7/29/09

Our Bicycle




We orderd this bike from walmart.com, and we love it. Sarah has a great time riding, and she gets exercise too. It has also made it possible for all five of us to go on a bike ride without going too slow.

7/28/09

The Cove




Wednesday the 28th we toured the Cove, which is Billy Graham's training center. There is also a mini museum dedicated to Billy Graham there. All I can say is WOW! What a man of God! On Friday, July 3rd we headed back to Arkansas. We drove all the way. I think we got home around 2am Saturday morning. This was a great vacation. It was nice to see a part of the country that we'd never seen. A very beautiful part.

Builtmoore Estate








Sunday we toured the Builtmoore Estate. The gardens were amazing. I could have spent a lot more time there. The house was gigantic. No pictures were allowed in the house. But wow What A HOUSE!

Worship Leaders Conference








For our 2nd week of vacation we went to Ridgecrest in Black Mountain, NC. Ridgecrest is the Lifeway conference center. This is really what brought on this whole expedition. We attended the Lifeway Worship Leaders Conference. It was spectacular. All the classes were great. The music was great. The pastor for the week was great. His name was Don Wilton. Look him up. The kids loved their camps. Madison was in the conference children's choir and even had a speaking part in their musical. Morgan had a great time at daycamp. She played putt putt, had a water day, and went to Nibble Nook(the campus ice cream store)for ice cream. Sarah went to daycamp also everyday. She played outside and did some sort of craft everyday. We only got the girls for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They were at camp the rest of the day.

Rafting and Site Seeing







Friday morning the 26th we headed to North Carolina. As we drove Scott looked for a place to stay and a river to raft. We ended up in Ashville, NC. It is so pretty in NC! The mountains, the flowers, even the trees are gorgeous. Scott and the girls swam at the hotel pool in Ashville while I went shopping for a little while. Some quiet shopping. :-) The next morning we headed down the Blue Ridge Parkway. It you've never done that, be sure to do it sometime. We walked down a few trails along the parkway and saw some waterfalls. Beautiful. We took a side road off the parkway and headed towards the Pigeon River.



Floating the Lower Pigeon was a lot of fun for the girls. It was only a level 1-2 so no water falls were involved. That's the only one you can ride with a four year old. We plan to do many more though. It was a blast. The water was freezing. The guides gave all the little kids buckets to splash everyone with. It was breathtaking in more ways than one. The next day we went to Chimney Rock and the Falls where "The Last of the Mohicans" was filmed. I don't know how you couldn't believe in God when you see the sights we saw.

Myrtle Beach

Monday morning we headed to Myrtle Beach, SC. I have to say the girls were really good car riders during the whole trip. We were in the car A LOT. Anyway, so off to Myrtle Beach.... Sarah funny: We stopped at the first rest stop in SC and Sarah said, "This isn't the beach!" It was obvious that she was highly discouraged at the fact. Some seven hours later we finally got there. We had a fabulous four days at the beach.

Coke Museum





Next we went to the coke museum. It was somewhat interesting. The best part was the end of the tour when we all got to sample as many of the 60 something coke products we wanted to. Some were soooooooooo nasty. Have you ever tried the Beverly? Don't!

Summer Vacation Aquarium




We had an awesome two week vacation. This is the first time we've been on vacation for more than a week. Here it goes.....
We headed to Atlanta on Saturday June 21st. That was crazy from the beginning. We swam in the hotel pool after we arrived. The next morning we went to the GA Aquarium. One of the tanks there is a big as a football field. It was great! The girls had a really good time looking at the 24 ft whale sharks and petting baby sharks, shrimp, starfish, and stingrays.




Madison's b-day






Okay I know I'm so behind, Aunt Carroll!! Apparently things are never going to slow down though. So I'm just going to play a little bloggy catch up.
Madison had a swimming party for her 10th birthday. We had a great time. She is such a sweet little girl. I guess I won't be able to say little much longer. She still loves to crawl around on the floor and act like a horse. She's not interested in boys yet that I know of. I hope that lasts a long time! She's a straight A student who never gets in trouble at school. She's a great big sister to Morgan and Sarah. We love her so much! Such a special kind and tender hearted little girl. Our Madi Moo.