Noel Chalets Blowing Rock

... Miller's blueberries in Watkinsville).

After our hike, we asked the kids if they wanted to go to Linville Falls for a picnic or Banner Elk playground. Guess which one won? So we drove into Banner Elk and ate our lunch on a picnic table by the playground. After eating the kids had great time playing, swinging and sliding. They both got on their crocs and waded in the stream too.

Then we took David Andrew so he could get a nap. We stopped by ...

It was another rainy day today, so we stayed in. The kids played downstairs a lot. There are bunches of toys that are all new to them, so they really enjoyed it. After lunch, we put Star Wars 2 in to watch with Caroline. We popped some popcorn too. A great way to spend a rainy afternoon.

Some work had to be done on the well pump ...

Today was rainy as predicted (we had hoped the weatherman would be wrong). We sat inside all morning but by lunchtime it was not raining anymore, just cloudy. So we drove down the Mountain to the Old Hampton Store for a bbq lunch. It was really good and we got banana pudding ...

Today was the day to go to Price Park. This is a place we seem to visit every year we come up to North Carolina. We started at Price Lake where we rented two canoes. One canoe was for David, Jennifer and David Andrew. The other was Grandmama, Grandaddy and Caroline. We paddled around the lake for about an hour. It's was pretty quiet on the lake since it was a weekday ...

... kids their own fishing poles - Princess for Caroline and Lightning McQueen for David Andrew. The kids could hardly wait to start fishing. We had to remind them they needed bait first. We decided to fish in the pond with the smallest fish to make it easier for the kids. The ponds are really well stocked - once you get the hang of it, you WILL catch a fish. Caroline was scared of the worms at first but by the end she was ...

... real butter made fresh. The kids (big and little) got ice cream too.

There is a neat waterfall located on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Deep Gap, NC, that I read about online. Usually it would be further than I would want to drive but since it was on the way back home, I thought we could try it. David Andrew fell asleep on the way so Mary sat in the car with him while we ...

... hit him (or he would hit us) and we'd be dead. David made all the right decisions and was able to stop our car and miraculously, the other guys car spun in front of us and off the road without any incident. I still don't know how we escaped it after playing it over and over again in my mind. We were safe but that's when I started screaming and freaking out - but as soon as I heard Caroline ...

... on the Rock Chef Challenge Heat 3~ $5 ($10 for pass to all Saturday heats) 8pm ~Fire on the Rock Chef Challenge Heat 4~ $5 ($10 for pass to all Saturday heats) Sunday, April 19 Be sure to turn in your Scavenger Hunt Cards for the 2pm Grand Prize drawing at the Fire on the Rock Finale!! 11am ~Festival Champagne Brunches~ Locations to be announced. 2pm ~Fire on the Rock Grand Finale~ $7

... kayak, canoe, read, cook, work on my house and yard, and goof-off with Ella. Like Jessi, I'm really looking forward to the experiences our team will have while travelling through the western portion of India, primarily in the state of Gujarat. I'm especially interested in checking out the traditional and contemporary pottery in the areas through which we travel, and I hope I get ...

Today we visited the Old Orc******* Altapass (off the Blue Ridge Parkway) www.altapassorchard.com which has been operating as an apple orchard for 99 years. We cruised through the gift shop and then not spotting any apples for sale asked about them. They evidently had no apples this year as a frost in April killed all the blossoms! We were all disappointed as we'd been looking forward to some fresh, crisp apples! We paid for a hayride, and ...