Grandfather Mountain

All the kids at the museum on Grandfather mountain

Katherine, Elisabeth and Emily

Elisabeth and Katherine

One of the views from the swinging bridge area

May getting ready to go across the swinging bridge. It was windy and cold up there!

A perfect day in the mountains. The weather was awesome!

Hugging to keep each other warm

The lovely swinging bridge

Grandfather mountain (taken from the nature museum toward the bottom of the mountain)

We took May to Grandfather mountain today to the swinging bridge. I have been to Grandfather mountain for the Scottish Highland Games but have never been to the museum, animal habitat or the swinging bridge that is there. We went with 2 other families that are hosting exchange students. I think it was nice for the exchange students to be able to see their friends a little bit and speak in Mandarin for a while.

It was a perfect day to go to the mountains. There was hardly any humidity, the temperatures were cooler today and the sky was beautiful Citadel blue. The kids had fun looking at the bears, bald eagle, otters, cougar and deer that they have on the top of the mountain. Looking at all the animals made us tired so we took a break and went to the Fudge Shop to of course get some fudge and a caramel apple. Yum, Yum, Yum!! Then we drove to the top of the mountain to the swinging bridge. I don't know what was worse.....the very steep drive to the top with hairpin turns or the swinging bridge! Unfortunately I never got on the swinging bridge. Yeah...I know.....I'm afraid of heights and most people wouldn't think I wouldn't get on it at all but I actually wanted to walk out on it to see how far I could go and at least have my picture taken on it to show I had been there. But before I was able to do that Elisabeth fell and hit her mouth on a rock. She gave herself a big fat bloody and swollen lip and knocked her tooth pretty good. So it was all over for me......it was back down to the car to pull out the first aid kit. Oh well, maybe next time.

After that we took the scenic route home through the Blue Ridge parkway and stopped here and there at points of interest along the way. It was a fun but very long day. May was tired when we got home and so were we. I really hope she enjoyed her day and thought it was fun. I wish all days were as beautiful as today!

(I posted a few of the pictures I took but John had the good camera with him in Virginia and then I got sidetracked with Elisabeth's lip so my friend took lots of pictures for me and when I get them I will try and post more)

More pictures of May

The kids had fun playing with sidewalk chalk in the driveway this evening. Ansley and her friend Sarah are tracing May's outline.
Their masterpiece

Getting on a sit-n-spin for the 1st time

She's getting better at the skip-it

May and Ansley playing and singing Christmas carols

We gave May the camera and she took lots of pictures around the mall
May looking at all the musical greeting cards in the Hallmark store

Trying on a tiara

Trying on hats at the mall

Eating at Harpers restaurant

Li Yan Lin (aka May), our Chinese exchange student

Elisabeth, May and Ansley. May is reading Chinese word books to the girls.
Ansley on the pogo stick. She wanted me to try but I figured I would just injure myself!

The girls trying to explain to May how to do the skip-it (skip-it is a toy that goes around your leg and then you swing it and jump over it with your other leg. )

Ansley doing the skip-it that she got for her birthday

Blowing bubbles

May arrived safe and sound today from Washington, D.C. They flew there from China a few days ago and were able to get adjusted to the different time zone and do a little sightseeing before flying to Charlotte. We picked her up around 5:15 this evening and brought her home so she could settle in and rest a little bit. I cooked her some fried chicken, green beans, bread and watermelon for dinner. Then we went outside and played for a while so Ansley and Elisabeth could get rid of some of their energy before going to bed. We blew bubbles, played with the skip-it and the pogo stick. Some of our neighbors came out to meet her and with all of us talking to her in English at such a rapid speed I'm sure she is exhausted and glad to go to her room and close the door! Elisabeth and Ansley really like her and we do to! She is so sweet and easy to get along with. Elisabeth brought down her Chinese word books that we bought in China so May could help her pronounce some of the words. They enjoyed doing that together! I posted a few pictures above so everyone could see what she looks like and I'll definitely be posting alot more over the next few weeks.

4th of July

Ansley wanted to go to the American Girl store for her birthday celebration
Eating dinner at American Girl......with Sally and Felicity Elisabeth with her new doll, Becky

Ansley and her new doll, Felicity

Eating dinner at the American Girl Bistro

Ansley eating a piece of spinach....can you believe it? It's a miracle!

Getting ready to blow out her candles

Cool light fixture in the Bistro

Belle taking a swim in the lake. The dog LOVES to swim!

Cooling off on the 4th of July

No fear

hanging out at the lake on the 4th

Sweet pose

totally goofy pose

another goofy pose

Waiting for the fireworks to begin
Me and Sheryl at the High Museum of Art
Elisabeth's new necklace that she made at my mom's house
Ansley's new necklace that she made at my mom's house
Decorating a Holly Hobby cake to celebrate Ansley and Elisabeth's birthday a little early
I thought they did a pretty good job. The picture on the right is kind of what it is supposed to look like. They did well for their first cake decorating experience!
Playing with sparklers in mom's driveway

We traveled to Conyers for the 4th of July to visit family and to celebrate Ansley's birthday at the American Girl store and bistro. John stayed for a few days and then I stayed on for a few extra days. We still ran out of time and didn't get to see all the family and friends that we intended to. There is always too much to do while we are there.

On Friday, July 3rd, we took Ansley and Elisabeth to the American Girl store. Instead of having a big party this year she decided to go shopping at the store and eat dinner there with her dolls. It was fun! She picked out a new doll, Felicity, and Elisabeth got a Bitty baby which she named Becky. On July 4th we hung out at Ron and Jan's and went swimming in the lake. Mom and Ed came over and took a ride on the pontoon boat with us and ate dinner with us that evening. That night we headed to the big town of Porterdale and watched fireworks. It was a good fireworks show.......everyone enjoyed it! I hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th of July!!

May, our Chinese Exchange Student

The countdown is on until our Chinese Exchange Student, May, arrives on July 14th. We received her information the other day and were so excited to find out more about her and see pictures of her and her family. She is 15 years old and her Chinese name is Li Yan Lin. Her American name is May. She is from Chengdu and her favorite subject in school is physics. She likes sports, likes to swim and is excited about learning as much about the USA as possible while she is here. She provided her email address on her application so we have been emailing her for the past week which is very cool. We are learning more about her via email and sharing some info and pictures about us as well. Email is such a cool thing! Her English is very good....she has taken it for the past 9 years. Maybe she can teach us some Chinese while she is here! Once she arrives you can be sure I'll be posting some pictures of her on the blog.

Putt Putt the dog

To most of you this might look like a yo-yo tied to a floor lamp. But you are mistaken! Look again carefully and you will see that this is Putt Putt the dog. Of course he is tied up so he won't run away. :-)

One day not long ago Elisabeth announced that this yo-yo was actually a dog. He goes with us to run errands, etc. frequently. Sometimes his eye falls out (aka the plastic piece on the side of the yo-yo). It can be very traumatic when his eye falls out but don't worry I always save the day and pop his eye back in. He seems to be fine. Elisabeth has SUCH an imagination......I just had to share it with you.