Our Weekend in North Carolina

This past weekend we took a long overdue trip to North Carolina to see my brother, Ben and his wife Anna, and my brother, Charlie and his wife Maggie. We arrived Friday afternoon to go see Ben's cows he is raising for meat. We are purchasing some of the meat this fall. It is fun to see this new adventure Ben has started. It's a lot of work but Ben is having fun with it.

The kids meeting the cows. "Our" cow, Sarah, is the brown cow in the middle.

Friday evening we had a cookout at Ben & Anna's followed by smores over the fire. We had a fun time eating Anna's wonderful spread of food and chatting. Caroline spent both nights at their house and the rest of us slept at Charlie & Maggie's. Maggie had delicious breakfasts planned and, my favorite,

tacos on Saturday evening! Lots of yummy food!

Saturday morning we packed up and headed to Cataloochee National Forest for a picnic and fishing.

There was a Ranger who showed the kids Elk antlers and told them fun facts.

Doster loved the presentation and here he is holding the Elk skull.

Going to the creek to catch crawdads and go fishing.

catching crawdads

The kids weren't the only ones enjoying themselves.

Uncle Charlie showing the kids the crawdads.

They fed them leaves and watched them clomb down on them with their claws.

Really excited to be riding in the back of Uncle Charlie's truck!

Uncle Ben & Caroline

how Mary Anna spent the day...

The kids with Uncle Ben, Aunt Anna, Aunt Maggie and Uncle Charlie

Snuggling while watching Ice Age.

Taking a nap...not normally Jason's choice of nap friends as Copper crawled up there after Jason fell asleep. But I do think his warmth and purring helped Jason sleep much longer! :)