And now we're back...

So have you missed me? Yes, well then you probably would like to see why I've been MIA. I have had no time to do any crafting ~ I know ~ very sad isn't it? Every so often our little family does what I call the whirlwind tour of North Carolina ~ to visit both sides of the family. Visiting the central NC area for awhile & then the mountain area. We always stay in a hotel in Boone, NC to visit with my parents. This year we visited Blowing Rock... as you can see the girls (aka my assistants) loved climbing all over the rocks ~ not necessarily meaning to scare their poor Oma to death. Although I lived in the area for many, many, many years ~ I never visited the attraction before. Now that I no longer live there ~ I'm trying to visit as many of the 'fun' tourist~y places with the girls as possible. Another thing I love to do when visiting Boone is to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway. A couple of years ago, we drove the Parkway from Boone north thru VA to Skyline Drive ~ it was magnificent! We stopped at almost all of the Overlook areas ~ looking at the amazing views & log cabins & sawmills... country stores... we saw animals & even had to stop for awhile to wait for the raccoons to cross the road...

This time we went

South & stopped at the Lin Cove Viaduct... from this pic you can not only see the Viaduct (see the bridge like structure wrapping around the mountain), but also in the distance you can see the Grandfather Mountain which has lots of 'wild' animals ~ bears, otters, deer, etc. & a swinging bridge that is quite a challenge to get children across. We visited it several years ago & the girls can't wait to go back ~ we just didn't have the time on this trip.

There is a wonderful trail that leads under the

Viaduct & thru the woods ~ unfortunately we did not have enough time to do much hiking ~ the girls loved going up ~ not so much coming back down. But as we were leaving the area they asked if we could go back & finish the trail. Maybe next time...

Another fun stop is the Moses Cone Park ~ the girls got to pick fresh raspberries ~ saw horses & the amazing house with the stunning views....

And now we're back ~ to continue on with what's left of summer ~ it's amazes me that July is almost half over... I feel like I better start thinking about making my Christmas lists.... Oh, and I went to pick up some more Smooch at my LSS {heart} & the owner wants me to make a sample card for her! So totally exciting ~ I hope to make something that will be somewhat CAS ~ & to use Unity, Smooch & BG papers ~ these are the items she carries & if my card can help encourage more shopping ~ that would be FANTASTIC!!!