Day 26

I was up again early to write this morning to get caught up on a few days of notes. The kids actually slept in so it was a quiet morning until they smelled pancakes! We had company in our bear box again this morning - this time there were 2 tiny mice! They scampered out as soon as I opened the door. I'm sure a giant opening a big metal door could give once of those guys a heart attack! I was just hoping there wouldn't be even more the next day!

I hadn't had service for the jetpack for a few days so I decided today would be a good one to visit the local-ish library. We also took the  opportunity to do a few stops at the overlooks and learn a little bit at the Blue Ridge Parkway Mineral Museum. I wasn't really interested in stopping at the museum but once we got in there it was actually very interesting!

We made it to the library and I scanned the shelves for graphic novels - all the kids' favorite for reading with a short time frame at the library. Ryan was ecstatic to find Munchkin comics and begged me to add them to her list asap - win! After about an hour I was ready to go but the kids made me stay until they were finished with the books they were in the middle of reading - double win!

Next up - ice cream, of course! I'd spotted this tiny place on the way into the tiny town of Spruce Pine so we promptly found our way back to sample the flavors. They had a flavor I'd never heard of before - Spirulino - a mix of chocolate, pistachio, and cherry - very different. We ended up choosing other flavors and enjoying it together. While we were sitting there Emily spotted an otter crossing the road. Of all places!

The wind started picking up quite a bit so we looked around and saw this big guy and knew it was time to get moving. We weren't sure if it was going near our campsite exactly but we definitely knew it was hitting our ice cream spot shortly!

We decided just in case it was headed our way we  would take a detour to let it pass. Our next campsite was a first come, first serve campground so we headed that way. Emily has to be pretty picky about her campsites with her setup so we grabbed a campground map and marked the best spots for her. If there were a bunch of people here once we got her at least she could quickly decide where she wanted to setup.

When we returned to our campground there were dark clouds all around us. I'd hoped we had bypassed the storm but I wasn't so sure now. It wasn't raining so we all went down to the river to explore while Brayden stayed in the hammock to read. Once I was sure the clouds were gone Ryan and I decided to cook dinner. She's one of my best helpers!


The kids were anxious to move after we cleaned up and Evey wanted to play ultimate frisbee so we divided up teams and started to play. Laney and Brayden were to be facing Evey, Ryan and me this time. We scored 3 goals right away so we relaxed. A little too much maybe. Before we knew it the score was 4-4. There wasn't much wind this time but this crazy big frisbee was hard to control! We were close to goals to finish the game so many times!! We finally ended up winning and we all collapsed in the grass to rest.

Next up was a quick game of campball. Evey went to eat dinner so it was just the Clarkes this time. Laney and I were demolished by Brayden and Ryan. They had pinpoint accuracy to get us out just about every inning. I guess it's time to switch up teams again!





The night was clear so I gather things together to make a fire. The kids were excited to try Reese's cups for their s'mores tonight. I was just excited to eat some chocolate and relax by the fire without rain!