Visit from Aunt Amy

Ok so my sister came to visit in March 2010. It was not a good week to visit. It rained the entire week and we really didn’t get out and do much. I was hoping that when my sister came this time things would be better………

Boy was I wrong. She got a ticket on her way out of Salt Lake City. She ended up getting 2 connecting flights canceled and the flight she finally made it out of Dallas on was delayed 3 hours and was flying to Lexington Kentucky (2 1/2 hour drive) rather than Knoxville Tennessee (a 1 1/2 hour drive). In the end I picked her up at the blue grass airport at 2:30 am. 9 hours after her original arrival time. To add to the chaos she got sick on the plane and had a grueling drive to my house. We walked through the door around 6 am. The poor girl had been stressed and awake for 24 hours.

The next day was sunny though. A good sign. That is until she was still sick.

One blessing later (which practically raised her from the dead), we were headed to our favorite stream.

I find this water spot absolutely breathtaking. One of the reasons we had family pictures taken there a few weeks ago (post to come). Surprising though when we got there the water was really low and some areas wasn’t flowing at all. We also noticed a few branches down and a tree now crossed the stream that was standing erect before. The trail that loops to the Tri State Peak next to the water was taped off. We thought maybe the crazy storms that came through the weeks before probably caused the damage.

We made the most of it though because hello Aunt Amy was in town. She prefers to be behind the camera which is nice because I can actually post pictures of me.

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I put the Katie’s feet between mine and Brady’s between hers.

Katie went running across the water and tripped. It is my child so I wasn’t even surprised. We stripped her out of the soaking clothes and let her run around in her yellow panties. She was warmer this way and no one else was around.

Brady loved the cool water on his toes

I think Brady looks just like Rick in this picture

Afterward we walked over and let Amy check out the Train tunnel. It is pretty cool. You can not see the end and it is pitch black inside. The thing that keeps you on your toes is that it is still an active line. You never know when a train light might suddenly appear in the tunnel.

Having Amy around wore Brady out. He is madly in love with his auntie. He would giggle for her and just gaze at her. I swore he liked her better than me. Amy was holding Katie’s hand in the car and Brady reached up and put his hand on Amy’s too. He wasn’t about to be left out of anything.

To continue with Amy’s bad fortune it started raining and rained everyday she was here and stopped the day she flew home. We did brave the storms a few times though. We went bowling, and hit the flea market and bought her some really nice belts. We also went to Virginia to the wilderness road state park. They were doing their RAID. It is a reenactment of the local Indian tribe’s raid of the fort at Martin’s Station. (Check out the video below. You could feel the canon fire.) It poured buckets of rain just before it was scheduled to start. We all huddled under umbrellas. When it let up we had the opportunity to see a double rainbow. Katie loved it.

We took Amy for some Catfish at the Pine Mountain Resort in Pineville, KY one of the nights. After dinner we went behind the lodge and checked out the gazebo and saw a sign for the honeymoon falls. We thought what the heck and sent Brady home with Granny and Grandpa and went for a small hike. I would love to go back and see the area when it is lighter. It was late and getting dark. There was also a slight mists so most of the pictures are blurry sorry.

Along the way I spotted this little guy. We made sure to not actually touch it because Salamanders can be very poisonous but we wanted to show you his size and color.

This is a picture of one of the falls. I’m guessing they call it honeymoon falls because there are 2 waterfalls, one on each side of the path that come together to make one stream down the hill. None of the pictures from the other waterfall turned out. I guess that is a good reason to go back. Amy was trying to figure how that tree ended up where it did.

Amy and Katie are 2 peas in a pod.

I was sad to see my sis go. She had to get on with her life though. A new job for a new college grad.

Amy I love you. I know coming to visit wasn’t the best experience but it did give me something to look forward to on those rough days away from the family. I was just happy to have you in the same room. I care for you with all my heart and truly cherish the fact I get to call you sister. Thank you for all the help you provide while you were here. I think you are amazing.

Love your big Sis!