My Girlfriend

When Sarah Beth and I get together there are two things that are going to happen for sure.  One, we are going to dress up our American Girl dolls.  Two we are going to create art!   We may do other things but those are always tops on our list.

G - Camp

G-Camp with the boys was a lot of fun this year.  I started things of as always with chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.  Gotta keep our energy up!  We spent three days working on collage art with their favorite sports theme.  Poppie John give them some hands on education about paint ball.  Sean was especially interested in this.  Scott was amazed to see and hold a wooden baseball bat.  We also enjoyed swimming, water volley ball, games, games and more games and last but not least shopping.  Shoes were a big item since "somebody" had stinky feet!  LOL

Banner Elk Vacation Part four

On down to Valley Cruis Ranch for some horseback riding.  This first horse pictured was not to happy so I had to change out horses.:(  The next pictures was Maggie Beth's and the last one was Cindy's.   This ended up being a girls ride since someone needed to stay with Boyd so all the guys stayed back.  We rode up a mountain and enjoyed the scenery.  Extra special time for me to ride again after all these years and to get to do it with my little cowgirl Maggie Beth.  We had a super friendly guide who road a black and white painted horse named Cory.  I told her I had a son named Cory.  Later on the trail she told me her horse  "Cory" was sometimes stubborn.  Jokingly I told her ours was too!  I just love barns and this red one really stood out.  All in all it was a great time.

Banner Elk Vacation - Part 3

The mountains are a beautiful site to behold for me and John.  Not to mention the weather and how pleasant it is.  We visited Grandfather Mountain/  We hiked around and even went across the mile high bridge.  I said I would never do it again, back in 1977 it was a swinging would bridge.  This time we found that they had rebuilt it out of steal and stabilized it.  We worked up the nerve to do it but, it is still plenty scary to be a mile high on a two foot bridge between to mountains.  Did it and got the tee shirt but, wouldn't you know the camera battery went dead - got a post card.  I would not have been taking pictures on the bridge anyway, it was all I could do to walk it!  LOL  Mildred the bear has long since passed away but, they named a cafe after her and I fell in love with this new bear.  Love the blue look of the mountains.  Lastly we called this home for are stay in Banner Elk.

Banner Elk Vacation - Part Two

Visiting Tweetsie Railroad was something we had wanted to do for awhile now.  Cory and Patrick's Dad and I had taken them there when they were little.  We thought it would be fun to take the G-kids there too.  The timing was great as Boyd is into choo choo trains and Maggie Beth loves horses, cowboys and Indians too. I have an old picture of me, Cory and Patrick in 1977 standing in front of the train where Patrick is standing now.  Gonna have to dig that one out! LOL There were also amusement rides and an arcade.  We also enjoyed a comedic drama about cowboys and Indians.  Glad to see they made it a comedy, it was quite scary for the little ones back in the day.

Banner Elk Vacation - Part One

It was great to get away to the mountains!  The air was so cool and clean.  After dealing with the Okefenokee Swamp fires it was really refreshing.  The only thing that would have made it better would have been for Cory and his family to join us.  Trying to get family pictures is always a challenge.  Never can get everyone to smile and look the same way at the same time but, lots of laughs trying!

Happy Father's Day

Remembering my Daddy on Father's Day.  He passed away 43 years ago this month.  He was my hero.  He loved to play with all the kids and give them nick names.  He loved sports, racing, fishing and building our beloved lake home.  He had a big heart and helped many people who were down on there luck.  He knew he was blessed and played it forward.  He never got to meet his grandsons or his great grand children.  He would have been so proud of each of them.  He came from a family of seven children and always wanted a large family.  His name was Arthur Wilson Scott but as a young boy acquired the nickname of "Sim" and it stuck throughout his life.  In fact many people did not even know what his real name was.  According to Aunt Mary he got this name because when he was little he would keep saying "Did you see me do that?" and it went from Seme to Sim.   I know he is up there looking down at how his family has grown, smiling, thinking to himself, alright now we got enough to make a team!  I love you Daddy.