Arbor Day

Southern Forest World was offering free admission on Arbor Day, so the kids and I decided to pay a visit.  Olivia hadn't been here since she was in Kindergarten, and Owen has never visited- which is a shame because it is so close by.  We had a great time looking at the exhibits and talking to the special presenters who were on hand for the special event.  The highlight of our visit was the chance to see Stuckie the dog.  This poor fellow chased an animal up a hollow tree trunk years ago, got stuck (thus the name "stuckie"), died, and became mummified due to the natural preservatives found in the tree.  Olivia was a little spooked by the dog, but Owen was quite interested in him.  Before we left, we were given three dogwood trees which we planted at Gigi and Papa's house.  It was a fun morning.

Science Fair

Olivia and Owen teamed up to complete a science fair project this year.  For their project, they tested different varieties of water to determine ph.  Since completing the project, they have been very specific about what types of bottled water they will and will not drink.  They took their project to the district competition where they received a second place ribbon. 

Father Daughter Dance

 The annual father-daughter dance continues to be an event that Brian and Olivia both look forward to every year.  Olivia loves getting dressed up and spending this special time with her daddy.  She received a lot of really nice dresses from Nana and Poppy at Christmas, and she wore one of those dresses to the dance. Olivia chose Captain Joe's as the place that they would eat, yet again.  After their meal, the two headed off to dance the night away.

Owen and I continued our tradition of eating Mexican food and watching a movie.  There were no suitable movies at the theater, so we watched Cars 3 on Netflix.  A good time was had by all.

National Elementary Honor Society

Owen was recently inducted into the National Elementary Honor Society.  To be eligible, he has had to maintain an "A" average.  We are so proud of his hard work. 

As a current member of the honor society, Olivia had a part in the induction ceremony.  She lit a candle and read a passage about scholarship.

The kids enjoyed cake and punch following the ceremony.

Basketball

Both kids participated in basketball with the recreation department again this year. Olivia moved up to the 12u division.  There were only enough girls to make up two teams, so two ladies coached all of the girls and would change up who was on which team each game.  Olivia liked it when she and Ava were put on the same team.  She had a fun season, and she played really well in the last game.  She even hit a foul shot and scored a point for her team.

Owen moved up to the 10u age division, and he had an interesting season.  He did a lot of good things on both defense and offense, and we are happy with his effort. 

Basketball has been keeping us busy for a number of weeks, so we welcome a few weeks of rest before we start with our spring sports.

Frozen Waterfalls

 On our last day in the Smokies, we decided to do two short waterfall hikes.  The first stop was Soco Falls, which was located right off of the main highway between Maggie Valley and Cheorkee, NC.  We arrived at the first viewing platform to discover that the falls were mostly frozen over.  There was still some water running, but not much.  I have never seen a frozen waterfall before, and it was beautiful. 

After a bite to eat and a quick stop at the Smokey Mountain Visitor's Center to get our national parks passport stamped, we traveled to the Mingo Falls trailhead.  This was another short hike, and when we reached the falls we saw that they were also frozen over.  The frozen Mingo Falls were tall and impressive.  Seeing these falls was a nice way to end our winter trip to the Smokies. 

Snow Skiing

While we were in Maggie Valley we went snow skiing.  None of us had ever been skiing before.  We chose the Cataloochee Ski Area because it was the closest ski lodge to our home.  We didn't want to go far and spend a lot of money skiing only to discover that we disliked it.  Not a problem- we all had a blast and want to do it again.

 We arrived around noon and purchased a lift ticket that would be good for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  We did not know anything about the process of buying the tickets, picking up the rental equipment, putting on the boots, etc..; everyone who worked there was super helpful and made sure that we got what we needed.  After getting suited up, we went to our ski lesson.  The kids went with the kid group for their lesson, and Brian and I went with the adult group.  If there was an award for worst in the class, Brian and I would have tied for it.  We were on the struggle bus during our whole lesson.  I couldn't stop or control where I was going at all.  At one point I even ran into the magic carpet lift that was taking skiers up the hill.  Brian had skis that were too small for him and he couldn't stop either.  After an hour and a half of instruction, I did not feel like I had gotten any better.



The kids, on the other hand, were doing pretty well after their lesson.  They were able to control themselves and stop way better than we were.  We decided to try a "real" hill (it was still a green circle). Brian and Owen did great.  They went down twice in a row, and neither one fell on the second go.  I was by far the worst in our party.  I fell five times on the first go- one time running into the pole that holds up the lines for the ski lift.  I got so tired of falling that I finally took my skis off and just walked down the mountain.  Olivia had fallen a bit on the first go as well, so us girls decided to go back to the practice hill and practice some more.  Once we returned to the practice hill I felt like we were finally getting the hang of it.  We skied for several hours.  It was getting dark by the time we left.  Before leaving though, Olivia and I wanted another go at the "real" trail.  She did pretty well the second go round.  I did just as bad as I had the first time and once again ended up walking off the trail. 

Even though I was terrible at skiing, I still want to go again.  I think that this is a thing like swimming or skating where everyone is terrible when they first start but can improve with practice.  That's what I'm telling myself anyway.