Lowe's Build and Grow Clinic: School Bus

We took the boys to the Build and Grow Clinic at Lowe's this morning. I was not sure if they were going to have fun, but it was free - so hey, we went anyway! They really enjoyed constructing the school bus with a little help from us, but mostly alone. Something about hammers, nails and construction really appeals to little boys (and big ones too!). They got to keep the goggles, apron, a patch, a certificate and finished product. They cannot wait to attend another clinic! Thank you, Lowe's, for a fun, FREE Saturday morning activity!

Photoshop Fun

Along with learning how to scrapbook digitally, I'm trying to learn how to use Photoshop Elements (the program most people use for digiscrapping). I'm normally a purist... a photo should be great by the merit of what it looks like when taken - without manipulation. I think that it is "cheating" when someone enhances their photos with photoshop. However, it is fun to play with photo manipulation. Take the photo below left. I was trying to get a pic of Harrison with the scuba gear, but there were so many people there that it would have been impossible not to get them in the background. So... I photoshopped everyone out & made a funky background based on the real one (see pic on the right). It was great fun, though I'm still a purist at heart!

(click to enlarge)

My son: Future Chemist

Franklin, age 9, enjoys trying to figure out what he will be when he grows up. For a couple of years now, he has excelled at science & math in particular. He has discussed being an inventor or a scientist. Last spring, he bought an electronic lab (remember those?) at a garage sale and decided to be an electrical engineer. Lately, he's decided he will be a chemist. We went to the library and he found books with science experiments and chemical concoctions in them.

On Friday, he did not have homework, so he decided to do his own homework - a science experiment. His first home experiment was a great success! The Do-It-Yourself Balloon. The combination of baking soda and vinegar causes a chemical reaction that releases carbon dioxide - thus blowing up the balloon by itself. Whatever Franklin becomes, I know he will do it to the best of his ability. He is very intelligent and driven, along with a good dose of stubbornness. I would imagine that all of those traits will come in handy for his future career!

Digital Scrapbooking Take 1

I recently began digital scrapbooking. I have spent more time watching tutorials & downloading free stuff than actually scrapping so far! I have had so much fun just learning about it. This is not my first layout, but I did make this layout from pics from our trip to the Smoky Mountains. It took forever, because each of the license plates were separate photos. If you click on the photo, you should be able to view it larger & read the journaling. One of the hardest parts of going digital is trying to organize my scrapbook elements in a way to remember where I got them, in order to give proper credit. If I missed something, I apologize!

Template: Scrappin with Liz

State 35 font: "Just Because" by Nikki Epperson designsindigital.com

Papers: Totally D designs

Glitter plastic fx: mgl Scraps

First Day of School 2009

Franklin - 4th Grade * Truman - 1st Grade * Harrison - 3rd Grade

Day 3: Smoky Mountain Vacation

On Day 3, we took an all-day excursion to Cherokee, North Carolina. We stopped for our "official" park photo on the way there...
This has got to be one of my favorite pics of the whole trip... We stopped at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center and Mountain Farm Museum. Tommie was checking it out...

They had several varieties of beautiful flowers growing.

Over 250 families lived in the Smoky Mountains until the 1930s. It was interesting to learn how they lived.
Grandma couldn't listen to the fussing over who got to hold Nikon anymore... so she bought each of the boys their own black bear souvenir.
After the Mountain Farm Museum, we drove to Mingo Falls - the largest falls on the park map at 180 feet. It was beautiful! The photos do not begin to do justice to this waterfall. You climb up a massive staircase and wow... the falls "end" at the top.

Even the "run-off" from the falls were beautiful.After our visit to Mingo Falls, we did some tourist-y things in Cherokee. It was neat to visit the reservation and to see words written in Cherokee all over.

We had our photos taken with a real-life American Indian. ha, ha Later, we found out that the Cherokee people did not build tee-pees. You certainly couldn't tell that from all of the ones they put out for tourists! While Cherokee was tourist-y, it was not nearly as congested as Gatlinburg. It's definitely the quieter side of the mountain.We stopped for an afternoon snack at a local homemade ice cream shop. The girls working in the shop were more genuine Native Americans than the guy pictured above! :)After our snack, we decided to travel on another rustic mountain road. These rustic roads are one-way roads, very windy and on the edge of steep embankments. They are closed in the winter for obvious reasons. We were still on a mission to find a black bear & get good photos of him. So, off we went. Then... a giant thunderstorm hit! So, we found ourselves winding around the mountain on a back road that was slippery and dangerous... in the middle of a storm cloud. It's amazing how a storm cloud seems to envelop you when you are high on a mountain. It was exciting and adventurous for the first 30 or 40 minutes. Then, it became the road that never ends... We probably spent 2 hours driving on this one-way road with no way out but forward. By the time we came back to Cherokee, we decided that we were finished with rustic mountain roads. All of the smart bears were probably in caves somewhere out of the rain...

All of that danger & excitement worked up an appetite... so we ate dinner at a Big Boy in Cherokee.
Our plan was to visit Cherokee for the day, then stop at Morton's Overlook again to view the sunset. We read that it is one of the best locations to get a sunset photo. Remember the storm we just endured? Our sunset plans were foiled by lots of clouds & fog. At least I made good use of my new hoodie that I had just purchased in Cherokee. It was amazing that the temperature would be around 75 or so in Gatlinburg and would dip down to 62 on the mountain. Chilly for July!
Even though our sunset was foiled, we saw some really neat steam rising from the valley. We also took fun pics of the boys "falling" off of the mountain.Right about the time the sun was supposed to set, it started raining. Here we are... in the van... patiently awaiting the sunset that never came...Blue & gray were the only sunset colors we got... Although, how can you get a bad picture of a gorgeous mountain?

Day 2: Smoky Mountain Vacation

On Day 2, Linda, Tommie, myself, Harrison & Truman set out for the stables. We had read that a fun way to explore the mountains was via horseback. We'd have to agree that it was fun! Expensive, but worth every penny. We rode up the mountain, crossed mountain streams and rode back down. The ride was about 1 hour long. When I tried to take a picture of Nikon with the horse, the horse started eyeing him like he was going to eat him! I quickly snatched him up before Mr. Ed could have a snack.

Franklin & Poppy decided to stay back at the cabin & rest. While we were on the trail, they finally got up and decided to go see Laurel Falls. The trail was 1.3 miles to the waterfall (and 1.3 miles back)... they only made it about 1/4 mile before they decided it wasn't worth it. They had fun taking silly photos along the path anyway! (The sign reads: "DANGER Falling deaths have occured. Closely control children.")

After lunch, we loaded up the van and headed up to Clingman's Dome. CD is the highest point in the Smoky Mountains (6,643 feet) and is right on the border of North Carolina & Tennessee. The trail to CD is only 1/2 mile long and fully paved, however it is very steep. Thankfully, they have plenty of benches to rest on all the way up. The risk of hiking up to CD is that you may or may not be able to see anything. The Smoky Mountains aren't called smoky for nothing! We hiked to the top to find that visibility was nill. While we were up there, a big cloud came through and reduced visibility even more. In the photo of Tommie (upper left), I was standing about 10 feet from him and there was fog in between us. They have signs to the North, South, East & West showing what your view is of. Our view pretty much looked exactly the same to all directions. Gray fog and more gray fog. One thing we learned on this trip is that the weather in the mountains can change in seconds. The photo series below was taken in a period of 50 seconds. All three are looking toward the West from the top of Clingman's Dome. There was a small break in the cloud that came through and allowed (limited) visibility for a few seconds as it passed by. Then... back to more gray fog.

No matter what the visibility at Clingman's Dome, I had an ulterior motive for hiking all the way up. This is where the Appalachian Trail intersects with our travel plans. Being a Recreation, Park and Tourism Administration major in college, we learned all about the AT. A few years ago, I read the book "A Walk In The Woods" by Bill Bryson and learned all about his journey hiking the AT. I REALLY, REALLY wanted to see it. Even though we would only sample a small portion of the trail, I was so excited to step foot on it! Of course, everyone had to pose for pictures on the Appalachian Trail. It was absolutely gorgeous!! Very lush greenery combined with a rolling fog. God's creation at it's finest!

We survived the hike up and for some reason, the hike back down was MUCH easier. My father-in-law shot this pic as we came back down. My in-laws opted to stay at the bottom and take pics of mountain scenery while we were hiking.

On the way back to the cabin, we stopped at Morton's Overlook for some pics. I think I could stay in the mountains forever!