When Adam and I woke up this morning, Jeff had already been outside taking pictures of the deer outside in the backyard – before it was even really daylight.  I hate we missed them, but am glad he got pictures.

Today our kids’ church group went to check out the waterpark at the Y in Lake Wylie. So much fun – we’re to go back again next week, and we can’t wait.  Front row”  Michael, Carly Beth, Ryland, Carter, June, Paige, Julian.  Back row:  Emma, Mason, Jacob, Adam, Gavin, Skylar, Chloe, Aidan.

I loved everything about Chimney Rock, even the murals on the bathroom walls.  Impressive, to say the least.

The hike to Hickory Nut Falls was 1 1/2 miles round trip, and was rated moderate. When you got back, though, you had to climb these 171 stairs to get back to the bus to take you down to the parking lot. Ack! We survived it, but we sure did sleep good last night 🙂

What a great day we had yesterday.  Jeff, Adam, & I headed out almost as soon as Adam got here for Chimney Rock.  That’s a place I’d been wanting to check off my bucket list for years, and yesterday we finally made it happen.  Great fun.  The elevator there had been out for probably three years, so I had psyched myself up to walk up the 499 stairs to get to the top of the rock, but when we got there we found out the elevator had been reopened just last Thursday.  Perfect timing!  You did have to walk up this one set of stairs to get to the very top of the rock – here are Jeff and Adam making their way up.

Since we didn’t have to climb all those stairs up to Chimney Rock, we decided to take the hike to the waterfalls. It was pretty rough, but the falls were so worth it. So pretty.

Yesterday my dear friend Charlotte and I headed to the Charlotte Museum of History, to take part in one of the Teas of the British Isles that they present every summer.  The theme of this one was Sherlock Holmes’ London, and it really was a good time.  W e had a little time to explore the museum before the tea started, and since neither Charlotte nor I had ever been there, that was fun.  Of course she especially enjoyed the exhibit about the naming of the city 🙂

The speaker for the event was Dr Hugh Dussek, who was born and raised in London, but now teaches history at CPCC. He did a great job explaining all kinds of things about London that tied in with Sherlock Holmes stories, and really about all of Great Britain. I was especially interested in the info he shared about The Hound of the Baskervilles, since I just recently read that – and even read some of it to the grandkids when they were here. It was a good afternoon.

Last night we went to the BMX track for the first time in a few weeks to see Charlie race – next week he’ll be at Boy Scout camp, so he won’t be here.  It was a close race, but here he is coming in first in the main.

Our friends Maxie and Diane came to watch him race. He’d gone bowling with Jeff and them last week, so they are taking him on as their own now 🙂

I got some good help with my bell pepper chopping, for sure 🙂

Yesterday we started the day off at the park in town, with our kids from church.  They had a good time playing ga-ga ball, and then we walked over to check out the pond.  They caught frogs and tadpoles and just in general had a wonderful time.  Here is our crew just before we walked back over for ice cream sandwiches. From left are Emma, Mason, Aidan, June, Chloe, Katelyn, & Paige.

We came home for lunch and then pretty soon we headed over to Charlotte’s to celebrate Brenna’s 10th birthday at a pool party.  The water felt soooo good.  In back are Mallory, Charlie, and Hope.  Middle is June.  Front are Mason, Clara, and Brenna.  Busy, fun day.

At Springlake…