Waterfalls, Deer, and Bears, Oh My!

Yesterday we took a trip up to the mountains to visit Cade's Cove. Cade's Cove is a section of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.  The valley was home to early settlers in the mountains.  Many buildings are still standing and it's a great place for sightseeing. We drove the 11 mile loop and made a few pit stops to take in some history.

The girls enjoyed the old buildings and settlements, especially Emma, who has been reading Little House on the Prairie. She loved making comparisons to the book with the houses we saw and seeing a mill, just like the one where Charles Ingalls worked.

Of course, they were more interested in the wildlife and became expert animal spotters. We saw horses and wild turkeys, but their favorites were the deer and bears. Poor Sophia fell asleep and missed the bear, but loved hearing all about it!

This spider completely freaked me out. Even though I tend to exaggerate about the actual size of spiders, I'm not exaggerating when I say this monster was the size of Sophia's hand. Not that I let her near it for comparison...it might have eaten her.

For me, my favorite part was spending time with my sweet family and enjoying the peace and quiet of the mountains. The trees, the woods, the rivers...it makes me a little homesick for my beloved Grass Valley, but it's a joy to be so close to such a beautiful place that I can visit and share with my girls.

Squeezing in Some Fun!

The countdown is on...less than a week until I go back to work. Two weeks until the girls start full-time preschool. I can't even believe it. I didn't even get a chance to do a "Day in the Life" post like I usually do in the summer. I guess I'll have to wait until Winter Break!

We always try to squeeze in a couple of day trips before summer ends for some last minute family time. This weekend, we took a trip to the zoo.  Our zoo has made some major improvements over the years and we always have so much fun.

The weather here lately has been on the cooler side and we had perfect weather for our trip. We packed a lunch and made a day out of it. It was a great day spent with my little family!

Our Weekend

We had such a fun weekend! It was action packed from start to finish. Weekends like this are always fun, but SO tiring! I feel like we need another weekend to recover from our weekend.

On Saturday, Emma's sweet friend, Mia, had a birthday party. There were tons of water games for the kids and it was the perfect day for it. Emma had so much fun and I loved watching her play with her school friends.

When we got home, we got Emma cleaned up and ready for a date with her daddy. He was taking her to see Monsters University.  They were both really excited about their special time.

Andy's parents invited us over for pizza, so we headed out to their house for dinner.  They have a garden for the girls there and they love to visit and see how much it has grown. They were thrilled to see how big the corn and pumpkins have gotten!

On Sunday, we met my sister and Aunt Kimi at Circle G ranch. We had so much fun the last time we went and this time was no different. The animals get SO close and personal!

The girls also loved the petting zoo and pony rides. Funny story: When we asked Emma if she'd like to ride a pony, she asked us if it went up and down and if she could ride a green one. Ha! Our poor little city girls!