Happy Halloween

This year brought us 72 little trick o' treaters. Just to name a few, we had two kids as spider-man, a couple princesses, one bumble bee and one ladybug, two vampires, three ninjas, one Santa Claus and one little duck on her first Halloween. A very enjoyable night. 

Yo ho, yo ho, the pirate life

Liam, a.k.a., Pirate Skull Vest, allowed us to visit with him for awhile before he went on his voyage around the neighborhood rounding up more treats. A-pirating he will go....Aaarrrggghhh

Smarties Addiction

I have a problem that I need to share with you all, and that is I am addicted to Smarties.

I can’t stop eating them, thinking about them, I even am dreaming about them.

I buy them when I know I shouldn’t.

I have to hide them from myself or I will eat the entire bag, seriously, been there to see me do it.

I need an intervention, I need counseling, I need a support group.

Please, if you see me buying Smarties, rush up and take them away.

Warning: Be careful, because I will probably fight you for them.

Sunsets and Camping

The sun was setting just as we arrived at our second campsite, causing me to end my phone conversion with my friend Melanie and quickly grab the camera (Melanie, being a awesome photographer herself, understands and will forgive me for the quick hang-up.)  Now with the first shots taken I begin to help Rick with the assembly of the tent and placement of the camping supplies when I heard a voice in my head. It was Chris, from our photo meetup group. In a previous meetup photo shoot he said, "that if you wait awhile after the sun sets you will be able to capture a even more beautiful sky with great hues of orange and red," and he was right. The second photo I took almost one hour later. 

Camping | Hot Springs, NC

A few weekends back I had the opporntinity to go on my first camping experience. This being the first time, I was not sure what to expect. I know, me camping, but I did it and found that camping was not bad at all. In fact, I found so much enjoyment and relaxation in it that I look forward to planing more camping trips. 

We went to the campground associated with the Hot Springs Resort and Spa in the NC mountains located in the town of Hot Springs. (They also have a nice resort with hot spring hot tubs located across from the campground.) Our camp site was located in a very nice shaded area between the French Broad River and the railroad, the river nice, the train loud at 2:00 am. Overall it was a very nice site with a picnic table and fire ring. The campgrounds had little cottages that one could rent, a couple bathhouses with a shower and bathroom, and of course port-a-potties in several locations. And I suppose you could go do a "county" behind any tree if you would prefer. Me, I walked to the outhouse with a flashlight. 

Nice shady site.

Our camp site.

Proof that I was really there, no photoshop here.

Mushrooms?

The French Board River.

Incredible vines near our camp site.

More incredible vines.

First camp site fire built by Rick.

Fire in the dark.

Train, need I say more.

The bridge to get you to the store with the coffee!

The bridge coming into Hot Springs, NC

The small river side quaint individual cabins you can rent.

The store that had hot coffee by 7:00 am!