Everyone Loves the Mountains!

After our week at the beach, the kids and I were eager to come home and see Daddy again.  We took two days at home to get the house ready to put on the market, then we packed the kids up again and drove off for a week visiting family in Knoxville.  Really the point of the trip was for Brian and me to become Tennessee residents (drivers licenses) and get the cars titled in Tennessee.  Thankfully we were able to get that all done on Monday, which left us the rest of the week to visit with family and have fun in Knoxville.

One of the activities we really wanted to do with the kids was take them back to play in the mountains.  Our one and only destination with kids (so far) has been Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area.  And since the week we were in Knoxville visiting Brian's parents, my parents also happened to be in town and staying with my grandparents, I had great visions of a road trip to the mountains with everyone.  However, due to schedules and appointments and then a terrible weather forecast, I thought we might end up missing the mountains all together this year.  But thankfully the weather ended up cooperating BEAUTIFULLY and we got to visit the mountains with both sets of grandparents and the great-grandparents!!  In fact, instead of heavy thunderstorms, we actually had SUNSHINE during our stay in the mountains!  AND we were able to get the same picnic spot that we've been to for three years in a row! 

Granddaddy spent time working on his carvings, of course!

Also as expected, Grandmother brought a book to keep her company.

Sarah LOVED the stream and was absolutely NOT content to stay in the shallows.

Daddy trying to splash the girls by throwing rocks near us.

Sarah and her two favorite people!

Sarah slipped and fell in the water, soaking her completely, but she barely seemed to notice because she was having so much fun!

Rock towers are a McDonald/Haubenreich family tradition that Brian and Nathan have embraced.

Here begins our traditional pictures.  Since this post is already picture-heavy, go here to see previous year's photos.

We are in the middle of packing chaos.  We start loading the truck tomorrow (Saturday) morning.  I will not be posting again for at least a week while we get settled in Boston.  Pray for us that all goes smoothly and safely!