The Lost Summer - Part 2

In August, we bought a new van (another Ford, a 2007 Freestar) and then tested it out by putting 1200 miles on it in a 1-week period. Dan had been traveling for GE again so on his return, he took a weeks vacation (to unwind) and we decided that all that work around the house could wait!! We headed up to his folks in NY for a weekend in early August, stopped home for 1 day to wash cloths and then headed south to his brother’s house in the Appalachians for 4 days. In NY, the kids spent almost the entire weekend in their cousin’s pool, with Jane graciously allowing us to invade her pool, house and space for as long as we were there. THANK YOU JANE! All the kids' cousins (on the Ballesty side) were there and it was amazing to see how grown up they are all getting.

The trip to NC was quite comfortable. The kids made sure that the new van felt right by constantly fighting over whom got to sit where. As we drove into NC, before heading into the mountains, the kids noticed that the outside temperature hit 101 degrees (Fahrenheit). Lucky for us, the temperature dropped nearly 15 degrees as we climbed into the area where Dave and Barb live. Barb is a potter with a full pottery studio set-up in her basement and a giant kiln in the garage. The kids had an incredible time “throwing” clay on the pottery wheel and helping to mold and carve pottery items. Liam enjoyed it most, spending nearly all his free time sitting at the pottery wheel working with the clay. While we were there, they also took us on a caverns tour deep into the mountain at Linville Caverns. We were all fascinated by the stalactites, stalagmites and bats inside the dark caves. Everyone, except for Elise, who decided ahead of time that darkness, wet close rocks and the possibilities of real bats did not sound like a good time to her, and Barb, who stayed out with her. They also took us on some beautiful gorge/waterfall hikes where the kids got to splash around and climb on some massive boulders. It was an incredible visit and we hope to get them to come here soon so we can repay their generous hospitality. - J