Dan River Tubing

 

With Olivia at UNCG's Music Camp, we decided to do something fun with the rest of the kids. We went tubing on the Dan River! We brought our friends' son, Jonathan, along with us.

Everyone got their own tube and we brought a rope to tie everyone together so we wouldn't get separated.

It was such a peaceful ride. With the spring rains well behind us, the water level was a little low in places, but still high enough to make the trip at a leisurely pace.

We paid a little extra to bring a raft for our lunch cooler.

There were several places along the river where we could stop and explore the shore and river without the tubes.

There were some really cool areas where the rock formations along the shore were overhanging the river.

Some of them had neat holes worn in them. We kept expecting to see something come crawing out of them.

After 3 hours, we finally reached the end and climbed back out of the river. This is something we really need to do next year!

Falls Creek - Mayo River State Park

It was hot today. Dang hot. I wanted to find something wet for the kids to do and Rebecca found the Mayo River State Park. We've actually been the Mayo Park before, but I noticed on the map that there's a different section of the park way to the north, near the Virginia border. In that section is Falls Creek and the waterfall that gives the creek its name. it looked like it was pretty easy to get to, didn't require a bunch of walking, and had a place for the kids to splash around.

 It didn't disappoint. The falls were pretty and the pool in front was so inviting...

 The kids wasted little time getting in the water. A big bonus is that the bottom is mostly sandy and not very deep. even at the base of the falls, the water only got waist deep. 

The kids loved climbing on all the rocks. There were shallow little pools on each level where small fish, crayfish, and waterbugs had gathered. Ezra spent a lot of time trying to catch a minnow with his bare hands. No success there, tho.

 Getting into the falls themselves was like a refreshing massage. It felt so good!

 We had the place to ourselves for a full two hours, but when another family showed up with kids close in age to Ezra and Emma, they lost no time making friends. They even had two pit bulls with them that were the sweetest dogs ever! Shorty, the girl, wanted Irene to do nothing but throw the stick for her over and over! After 3 hours of swimming, climbing, and playing, the kids were tired and getting hungry. We will definitely be going back there soon, tho!

Family Reunion - Whispering Pines, NY

For the first time in years (maybe ever?) we had a Sarine-Fenton family gathering up at Whispering Pines in Corinth, NY. Whispering pines is owned by my cousins, Tom & Tim Welch. It was so great to have 4 generations of family gathered together for a week of fun.

We had folks coming from all over. We drove up from NC, we had cousins come in from FL, DC, NJ, and MD.

The 2010 crew!

The best part was just being able to relax and do nothing by the river, but that doesn't mean there wasn't anything to do...

There were swings

and sand

and swimming

and sidewalk art

and kayaking.

It was really one of those one-in-a-lifetime things that we will hopefully get to experience again someday!