Went looking for adventure, we found it!

My family and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and set out on an adventure. We started out slow, a paved trail that is 1.25 miles long at the WV Wildlife Center. Several of the animals were out in the enclosures, but it was obviously nap time. The birds of prey were the most active of the animals. The gobbler struted his stuff and showed off, until I wanted to take his picture, and he deflated rather quickly. The bald eagle was also in rare form as he stretched and screeched.
We had our picnic lunch and then headed to Holly River State Park to check out the Upper Falls and also the Lower Falls. My girls were up for an adventure, so we decided to hike the Potato Knob trail. And, HIKE, we did. 2440 ft. straight up! We climbed tree roots, rock cliffs and straight up trail. When we finally got to the top, it was beautiful. We were eye level with the vultures that were circling overhead and Kevin snapped a couple great pictures of them. It took us 2.5 hours round trip, but we made it. I made it. I felt like Rocky Balboa in the Rocky movie where he trains in Russia. LOL
So, got out there and get some fresh air. You won't get that kind of workout in a gym..

Let's Go Fly a Kite!
One of the best memories I have of my childhood is flying kites in the fields with my sisters and my Papaw. We would stand for hours on windy days and fly butterflies, plain diamonds, birds of all sorts and gliders. There was only one tree in our field, and more often than not, the kite always landed in or near that walnut tree when the wind would die down.
This past weekend, my family and I restarted the kite flying. Alivia and Kevin both had kites that soared high into the sky. Jordan and I had a cheap kite and it was crippled. It would only fly sideways. That didn't stop or deter the laughter. (That was fixed! We bought new nylon gliders! )

Mary Poppins had it right, "Let's go fly a kite!" It does lighten your mood, and makes you feel young again.

Decorating on the Cheap

Our annual Girl Scout cookie celebration is coming up fast. This year we are incorporating the 100 year birthday celebration and our cookie sale success into one big bash. Since we are in a very rural area, money in the service unit is sparse. Thanks to all of the neat ideas I am finding on pinterest, I am sure we can decorate our city building on a $25.00 budget. I took left over green and white balloons and an old wire hanger and made a birthday wreath. Total investment (had to purchase more balloons) was $4.00 and sore fingers from knotting 240 balloons.
Several pintestet pins offer free printables. I found an excellent one yesterday with a Ruth Bell Graham quote about a happy marriage. I printed off the template, purchased a black picture frame from the Dollar Store for $1.50 and viola! I have a cute, whimsical picture for my bedroom.

Will post photos later.....

That is Pinteresting!

My recent obsession with the website Pinterest has actually garnered quite a few awesome creations. I love to cook anyway, and baking is one of my top hobbies. I am teaching my girls how cooking requires using Math. Fractions are what they are working on in math in school. So, measuring ingredients has helped them both out.
We have made a pretzel reese blondie pie, rolo cake bars, and Jordan has made awesome monkey bread that she used to meet one of her 4-H project requirements.
With the cost of everything going up, I have found that the DIY projects are going to save my family some money this summer when it comes to remodeling and redecorating.
I will post some Pinterest photos soon!