We left Knoxville Tennessee and drove about 30 miles east of Asheville for a morning hike. We drove through beautiful green mountains and valleys of deciduous forest. I'm sure the colors in the fall are spectacular. At one point, we crossed the Eastern Continental Divide. We explained it this way to the kids: It means all the precipitation that falls to the west of this line drains into the Gulf of Mexico and to the east it drains into the Atlantic Ocean. Joshua has a set of walkie talkies that we use when we travel. Peter and Stephanie take one and this makes communication on the road very easy. The "boys" have a great time with them; for example David will say, "Houston wagon to Allen wagon, what's the exit we're supposed to take...?" At one point, we saw a dollar store and a sign out front said "Clearance Sale." I couldn't resist calling Peter on the walkie talkie and asking why he didn't stop to check it out. :-)
Most of the hills were really steep; David was actually putting the van in third gear going downhill to avoid riding the brakes-- something you never have to do in Houston. Something else you don't see/use in Houston-- runaway truck ramps. They look like they would stop a big rig-- it would ruin the truck, but I'll bet the truck driver would be grateful because he didn't go over the edge.
There were 2 tunnels along the way, another small thrill for the kids because... that's right, there are no tunnels in Houston. Joshua had to go to the bathroom, so we ended up making a quick pit stop. Of course, everyone decided they had to use the bathroom too.Since there are 4 adults and 8 kids between us, and the kids range in age from 17 months to 9 years, we cause a mild to moderate commotion wherever we go, especially when we've gone out to dinner. I really love it when people ask me how many of the kids are mine. If my niece Mary didn't have her pretty red hair, I just might be able to get away with saying very proudly, "Yes, they're all mine." My niece and three nephews are so cute, I'd take 'em in a heartbeat. But we'd have to get a passenger van for sure :-)
After the potty break, we turned off Interstate 40 and drove another 6 miles to where our hike started. Honestly, it was only 0.8 miles, so it was hardly a "hike," but it was all uphill because the big "ta-da" at the end was Toms Creek Falls. This time, Gabriel tolerated the backpack carrier, and didn't fuss one bit. (He has been a trooper this entire trip, a real angel baby). Peter found this hike on the web, and it was classified as "easy." I like to hike, but I have to admit our kids are wimps when it comes to walking any distance in the heat. We were dripping wet by the time we got to the waterfall. But it was totally worth it-- check out the pics below. The kids all insisted on getting their picture taken on a rock.
It's amazing what a little hike can do for the appetite-- all the kids were clamoring for lunch. So I took Christina and we went ahead a little bit so I could get a head start on making sandwiches back at the van. We took our time and saw a pretty butterfly, a dragonfly, and a few wild mushrooms. I thought it would be a good time to tell Christina you should never eat wild mushrooms because they could make you sick. Christina said, "Don't worry Mommy, I'm not going to eat them because I don't like mushrooms anyway." I really enjoyed these rare 10 minutes alone with my precious little about-to-turn-4 daughter. She is so cute and so funny, and she doesn't even know it. She is our little monkey, while Rebecca is our social diva wanna be. Pretty soon, everyone else came back, and we ate lunch in the shade on a blanket Stephanie had thoughtfully brought along. We had chocolate chip cookies and she had rice krispies treats, so we made a few trades :-). 
After lunch, we drove back west and got to Ridgecrest Conference Center in Asheville around 2 o'clock. David dutifully unloaded the van, then took the kids to mass at 4:00, and I got Gabriel to take a nap (and take advantage of the quiet time to work on this post). The CCL (Couple to Couple League) Convention officially starts tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to the talks, workshops, and socializing with other families. This is the best part about the convention, we can all talk about NFP without feeling out-of-place, and everyone has hordes of kids. The dining hall was right next door so we got dinner without any trouble. Then Stephanie and I went to a meeting about the childcare procedures while David and Peter got all the kids bathed and ready for bed. David and I sat and talked about what workshops we want to go to tomorrow and then hit the sack ourselves.
We'll tell you more tomorrow about what we've learned!
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