wanted to take the boy for his first swimmer, he wasn't that interested; hopefully that will change

lil family photo; we wanted to send this as our family pic this year and photoshop the puss somewhere floating in the trees

and his name is Skeeter














we took the dogs on a short lil hike the other night, and found quite the surprise at the end, this beautiful waterfall














he might just turn out to be a momma's boy

yesterday was chad's birthday, and he decided that he wanted to go on a hike; sounds good, doesn't it? while that sounded like a good idea (which it was), it was also 47 degrees accompanied by a bone-chilling wind that wanted to knock us off our feet. that did not stop us, however. we thoroughly enjoyed the fresh air and the 5 1/2 mile hike to one of the most amazing views in town. it also got our new boy out of the house for some exhaustive exercise. all of us enjoyed a nice long nap when we got back to the house, and got to sit by our first fire of the season.

we hiked Flat Top Manor, which is a carriage trail that leads up to a viewing tower





















a view a long the way worth stopping at

here is the tower we hiked to



















chad looking down















and then me

and what we saw from the top...this has been the best view we have seen in Watauga county; isn't it beautiful






view on the way home

Meet our latest and greatest, and, yes, I am serious.......tee hee

Loved this store

We couldn't have asked for a clearer day; it was beautiful!

what a view, huh; and for those of you who didn't know, there are two more additions to the family. I just can't resist big kitties............tee hee















reer, puss

can you see the otter at the top?

I am sure some of you may remeber this........mom and dad