Good Morning Sunshine

Good Morning Sunshine...

These are the first thoughts that run through my amazingly empty head this morning. After having a busy week, I decided to take a little time this morning just for me and to do nothing, not even think.

Well, that lasted for about 2 minutes, because then I remembered that "No, it's not the weekend"... And so I began another busy morning... I must say though that even at the busiest times, I truly enjoy and am thankful for the life that I have been given. And consider it only a blessing to which I should be thankful for.

The past Sunday, Paul and I took the kidlets to the mountains. One of the great things about living in rural East Tennessee is that we are amazing close to the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains. So, off we went, packing a picnic lunch of bologna sandwiches, kool-aid and chips...and don't forget the "GREAT GRAINGER COUNTY TOMATOES"...*L*  (for those of you not familiar with these, they are a summer staple in the lives of many in East TN)... We arrived in the mountains after a 1 1/2hr drive.. It was much cooler than the 90+ temp. we had in our area.

Upon arriving, we stopped at the Sugarlands, where we proceeded to take a light Ranger-led hike to a place called "Cataract Falls"...The kids learned a great deal from the talk the Ranger gave as he took us through the woods. We learned about the Eastern Hemlock and the insect that is threatening its survival and how the government is experimenting with the development of $4 dollar bug that will eat the rival insect..(yes, $4 a bug)... and then we went on to learn about the Junior Ranger Program.

This was one of the highlights of the day... From this we learned about several classes offered daily through October the kids could take at different locations in the mountain area for FREE...Yes free... Well, being the budget conscious parents that we are, we immediately decided to take advantage of the ones for that day...

So we headed off to an area different from the one we had originally decided to stake out for the purpose of our picnic to take advantage of this new opportunity. The "Stream Ecology" class was being offered at the "Chimney's" picnic area and it was sooooo beautiful there...

The class itself was great... It was given by 2 Park Rangers and they were very knowledgeable and able to answer all the kids questions in a way that was on their level of understanding. They went into detail about the water cycle and all the environmental pollutants, as well as, the man-made pollutants... They had specimens of micro-organisms that are found in the area streams and creeks and their life cycles.

Then the best part of all was when the Rangers showed the kids BEAR SCAT!!!  Known to us commoners as POOP!!! I could not begin to tell you how much they talked about it... That was truly the highlight of our trip... beating out playing in an ice cold creek and climbing over huge boulders in the creek...

Well, that was the highlights of Sunday for our family... The beginning day of what was a busy but blessed week...