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We’ve just arrived at our pretty little camp spot in Asheville. There is a tree right outside our window that all sorts of autumn colors. It’s a beautiful place to spend Thanksgiving.

I have just decided to give Ingrid and I this week off from school : ) !!! I love being a teacher, but it takes up the majority of my day and then I have to scramble to squeeze in everything else. A break will be wonderful.

These pics are from the past couple of days. Ingrid and Peach both got new hats, as I was suddenly in a knitting mood again. There are some robots that Ingrid and Andrew made together. The little hangers were made by Ingrid one day after she saw a pattern my mom had sent us.

Ingrid earned her 7th Junior Ranger badge yesterday, at Smoky Mountains National Park. Even though she enjoys completing the Junior Ranger activity book, she’s been reluctant lately to turn in her work and get the badge, because the rangers usually grill her on the information, and the one yesterday was pretty tough on Ingrid. Fortunately though Andrew had bought a little surprise for Ingrid for when she got her badge, so she was motivated to go through with it (see “Pigwidgen” the little owl below). She passed with flying colors and I could see that she was proud of herself afterward.

We didn’t spend much time in the park, just one long afternoon riding the tandem plus a couple of hours the following day, but ironically we got stuck on a crazy twisty little road today on our way out, and got to see more of the backcountry! Ingrid really enjoyed walking through the 100+ year old cabins and churches that were scattered along the bike ride. And I felt happy to be on the bike again, riding through the peaceful little hills and valleys of the Smoky Mountains.

We are fully into Harry Potter still, in the midst of the 5th book. Ingrid has taken to writing with a quill that she made from my peacock feather (see below). We look for excuses to go out in the car so we can listen to the book. I don’t know what we’ll do when we’ve reached the end of the series… Ingrid says we’ll do it all over again!

This entry was posted on Monday, November 21st, 2011 at 6:36 pm and is filed under via iphone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.