...But this trail is Awesome!!!

Over Spring break my kids went to Rock City with my parents, who are just fabulous and deserve many many gold stars.  With the wee ones gone Richard, Michelle and I went backpacking at on the Virgin Falls trail in Middle Tennessee.  It's an eight mile round trip with four waterfalls and a cave along the way.  Sadly, we did not get to the fourth waterfall or the cave- we were ka-put by the end.  But we did see:

At one point you have to cross this stream by holding onto a cable.  With twenty-six pounds strapped to your back.  They make it look so easy.

Here's a bird's eye view of our camp.  It was c-o-l-d in the morning!!

Here's the first waterfall we came to- Big Laurel Falls.  yes, that's Richard up top being a man.

 The view from behind Big Laurel Falls.

Some crazy girl playing the tree-harp.

This is Virgin Falls.  It actually comes out of a cave up top and falls into a sink at the bottom, so there's no river flowing away from the falls.  That's just CRAZY, people!  The water levels were way too high for us to go caving here.  so we didn't.

Chief is nuts.  s'all I'm saying.

Another picture of the falls.  I just can't describe how majestic it was.  You'll have to go see for yourself.

Richard was a little crazy by the end.  Dehydrated food does that to you.

Now that's a paper doll

Hannah had her friend Bria over for a sleepover last night (yay! giggles! girls!) and it was buckets of fun.  But when Bria suggested that they make paper dolls, Hannah was a bit confused.  I'm sure Bria had something more like this in mind:

But since Hannah has me for a mom (poor thing) this is what she produced:

Do you see the paper face with individual strands of hair taped to it?  She cut out hands, but not feet since the clothes she chose had footies, and she even stuffed it with crumpled bits of paper.  l.o.v.e. her so much.

So George Lucas may have known what he was doing after all

We're watching Star Wars: Phantom Menace.  (After all the Lego Star Wars Sam has been playing, I finally had to show him the real thing)  And Hannah laughs at everything Jar Jar Binks does.

that's all I'm sayin'.

And now for something completely different...

I don't like Ernest Hemingway.  At all.  I am currently sending loathsome thoughts to where ever he is buried.  So it's really a shame that my high school english teacher decided to dedicate six weeks to studying his writings, because we never really got along after that.

But.

Hemingway once wrote a (very) short story in just six words:

"For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

And at first I think "oh yea, Ernie, good job.  Like my flippin' first-grader couldn't do better.  Psha.  gah.  whatever."  And then Richard and I spend the better part of an evening coming up with our own six-word stories, and find it surprisingly difficult.  And I even begin to admire some things about Hemingway's little story, like the symmetry, the compression of a whole lifetime of grief, and the how he creates distance while remaining intimate.

And that is where I draw the line, because I stubbornly refuse to ever admire Hemingway, the old jerk:

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So here's a fun challenge:  write a story! make it six words! post them in the comment section to share with everyone- it's kinda like actually getting published!

Here's some of the ones Richard and I hashed out:

"Dear John.  It was fun.  Not."

"Airport Parking.  Arrivals/Departures.  Terminal Hotel."

"What did you think would happen?!"

"I'm sorry.  No admittance without insurance."

For the monomaniacs:
"Wanted: White whale harpooner.  Light travel."

For the Austen-ites:
"Just married: Elizabeth Bennet, Fitzwilliam Darcey"

And for the Twilights:
"Vegetarian vampire marries high school sweetheart."

Have Fun!

Oh, yeah, well that makes sense. mostly.

Sam: (while clipping his fingernails) Mom, do you know why we have fingernails?
Mom:  uuuummmmmmmm......
Sam: Weeellll (big breath) It's 'cause Jesus, when he was making us, Jesus ran out of skin.  So he used plastic instead.  to protect our fingers.

Ah.