Daddy wrestling, plus 2 things from AK.

It started with Daddy bench-pressing Averi Kate...

...and quickly turned into a very intense daddy-wrestling match.

***

In other important news...

AK put an altoid in her mouth and said, "Whew! These really spice your nose up."

And also,

AK put a label on the oven with my name on it and said, "There. Now if someone breaks into our house they'll know not to use your oven."

Whew. Glad I don't have to worry about a thief using my oven without permission.

GA National Fair

 Well, it was 100 degrees on the heat index this week so of course that meant that it was time for the fair. I actually made a commitment not to complain about the weather so that's all I'll say about that.

Day1 - Petting the rabbits...

Petting the unicorn (of course)...

Riding in a carriage...

Watching Robinson's racing pigs...

Feeding cows and goats...

Feeding the birds...

(AK kept catching birds and then giving them away to kids who didn't have one on their stick...)

There was this thing, which I'm still not sure exactly what it was. It jumped out of the corner to surprise the girls...

  And I didn't get a picture but Owen was absolutely petrified of it. He basically did a box jump onto a bench to get away from it as he screamed in terror.

Day 2 - Ready for the wild animal show...

Ride day!

And AK's wildest dream came true as she rode her first horse.

And what fair would be complete without a transformer?

Till next sweltering October!

The time we went back to Cade's Cove and oh yeah JUSTICE WAS THERE.

It's true. We went camping at Cade's Cove. Justice was there. And that's pretty much the whole story.

Owen enjoyed digging in the dirt...

 And playing with the ball.

Everyone enjoyed riding bikes...

...and playing on the stage at the amphitheater.

AK enjoyed standing straight up on Daddy's shoulders...

...and the boys enjoyed working out on the benches.

BFFs.

We saw this guy walking through our campsite.

Walking down to the creek with their new friend Reese...

Owen wouldn't step in the water because he thought the mud was poop.

Uncle Bo thought this fallen tree would make a good seesaw.

But the girls couldn't make it work on the other side.

Coach tried to help but it didn't work.

Back at the campsite, everyone had a carrot...

...and played with their other new friend, Kylie.

AK became an expert on the bike. She rode and rode and rode.

While Owen dug some more dirt...

...AK was learning new tricks on her bike.

Time to hike!!!

Everyone gazing intently at a big pile of scat on the ground.

The scat.

The Pickards...

The cousins...

The Shugarts...

On the last morning we got up very early to ride around the loop in the back of Uncle Bo's truck.

While we waited for the gates to open to the loop, Owen got some snuggles in with his uncle and aunt.

And Claire worked on her pouty face.

The loop! The mountains! My heart!

We saw 4 bears but my camera ran out of batteries before I could take a picture of them. We loved every moment of the trip and can't wait to do it all again next year!