Laying Out...

I remember the first time I heard someone say they were "laying out" it was in the middle of winter and I thought they were crazy. In Florida...."laying out" refers to laying out in the sun. If you didn't go to school...that was skipping school. Well....Friday we started school. We really were going to accomplish SO much. But, then, while we are doing math problems....our little neighbor girl starts riding her bike outside our window. The boys are begging to go out too. So I went and asked if she was out of school....sure enough! No school Friday. So...I told the boys we were done and going to the mountains!!! We'd had a long week...so I was so relieved to just be done with it and have a long weekend (even longer than I thought it would be).

We studied Mercury this week and made little models out of flour, salt and water. The boys had fun blasting them with "asteroids".

Ethan looks SOOOOO cute in his Cub Scouts uniform. He's super excited to start next week!

Friday we went to Cades Cove and drove down Sparks Lane because, for some reason, we never had before. It's very pretty...I'm glad we did.

Butterflies were EVERYWHERE.

There was a perfect little creek that the boys couldn't resist.

Their favorite part of the day was the TURKEY HUNT! They chased these turkeys so far that they finally just flew off.

Goofy.

Taking a break from the hunt.

No turkey...but, they did leave behind a feather...which Sweet Pea destroyed shortly after getting it home. It was going to go in Ethan's "collection jar" along with all of his gross, I mean awesome, Cicada shells.

I love the volunteers at Cades Cove. This man was on his way out of the mill for the day. He saw the boys and called them over to him. He picked up some buckeyes off the ground and told the boys about them and gave them each one.

Don't know what he is doing. All I know is he said, "Look Mom! Take a picture!".

They made up a game with the buckeyes.

It started raining pretty hard on our way out. But, right when it started sprinkling this bear came out and started playing in the rain. It was the cutest thing. He was jumping around and standing up on his hind legs. It was fun watching him.

In the car on the way home, Luke was telling Ethan that when he was 100 years old he was going to be a "big, huge giant!!!". He apparently thinks you never stop growing! :o)

We finished up the week today at Water Angels' Shining Stars Club. It was so awesome. There is nothing like watching those kids praise the Lord. I was kicking myself for not bringing my video camera. These kids were dancing and singing with all of their hearts....I know that God had to be loving every minute of it.