camping trip, part three

The long awaited final night photos of our sibling camping trip. (You were holding your breath, weren't you?)


We didn't want to overdo it with the too-outdoorsy stuff since we only had two days together, so on Saturday night, we went out to eat in Boone. It took us a while to figure out where to go but we finely landed at a southern cuisine restaurant called Proper.

Peyton went to snap a photo of the girls, but little did we know the camera was still set on the 10 shot setting from when we were taking our photos on the rock earlier in the day. So I took advantage of it and acted like a fool. (You're only seeing four of the ten. You're welcome.)

Pretty sisters.

Peyton, attempting to be artsy.

Shaina's the cutest.

I made them do this.

I am definitely getting 30-year-old eyes.

My turn at attempting to be artsy.

Our food. Everyone's was really good except Shaina's. Not sure how they made Baked Ziti (it didn't have sauce), fried potatoes (THEY DIDN'T HAVE KETCHUP!), and hushpuppies (um, not where I'm from, those aren't) so weird.

Shaina is considering Appalachian for college, so we made sure to go by the campus after dinner to let her check it out. It really is a beautiful campus.

This is the part of the story where I walked down the hill to get these photos, fell smack on my bottom and DIDN'T pee my pants. HOORAY! (Thank you, Couch to 5K.)

And then it was back to the camp site for S'mores!

The next morning, we packed up camp and headed to Mellow Mushroom for lunch before we came back home. We had such a good time, and I really hope we can (and our spouses will agree to) make it an annual thing. Either way, memories I'll treasure forever.


On a completely different note:
- It's 10:31 and Jonah is still awake, talking in his bed.
- I napped when he napped today and will probably be up all night. WHY DO I DO THIS?
- I completed Week 8, Day 1 of Couch to 5K tonight. This is my current FB status: 
Tried running a new route today. I ran to and around the Sedge Garden Rec Center. Problem is I ran downhill to get there so the second half of my run was mostly uphill. My running mantra on the way back was, "You're so stupid. You're so stupid. You're so stupid." But it was more of a "Yoooou're sooooo stuuuppiiid" sort of pace. 
- I've eaten 3/4 cup of Chocolate Cheerios with milk and two pieces of bacon since I've been home from my run, but I'm still starving. Just go to bed, you say? Um, hello, did you not read item two? I'm starving and I want a steak. It's going to be a long night.
UPDATE: At approximately 11:47 pm, I made myself a grilled cheese sandwich. I'm still hungry.

camping trip, part two

Peyton and Sarah slept well on Friday night, but Shaina and I were both super restless, sharing an air mattress, and neither of us got good sleep. We got up around 8:00 or 8:30. As you can see, Shaina and Sarah were happy little campers. Get it, campers?

This is Sarah’s dog, Charlie. He is the best six month old puppy I’ve ever met. He is so obedient and eager to please. And super adorable to boot!

Peyton used his nifty Jetboil to make his morning coffee. I would drink coffee except that I have the beverage maturity of a four year old.

These are Sarah’s dirty camping feet. You’re welcome.

Here we are about to leave for to go to nearby Hebron Falls. (This is the part of the story where we decided not to wear our bathing suits because we were just going to hike and we didn’t pack our lunch, but then we drove around for about 10 minutes and decided we were going to swim and we were going to need a packed lunch, so we turned back and went back to the campground and finally got back on our way about 20 minutes later. (Exhales))

Stopping for a quick photo on the way to the Falls. I couldn’t prop my camera for this one. It would have ended up in the creek.

Hebron Falls. Yep, those are the falls too. Waaay up at the top of the frame.

They do this pose everywhere they go. I suppose it's rather endearing.

These dumb-dumbs decided to go swimming in the freezing cold water.

Even the dog had more common sense and had to be carried in.

Oh look, I was there too. Nice and dry up on the rocks. Don't roll your eyes at me. Somebody had to document it all with photos. (Annnnnd, the rocks were jaggy and it was cold and there could have been snakes. I'm more at one with the dry, visible parts of nature.)

This next series of photos I like to call "DON'T DO IT!"

I told you not to do it.

Lunch break! 

And before we left, we made sure to get a few group photos. (Shaina didn't get the memo that we were doing a "for real" shot.)

(Shaina is apparently not a very good listener.)

Ahhh. There we go.

(This is the part of the story where I tell you that my camera was propped on top of a towel on top of a rock, precariously close to the water. It is also the part of the story where I describe how Peyton would snap the camera and then run and jump about three big rocks in a matter of 10 seconds to make it into the photo. And then the camera would take 10 shots before he'd have to run back and snap it again. Rinse and repeat. It is also the part of the story where, when retrieving my camera, my light scoop fell into the water, sank straight to the bottom and Sarah blindly found it at the bottom of the creek with her toe. She's a rock star.)

It was a great little afternoon trip. I'll tell you about the rest of the day later, but it's almost 11:30 and I want to go to bed. Thanks for bearing with me. :)