North Carolina Part 3

Our last stop in North Carolina was to Charlotte to visit my brother and his family.

Breakfast time

Emily holding her new cousin Henrik who was born in June. This was our first time meeting him. What a cutie!

Emily getting ready to take Noah and Carson for a stroller ride to a neighborhood park.

At the park

We went for a picnic at another park and played in the fountains.

We also went to the Whitewater Center where the athletes train for the Olympics. They had a restaurant overlooking the river where we ate dinner.

Emily watching the rafters and kayaks.

Uncle Mike and Noah

Cousins Carson and Noah. They are only 6 weeks apart.

Emily loves her cousin and little brother.

North Carolina Part 2

During our trip to NC we visited the Western North Carolina Nature Center in Asheville. The kids loved seeing all of the animals.

Emily holding a turtle.

The highlight was the butterfly exhibit. Emily loves butterflies. They sprayed sugar water on our hands so they would land on us. At one time, Emily had 3 or 4 sitting on her shirt.

North Carolina part 1

After our trip to Birmingham, Matt left for St. Louis for business and the kids and I drove over to North Carolina. Our first stop was in Waynesville to stay with my friend Rachel from college. Her daughter, Rose , is a good friend of Emily's. They live on top of a mountain in an beautiful, old house that used to be an inn. The weather was wonderful. Cool in the mornings and evenings. Waynesville is located in western North Carolina in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains. I love this part of the country and have many fond memories from my college years which were spent here. Rachel and I always have a great time catching up and reminiscing whenever we get together.

We ate our meals outside on the wraparound porch.

One day we went to visit the campus of our alma mater, Western Carolina University.

Copycat

The other day after school I was taking some pictures of Emily in her cute school clothes. She loves to pose for the camera.

Then I turned around and saw that Noah was imitating Emily posing for the camera. Here he is with his pose. What a ham!

Now here they are posing together:

Wildlife in our backyard

I've seen this hawk flying around our house and yard several times. Shortly after I took this picture I heard a screech from some kind of bird or animal. I looked outside and the hawk was gone. I guess he found his lunch. (Julie, I'm glad we don't have bunnies in our backyard like you do. They'd be goners.)

Another summer trip

Another trip we took this summer was to Birmingham and North Carolina. Matt was helping his parents with a tradeshow they were doing in Birmingham. While they were busy with the show, the kids and I did some sightseeing and shopping. I was surprised by how beautiful Birmingham was. It reminded me a lot of northern Georgia in the foothills of the mountains. There were also some great places to shop. Here are some pictures from the zoo: