Family Camp in the Smokies

We planned a family camping trip back in February so we could all
get our days off together - and surprise, surprise it worked out!

We will share a few pictures in the following posts about the campground,
the great creek, and just being together.

Real Pool Fun

All the 'kids' loved getting into the pool - anytime, any day.
















Marla was as quick as any to get in - and these 'floaties' won't come off.
(when she got home in August she was ready for swimming lessons :)
































Any doubt where our grandkids get their 'wild and crazy' gene?

Playing around

Aaron and Tarin and the girls drove to Florida and Becky flew in from SA and we all went to the beach as soon as we could.

They're not using those colenders to find supper - you can sift the sand here and find small, black, petrified shark's teeth!
Which picture do you think best describes Gary and Ava's grandkids????

Florida - two special days

We got to Bradenton in time to celebrate Reed's birthday and he got to have all his grandparents there!















Arwen had planned a swimming party at their backyard pool and these are almost all the boys in his school class - they ran and played like a bunch of wild
indians!











Fathers Day saw us all at a Tampa Rays game.


















Me and Reed enjoying the game.

Corpus Christi Beginnings

During our 4 weeks in CC we got to celebrate Aaron's Birthday!











Lots of eating - and eating out.























Ava and I got to take the kayaks out several places - this is downtown CC
early one morning and we put fish in the freezer!













There was time also for just relaxing around the trailer and we had the
grand-daughters to help!








To quickly, it seemed, we were headed off to Florida pulling our little house
behind us- and being in no particular hurry.

Mr Rushmore/Custer State Park

Another of the tiny, one-lane tunnels on this road through the "Needles".

This spire, pictured above, is where the area got its name. Way too large to get in one frame from anywhere we wanted to climb.

This is Sylvan Lake on the drive and included here because it was not only pretty, it may well have been the rocky area featured in the movie National Treasure II which featured the Mt Rushmore area. There is no lake above Mr Rushmore and if the ancient Indian city of Gold, Cibolo, is anywhere around here it is still a secret. We did drive by the Crazy Horse Memorial but they wanted too much gold to make us want to go in; Ava snapped a picture from the front gate (attendant's suggestion) and I will add it to the next post.

Mt Rushmore-Custer State Park

Adjacent is this enormous state park, 71,000 acres of the Black Hills; this area should really be given almost a week to see it all.

We chose to go into the "Needles" area where grainite spires inspired the whole mountain-carving idea. Borglum looked at these and declared they wouldn't last as long as he intended - and were not big enough to do what he envisioned: memorialize our great presidents for all time. Still, this was a great drive - luckily NOT pulling the trailer (for obvious reasons, above).