The (mainly) North Carolina leg

After Arkansas we headed east to see Jake's side of the family.  This year we flew into Chattanooga so that we could stop by Dalton, GA as we had not been there in several years.  Although I didn't take any photos, Carl and Lynne (aka Grandpa Carl and Gaga) had a great dinner party where they invited several of their friends and family that Jake and I have gotten to know pretty well over the years (some of whom Jake has known his whole life).  When Carl and Lynne came over to Abu Dhabi a couple of years ago, they brought Jake's aunt and uncle and two more couple friends.  We had a great time catching up with them.

After Dalton, we drove up into the mountains to our annual tradition of a High Hampton holiday.  Carl joined us for that leg and then Dan, Susan, the boys and Lynne joined us for the full weekend.  John even made a nice appearance for a couple of those days.

Last stop was Charlotte to get our annual pediatrician appointment in (including some shots - ouch!) and to catch up with some friends.

So-ooo what happens when you have six people, 8 pieces of luggage, fly into a really small airport and the minivan you reserved six months prior isn't there???  After inspecting a lot of SUVs to see if we could fit and debating just taking two cars, we ended up with *this* 12 passenger beast affectionately named "Avalanche" by our girls.  We ended up having a lot of fun with this giant vehicle - lots of room for us, our nephews and all the girls' stuffed animals.  Even though Avis let us down by not having the minivan there, it didn't seem to be their fault as the minivan was supposed to have been returned and the people never called about extending it.  They were great about helping us find an alternative.

Plenty of room in ol' Avalanche.

When we pulled up to High Hampton (our 8th year in a row!), we pulled up in giant Avalanche and the girls just poured out and ran straight to their favorite climbing tree.  A man saw all this happen, grinned at Jake and gave him a thumbs-up.  He definitely got a kick out of seeing the girls' energy and enthusiasm for being back in a special place.

Meredith got a little braver this year and climbed a little higher

A favorite spot to take in the High Hampton views of Rock Mountain

Treehouse at the playground

The big girls love the obstacle course playground

With Grandpa Carl

Interesting mushrooms on our hike

We made it to the top of Chimney Top!  Grandpa Carl went back with Anna when she was getting tired.  I think Carl liked that someone was "needed" to do that!

Jane will get closer to the edge than the others (she looks closer than she is!)

Our bravejokester - it really doesn't drop off like it looks!

Sisters

I can finally hit over this water (fairly) reliably and the girls want to try twice each year until they can make it over, too.  Hasn't happened yet but we'll keep working on it!  We had such a great day out golfing.  Jane and I played on our own (with Anna along to tend the flag and clean our balls) and we both played really well and just generally had a great round.

Regan and Jake were a team as were Meredith and Carl.

The golfers

Little D and Meredith on our annual Hike-A-Rama-with-a-Llama

Jane and Peaches

Cornucopia - another Cashiers, NC tradition.  The whole restaurant is just a giant outdoor room - very summery and mountain-ish

Sadly we had to move from High Hampton as they didn't have a house big enough for our extended weekend group.  We moved to a great house over at a golf community called Trillium, but there was a bit of a snafu with the cleaning service.  They thought we were coming the following day.  Well, they didn't end up showing up at all so it was a huge big family effort to clean the house from the previous renters.  It took hours and I washed the bedding for 8 beds!  The girls vacuumed, swept, made beds.  Jake donned the rubber gloves and cleaned all the bathrooms except the one that Lynne cleaned herself.  It was a bit of an adventure.  I was a bit upset at first but it was much harder on the owner of the house far away in Florida - he felt so badly about it.  But we had fun bonding in our cleaning efforts so it all worked out okay.

Jane vacuuming the stairs

House is clean - time to relax in the hot tub!

Enjoying the great outdoor fireplace at the Trillium home for s'mores

Anna joined the sisters and cousins in the hot tub this time

Alex

Uncle John ventured to North Carolina for the weekend, too!

Whiteside Mountain hike

Our family (and yes, I've got the orange striped t-shirt on again!)

Uncle John and his nieces

Jane and the cousin's new dog, Hershel

Meredith and Hershel

Swimming at Trillium

Pretty view from the Trillium pool

Jane

One of the gardens at a wonderful restaurant in Cashiers called Canyon Kitchen.  We had an amazing farm-to-table meal in a spectacular setting

See?  Look at that spectacular setting for a pre-dinner chat and cocktail

Our table

The next day we hit Lake Glenville and did some boating.  Here is beautiful Jane first on the tube

Zach and Regan

Jake and Anna

Meredith and me.  Meredith was *so* funny.  She had the best expressions on her face while inner tubing - we couldn't tell if she was petrified or having fun.  She was pretty nervous but she bravely got out there several times.

Regan and Jane having a blast together

Regan and Jane

Wonderful Carl kept us safe out on the lake.  He didn't get to relax much as it was busy out there.

Alex and Zach

Alex

I haven't seen Jake laugh so hard in a long time but watching Dan and Susan attempt to tube was so fun.  The tube just wasn't designed for two adults and they kept falling off.  Kudos for making such an effort thought!

Anna *finally* ventured into the lake!  Yay, Anna.

She did great swimming around and enjoyed her time in the water but wouldn't go tubing behind the boat

Fabulous action shot of the big kids getting knocked off the inner tube after an elaborate game of "King of the Tube"

A cooperative moment when they weren't trying to push each other off

Happy girls

You can see that Anna keeps a safe distance from the ruckus of the big kids

Floating with my little one

Taking Hershel for a walk

Sister hug

Pretty flowers on the fun pitch and putt golf course at Trillium.  They are all 30 years long but very short and narrow - we lost our fair share of balls on this short course

Covered bridge near our house

Ice cream for the cousins

A Cashiers, NC, tradition that we haven't done in several years - Sliding Rock.  Here comes Alex - he was the first one up there and back down.  The water is COLD.

Next came Zach

Then Zach, Alex, Regan and Meredith hung out for a while at the whirlpool hole before Meredith slid the rest of the way down

Regan and her first time down Sliding Rock.  Jane was the only one of our girls who went down Sliding Rock last time we were there.  Proud that Regan made it down (and this was after she took a pretty bad tumble on her climb up)

Meredith was super brave.  She did it several times.

Mere on her 3rd time

Brrr.  Fun times!  Jane elected not to do it this year (she said it was too cold and she had a point - I did it last time, too, and didn't care to do it this year either).

A real treat for Jake and me after everyone left (except us and the six kids) was that the kids turned our rental house into a restaurant.  Jake and I were the sole diners at The Golden Leaf and we were super well treated by all the staff.  This is Jake and me enjoying our first course.

The menu

Check out this gorgeous salad!  We did NOTHING to help with dinner other than I went to the store with their list and they needed a little help getting the bottle of wine opened.  Otherwise, they prepared, served and (almost) cleaned up all on their own.  They had so much fun doing it that now they want this to be an annual tradition (but they want Grandpa Carl, Gaga, Uncle Dan and Aunt Susan to take part going forward as well)

The main course

Dessert were cupcakes with real gold sprinkles that we had brought Zach and Alex from Dubai

The hostess, server and chefs of The Golden Leaf

Gorgeous moon view from the back deck

On the tire swing at High Hampton

Croquet at Trillium

Gorgeous croquet lawn and fun kids

One of the winners

Ice cream parlor in Highlands.  We did get a question there, "Are *all* of those yours?"  It was fun to walk around with six kids!

Good-bye Trillium house

One last hike at High Hampton before we leave the NC mountains behind.  The big kids ran off without us so it was just Jake, Anna and me

Anna running after going to say good-bye to Ed and Fred (the resort donkeys)

Corn Hole at the new Sierra Nevada Brewery outside of Asheville.  The food was *way* better than we expected.  They had a garden and an outdoor amphitheater for summer concerts.  Fun stop!

Hike near Zach and Alex's house near Biltmore Lake while we took Hershel for a walk

Meredith overlooking Biltmore Lake

Birthday celebration at Dan and Susan's house

Last U.S. stop: Charlotte!  Swimming with the Watts clan

Buddies Regan and Carlisle

Ice cream on the screened in porch of our rental apartment

Visiting with Bruiser - Beth and Bob's sweet dog

Swimming with Beth and her daughter Katie - such fun!

*Another* birthday celebration!

Shots at the annual pediatrician check up.  Jane did great.  Regan... well, not so much....

At Discovery Place kids' science museum in Charlotte

Meredith, Jane and Libby

Regan and Paige making shoes

More building by Anna

Visiting Abu Dhabi friends up at their house on Lake Norman.  So fun to see an Abu Dhabi friend while in the U.S.

Popsicles for the kids

Hanging out with friends and former neighbors - Mary and their dog Lila.  We were sad that Currie and Robert weren't there but we were able to see their youngest sons, Owen and Hunter.

The kids always love swinging on the Engel's swings

We met a Kanakuk alum at the park later in the day when someone saw this shirt on Meredith.  Turned out it was someone I had met years earlier at our old church!

You can see our old house in the background!