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!

UNCG Piano Camp 2019

Olivia got a chance to attend her first summer music camp at UNCG for piano.

Getting to walk around our old alma mater with her was an interesting experience. So much has changed, but most of it is the same, even after 25 years (GOOD GOD, I'M OLD!).

She was so excited to be able to room with her good friend, Sarah, for the week.

 

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!
 

Fourth of July Fun

For the Fourth of July, we registered the three older kids in the Greensboro Fun Fourth race through downtown. The boys ran the 1-mile race and Olivia did the 5k. 

They were giving out some silly swag at some of the booths, so Ezra went nuts. 

There werent many kids in the 1-mile race, but Ezra managed to come in third.

Gabe wasn't very far behind, taking 5th. 

Olivia, however, seemed to be a bit out of shape from the long break since spring training and came in pretty late.

She was given a bit of a hard time for not being able to catch the octogenarian who came in before her.

It wasn't all about the races, tho. We did our traditional gathering with other families down at the Grim's farm in Pleasant Garden.

The paper lanterns are one of the highlights of the evening.

And of course, the fireworks!

Science Project - Sunrise

For Gabe's science, he had to observe a sunrise, so we got up before dawn and drove downtown to the parking deck so we would have an unobstructed view. It was glorious!