A whole month

I've really tried to post more this year.  I was doing pretty well until...I wasn't.  I've tried to blog but it just didn't seem to flow.  So, here I am trying again.  A month has gone by for goodness sake!

Trying to recap a bit...a little at a time and in no particular order.
The yard sale - we finally had it!  When I say finally, I mean our house has been completely full of boxed, unwanted items waiting to be sold.  Years and years and years worth of clutter just sitting EVERYWHERE.  I wasn't able to clean the house.  I mean, I could tidy up but it still looked like I belonged on an episode of hoarders.  It was a pretty successful sale.  Plus, other than the larger items (saddles and tack, dive gear, etc.) everything was loaded up into The Beast and donated.  Two truckloads!  

The den/computer room has been cleaned.  For really real cleaned.  If you've seen it, you know how horrible it was.  The floors have been vacuumed and steam cleaned and re-vacuumed.  Everything has been dusted and the posters that were covering the walls are gone.  The kids didn't want them up anymore so I threw them out!  The posters...not the kids :)  Bobby helped in there yesterday and we pulled the computer desk out from the wall and vacuumed and dusted back there.  Of course, now we're talking about painting ideas.  We've been here 10 years.  It's about time to paint that room!

The first day of summer...well the first couple days of summer were LOTS of fun and very busy!  We had a blast!  A group of us were invited to a friend's house for some hanging out time.  They live smack dab on the Mulberry River.  We ate lunch and headed down to the water where the kids played and played.  Dakota did get cold so he curled up in the sand soaking up the warmth...then onto a rock like a lizard.  We chatted and laughed.  It was a good day!  Then that night, we went to Boogie Bottoms with the Crawfords and two Woods men to watch World War Z and Man of Steel.  We got in super late that night, but had plans on going canoeing in Tennessee with the Crawfords the next day.  We went back and forth about going just because of being tired and forking out more gas money.  In the end, we decided to go and I'm so glad we did.  I knew I would love it once we got there, it was just the getting there.

Okay...that's all for now.  Pictures!  Well, not of the yard sale...I'm not that weird.

Swimming with friends!

Drive In

Canoe!

Foster Falls!

Caney Falls

Esther sent out an email to see who would be interested in taking a hike to Caney Falls. We've been to Bankhead with the group, but to look at Kinlock Falls and to play in Thompson Creek. We had never made it to Caney before and really wanted to go.

I packed up a cooler full of water, snacks and lunch and a backpack with sunblock (which I didn't remember to put on...anyone) hats, extra socks and a change of clothes for Cody. Oh, and a small first aid kit, which came in handy. We rode with Cathy because her car gets crazy good gas mileage. Thanks Cathy!

Cathy and Kaitlin picked us up around 9:00 and we headed to the trading post in Wren to meet up with everyone.

This place has a lot of...weird things. Cody found this pile of coyote tails and LOVED them. He wanted one so much. It reminded him of the Mario where he turns into Raccoon-Flying Mario. I don't even know how he knows about the game...we don't own it, but now he owns a coyote tail. It's the little things guys.

This is the Alabama Swamp Monkey
See? Weird.

It's the mile and a half back that you should worry about.

There were several local dogs that all seemed friendly enough. We tried to shoo them off since Esther and brought her three dogs. One fat, white dog decided to follow us to the falls.

See Esther's little black dog, Zephyr? Fat, white dog attacked her shortly after this picture was taken. They were on the other side of the water, and out of nowhere...BAM! We heard yelping and screaming and saw Jake kick white dog off of Zep. Everyone was yelling at white dog and throwing stuff at him. He took off after that. Zephyr has some puncture wounds and is a bit shaky, but I think she'll be okay. Poor puppy.

BRRRR!

After Cody went under the waterfall, he changed his clothes and tried to warm up. The rest of the group, except for Heather and G, hiked down to see the other falls. I decided to start hiking back up to the top where it was warmer...Cody was cold and sat out in the sun warming up like a lizard.

I now understand why this is called 'Heart Attack Rock'

Cody and I went ahead and hiked back to the cars. I thought I would try to dry his clothes out a little:)

Brit fell a couple times.

We sat up by the cars and ate lunch and chatted. Then we went to Brushy Lake to check out their campground. Then Cathy's car started acting up, so we headed back. Her car seems fine now, just over heated with the windy roads and air conditioner going. We ate dinner with Cathy and Kaitlin and they dropped us off at home. 'Us' being Cody and myself. They took Brit home with them. I may never see her again...

Who's ready to go hiking again?!
:)