Columbus Day

For school yesterday we talked all about Christopher Columbus, of course!  We talked about the role he played in history, we read about him in 1 Nephi and then we built little boats that the kids took down to the creek to launch.

Check out the Mahroo (Kieralee's ship) and the Robin (Lathen's ship):

 

Then we were off to be explorers like Columbus.  We headed over to the Blue Ridge Parkway to hike.  It wasn't the best experience, but it was defiantly memorable.  At the beginning of the trail Kieralee got stung twice.  Thankfully besides being upset for a few minutes she was fine and we were able to move on.  We hiked a two mile loop that take you to the foot of the mountain and then straight back up!  The hike was going great until, at the bottom of the mountain Lathen got stung by a yellow jacket.  Turns out Lathen is severely allergic to yellow jackets.  His hand doubled in size, he broke out in hives, his eyes swelled and he began to lose his voice (which later he did).  We then discovered that our little family can hike to the top of a mountain in an amazingly fast time.  Poor Lathen scratched, moaned and cried the entire way up.  Kieralee swore her legs were going to stop working any minute, Kevin and I pushed, dragged and pulled the kids along and Heath, well he just enjoyed the ride :)  

The following pictures are all from before our quick departure.