four days. It was great fun.

That's John and Ryan about to disappear over the edge!

Randy taking to the powder on his snow scooter

Who dat?

Another mystery man?

John, Carrie and Ryan on the Rendezvous lift

MJ talking to Amy after getting off the Rendezvous lift at the most scenic spot at Copper

Kodak moment par excellence!

Lunch time at the base near the Timberline Express

John finally had his turn at winning the morning we left.

After flying back Friday, we spent the weekend with Connie and Phil in Nashville. Ryan and Carrie joined us Sabbath which ended in a Settlers party Sat. night!