On Friday, 24-AUG, Karen, Logan and Kayleigh arrived at the Hill-Billy Airport for a weekend visit in HSV. On Saturday morning Rosie helped Logan and Kayleigh do a little stamping.
Logan is pushing down on his stamp.
I'm helping Kayleigh get hers stamped.
Later, Rosie also had them making cards. They had fun.
Here are their finished products. Pretty good, eh?
TINY TOWN / Hot Springs. We had heard about Tiny Town in Hot Springs but had never been there. So, on Saturday afternoon we headed over to Hot Springs and Tiny Town. The building is a bit of a "dump", but the display is totally impressive. The kids - especially Logan - loved it. Here are some pictures from Tiny Town. I'll start with the wide shots and then the close-ups.
Here are some close-up pictures. Recognize any of these?
The manager turned out the lights so we could see Tiny Town at "night".
We had a hard time getting Logan to leave Tiny Town; he really enjoyed it. It was also neat that each time you went around the exhibit you noticed something different. FYI - Tiny Town was made by the current manager's father. He not only made all the settings, but he carved all the tiny figures - even the very tiny clothespins (carved from toothpicks).
After Tiny Town we stopped at Fat Bottom Girls' cupcake shop to get a selection of cupcakes for dessert. The kids enjoyed their sampling of cupcakes - as did the adults.
Playing Games. Rosie and I enjoyed playing Perfection and Jenga with Logan and Kayleigh. Logan wanted us to delay starting the timer on Perfection. However, even without the delay, all four of us finally got it done. Yeah us!
Here's Logan in his Lightin' McQueen / Mater PJs. Looking SHARP!
Kayleigh and I enjoyed being lazy in the chair.
Logan had a great time playing with the farm.
We took them back to the airport on Monday morning for the flight back to Houston. Thanks for the visit; we had a great time.
On Saturday morning, 11-AUG, we all headed out to the Carter Mountain Orchard to pick peaches and apples.
The peaches were beautiful. Don't they look delicious? Well - they were! Can you spell "peach cobbler"? Adam decided that we needed to make one with his help. YUM!
Adam had a great time picking peaches.
We had our quota of peaches very quickly and headed for the apples. Here I am pulling the fruit wagon.
This was the first day for the gala apple trees to be open for picking. They had a lot of good looking apples.
Here's the Callicott family posing in a tree - duck Chris.
Lottie is a determined apple picker.
With a little help from Dad, Adam can reach the higher apples.
The view from the orchard was beautiful.
Here we are with the valley in the background.
We had a great time picking peaches and apples. Both were delicious and survived the trip back to Arkansas well.
After working hard to get everything in its proper place, Chris, Amy, Adam and Lottie were driving to NJ to visit Amy's parents. Rosie and I decided we could "help" by staying at their house and keeping Nani - plus doing a bit more arranging. So we stayed the week of 05-SEP and played tourist around the Charlottesville area. One of the first places we visited was the Rotunda at the University of Virginia. It's a beautiful campus. Unfortunately, the Rotunda was under repair and covered in a lot of blue tarps. But it was still neat.
Our next visit was to Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello. It's about a 15 minute drive from Chris and Amy's house. Monticello is a beautiful house surrounded by excellent landscaping. Here are some outside pictures of the house. Here I am in front of the house.
Rosie is standing at the back of the house.
Views from the sides.
We enjoyed the butterfly weed in the garden. It was very colorful.
Here's the vegetable garden.
The small gazebo was supposedly one of Jefferson's favorite views of the area. In this picture you can better understand why.
Here's the obelisk at Jefferson's grave site. The first item mentioned on his obelisk is "Author of the Declaration of American Independence."
After Monticello we went to Michie's Tavern (about 5 minutes away) for a tour of the tavern and lunch. Here's Rosie by the Tavern's sign.
Here are some photos of the tavern and our docent.
Every tavern needs a good toilet. Michie's Tavern had a multi-hole outhouse. Great way to meet new friends!
After Monticello, we drove to President James Monroe's home - again a short trip. Here's the entrance to Monroe's house.
Here are some pictures from around the house.
Rosie and I are standing by the well.
This tree dates back to the time of Monroe.
Here we are with President Monroe.
On another day trip we headed out to see President James Madison's house. Madison is know as the Father of the US Constitution. Here are pictures of his house.
This statue of James and Dolly Madison is in the backyard of the house.
The gazebo was set away from the house with a great view of the lawn.
This tree dates back to the time of President Madison.
Here's the Madison cemetery and President Madison's gravestone.
We had a great time touring around Charlottesville. There's a lot of history in the immediate area. Thanks to Chris and Amy for letting us stay at their "bed and breakfast".
