Life was idyllic... until a few dirty politicians decided to steal their house and build a road through it, lining their own pockets in the process.
The boys in the story, of course, are me and my brother. We lived on Concord Road near a one lane bridge that led to the Concord Covered Bridge. The Bridge, originally built in the 1840's and destroyed during the Civil War, is still in use today and home to the famous "waterhead babies."
The ruins we discovered, quite by accident at the time, were of an old woolen mill. It was built in the late 1840's and destroyed (sense a trend?) by the Union Army in 1864 at the Battle of Ruff's Mill. (Read much more about the mill's history.) The steel support structures weren't there when we played in the ruins but the site appears much the same. If you leave the path and search in the woods a bit more you can find the remains of a chimney or two along with a root cellar and a well.
After taking the family through the ruins we walked along Nickajack creek and towards Ruff's Mill and the Covered Bridge. Emma and Henry had a ball, of course, tossing sticks and rocks in the the creek as we made our way back to the parking lot... where our house had once been.
]]>On returning we enjoyed a rally for immigrants' rights as well as the resulting police motorcade. After such excitement we required some refreshment from SweeTreats.
]]>We picked an easy access spot on the picturesque Tugaloo River just downstream from Yonah Dam, the last of the TVA dams. When not fishing, Emma provided some entertainment with her harmonica. After a relaxing morning of fishing we packed it up and headed to Maryland Fried Chicken for some lunch.
Trivia: The menu at Maryland Fried Chicken was featured in the intro to Alton Brown's first Feasting on Asphalt special on the Food Network.
After gorging ourselves on fried chicken and sweet tea (I highly recommend the liver dinner) we made another trek to the farm to play with the buffalo.
]]>Hooray for babies!
]]>A third pasture is underway, with grading finishing up just a few days before we arrived.
The two baby bison from our last trip had grown and were nearly the same size as their parents. Will more be on the way this spring?
]]>A few hours later a visit from cousin's Maggie and Ben saw all of them taking flying leaps off of the two stairs between the dining room and family room. Rapture all around!
]]>We had an excellent birthday shindig this evening, attended by many and enjoyed by all. A few photos for now with more to come. As you can see, of course, the birthday girl enjoyed both her first slice of pizza as well as the yummy cake that followed.
Happy first birthday, Cora Belle!
]]>These pictures were taken back in March showing a) just how far behind I am given that it is now August and b) just how much she's changed since then. Despite having two others before her, I'm still amazed at how quickly babies change from week to week.
One week you're barely able to hold your head up and the next thing you know you're telling your father to go check his facts at Wikipedia. We apparently live inside a time machine that moves forward at a steady pace.
]]>The kids batted around a few times, giving everyone an opportunity to work on their "fielding." And by "fielding" I mean shoving one another out of the way as they all scrambled to get the ball.
Henry, despite being the youngest and shortest on the team, went head-to-head with Jack, the oldest and tallest on the team, for every ball hit. You can just make out him telling the older boy not to hog the ball.
The Rockies finally showed up a half hour late and the two teams squared off. After a fun three innings both teams were declared the winner and the kids happily ran to their benches for juice boxes which are the whole reason for playing the game in the first place.
]]>As a responsible father it seems only right that I introduce my children as early as possible to life's delights. Based on Cora's reaction to Marla's biscuits I've done my job quite well.
Sadly, she seems to enjoy video games just as much.
After all of the eating it was time to go on a rock hunt in O'Neill Park right across the street. Emma and Henry took along buckets and we wandered the trails looking for unique rocks and generally enjoying the sights.
One additional comment. These photos are from March - five months ago. Cora is coming up on her first birthday. It's hard to imagine that she looked like this just a few short months ago!
]]>The next day I recorded this short video. Just overnight she'd doubled her distance. Today, one day after this video was recorded, she's been crawling all over Marla's parents' house in Woodinville. We'll have to baby proof as soon as we return from vacation.
Way to go, Cora!
]]>The beginning of this set has a few photos of me and Emma headed to the Brownies Hawaiian Dance at the end of February. She was so excited to be getting fancy and dancing with Daddy. I know this won't last much longer, so I was glad to go. (In fact, it didn't even last until the dance. Once we arrived she had no interest in hanging out with Daddy.)
The set ends with some photos of a spider I found living in/on a pear on the dining room table. It was a good excuse to bust out the macro lens and see what this little guy was up to.
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