Nantahala Falls

HEY! The pictures from the NOC photographer are now available online! See stunning photographs of Michelle, Richard and Sarah braving the daunting class three rapids of the Nantahala Falls! (for some reason I couldn't find chief.) Action! Adventure! Suspense! They are copy-protected, so I can't post them here, but if you follow this link you should be directed to an album I made just for ya'll!!

Nantahala Falls

Princess Hannah

Hannah got a trunk-full of dress-up clothes for her 4th birthday, and she was soooo excited. She immediately wanted to try on all her princess outfits, especially tinkerbell, but we were about to leave on a short hike to a small waterfall. She and I compromised- as long as she kept on her hiking clothes, she could accessorize all she wanted. (Just like Olivia, for the pig fans out there) Here we have the slightly tired hiking princess. I got Hannah a book from the library recently called "do Princesses wear hiking boots?" and with all the camping she has done lately Hannah just ate it up.

Bear fishing

There was this pond just teeming with trout at the campsite. One option was to pay a old man four dollars for a fishing pole (er, fishing stick and string) and catch a fish. Or, of you had the survival training and instincts, you could catch one bare-handed. Not for the faint-hearted, though, those trout will bite back!

Pinata Party!

We had a pinata for Hannah's party and we all took a swing or two at it. Hannah was excited (yeah! hit it hard!) She got a couple good wacks in herself. Chief held up the pinata and would yank the rope right after you swung so you missed the pinata and ended up looking pretty goofy. (that doesn't take much effort for some of us) In the end, though, it was Zannah who busted open the pinata and let loose the candy. Yea!

Trail leader

Sam really, really, really likes to be in front of the hiking party. If anyone, especially hannah, gets in front of him he starts to seriously book it down the trail, usually yelling. This has got the be the funniest picture yet of him running- the determination, the swinging arms, the short legs pounding the ground, and my favorite, the cheeks on the sag. He has such chubby cheeks and when he runs they just bounce around all over the place!

Roar!

ROAR!!!

What a babe!

It's so very rare that I find a picture of myself that I like that I had to share this one. Gorgeous, dahling.

Daddy's belt

Sam's getting ready for church! But Daddy's belt is a little too big...

Piggy-back ride

Last week we went to the Mall and visited the monuments- which means a LOT of walking. As my dad put it, "that's 4 miles and 5 popsicles". We swore off Saturdays downtown after that, but when we woke up to 60 degrees and partly cloudy we just couldn't say no. Hannah got to show her daddy all of the animals in the Natural History museum. Sam, Hannah and I went looking for butterflies in the butterfly garden, but we didn't see any. (Once again, Richard and I did the art gallery switcher-oo, and once again we ended up liking the same stuff.)
By five, though, Hannah was soooo tired so I gave her a piggy-back ride. There's just so much to see.
By the by, today we reached our official halfway-through-the-summer mark! Yeah!!!

HOT HOT HOT!!!

Here's a picture of me (Richard writing, here) in the infrared mid-wave band (that's 3 to 5 micron wavelengths, in case you were wondering). I'm gesturing you all to arise, my minions. How dare you sit in my presence!

In this band anything reasonably warm glows like a light bulb. In my hands you can seen the vains are warmer than the rest of my hand because they're full of warm gooey blood. The top of my head appears relatively cool, which probably indicates a lack of brain activity. The bright spot in my mouth is my hot tongue behind my cooler teeth. For a signed 8x10 of this please send a self addressed email with 7 proofs of purchase on or before July 18, 2005. Some restrictions may apply. You must be 18 or older to play. No purchase is necessary, but you must be present to win. The Moore family cares, so gamble responsibly, and if you need help quitting, please call 1-800-492-9087-39082-109897-4872312-56527384.

Sunday Stories

The Primary at church out here is singing "That's my father" for Father's day next week. I was a substitute this week (again!) so I got to watch them practice. When they come around to the chorus and sing "that's my father" all the kids are supposed to point to their dad. Most of the kids just pointed forward towards the director, but Hannah, singing at the top of her lungs, cries "that's my father" as she turns around and points to whatever part of the church she thinks sunday school is located!

Sleepy sam

Sam was pretty pooped today after all the action last week. He slept in, took two naps, and went to bed early saturday. awwww, poor kid.

Stony man Overlook

We finally made it to the top of the hike and what a spectacular view! The sun is directly behind me, so even I'm in this picture (or at least my shadow) This panorama is actually 5 or 6 pictures stitched together.

Happy Trails

Sam, Sweetie, Hannah and Nick on the Stony Man Trail. These kids were real troopers this week. They hiked all the way, there and back again, on a 1.4 mile hike. We saw two deer, or the same deer twice, along the way. The second time we thought it was a bear, which was just a little scary! We had seen a sizeable black bear along the skyline drive earlier that afternoon.

Highest point on AT

This sign reads "This point intersects on the highest point of the Appalation Trail in the Shenandoah National Park. Elevation 3738" good jorb, kids!

Fawn

We had just stopped for lunch when we saw a fawn in the brush. I was able to get close enough to take a handful of great pictures, and Hannah and Sam both came over to see him, too. Even though he was trembling, he didn't move. It was a magical moment.

Sam's big splash

Sam really, really likes throwing rocks into the river. It took about 10 shots but I finally timed one just right to get a big splash. Sam also really liked getting me and sweetie wet, and would chuckle when we yelped. His rocks got successively bigger, and by the end he was hauling and throwing ones as big as his head (no small noggin, that!)

Hannah and the River

Hannah and her favorite river toys- a rock and a stick.

Shenandoah day 2

Our cabin backed up to the Shenandoah River, which was much bigger than I had imagined. Hannah and Sam loved to throw rocks and sticks into the water, and Sweetie, of course, always joined in the fun. Here are all three of them in a rare moment of reflection.

Shenandoah

This week my parents came up for a visit and we all stayed in a cabin in the Shenandoah mountains. As we pulled up to the cabin, Hannah, realizing that she was not only going to get to see her Nick and Sweetie, but that she was going to get to run around in the woods, cried out "I love my Grandparents!" The first night Hannah and Sam were so excited to see their grandparents that we had to tie them into their chairs to get them to sit still long enough to eat.

Pleading

can I please? pleeeeease?
Just a little more ice cream...

Richard's post

On our latest D.C. adventure, Hannah and Sam exhausted themselves playing out in the mud. Then they found this very-much-lactating dog standing on a marble pillar. Usually Hannah has the ideas, but this time Sam acted first. Then Hannah decided to get a drink, too. Most of the people there agreed that something cooler was happening on the other side of the room.

Star Trek Audition

When Sam gets mad enough, he can totally pass for a Klingon.

DC Mall- part tres

Once again, we had a fabulous Saturday on the Mall. Richard and I did the switcher-o and we each perused the National Art Gallery, which was a nice change. Once again, we ended up liking most of the same stuff. Here's our glam-girl Hannah sauntering past the Capitol.
Here's a funny story- a couple days a go I overheard Hannah telling Sam that we were a family, "but sammy, you're not a baby anymore; you're a little boy, so we're going to get a new baby!" (this is NOT an announcement, just a cute story!)
Hannah also like to chase the fat, lazy, slow pigeons downtown, and we finally got a good shot of her. enjoy!