July 5, the kids and I headed to the Tennessee mountains to spend time with a dear friend of many years, Edith Trost Kirkland and her family (12 kids and 11 adults). We arrived to a old cabin that has been in the family for over 100 years. No TV, no computers, just running around in the fresh outdoors using their imagination. The kids and I shared a king size bed...they slept and I enjoyed being poked with little feet and rolled on all night. But they were cute sleeping! In the morning we had a family breakfast with the whole Trost clan and played some more. In the afternoon we would load up and go on adventures. We hiked to a waterfall, the mini library, "pottery"- where we watched a man throw on the wheel, a 2 mile hike where we got to see a real rattle snake...by accident! Kacie did the 2 mile hike with no carrying! Riley just kept up with the other kids. he was a real trooper. I got a book read and a lot of visiting. The food was great, the weather was super, the company was fun!The kids still talk about it and look forward to visiting again.
To explain a few of the pictures...
Kacie with her head back: Kacie fell at the pool on July 4 and got 5 stitches in her chin. I was nervous that she would hit it and split it open... she never did and it never slowed her down!
Riley and friends: Riley and Turner played a lot during this trip!
Kacie pushing a stroller: Kacie liked to push Gus in the stroller (Gus is a year older than Kacie...she is such a momma.)
Riley near a metal box: Riley was facinated by an old well
Group picture: Riley and Kacie with Edith's 3- Millie, Turner and Gus
Large group picture: The whole clan
I went to Vegas for an IPI (Independent Photo Imagers) Convention and show. IPI is a group of people like me who own independent photo labs, and provide us all with more buying power. It was my first time to attend this show since we just joined this group 8 months ago. I had a great trip, the convention was at a great resort, Green Valley Ranch (http://www.greenvalleyranchresort.com/), that is located way off the strip, but it was an extremely nice resort. They even had their own
little vineyard, which my free upgrade to a suite, overlooked. Probably one of the finest hotel rooms I have ever stayed in... too bad I was bymyself. The pool was really cool (temperture wise it was darn right cold.. I thought Vegas in July the water would be warm) too, it had a sandy beach entrance.
The convention and show was great, I meet several new people and got lots of new and fun ideas for the store.