Happy Birthday to ME!

I had such a great birthday at Deep Creek last year, I wanted to spend it there again. We decided to go for a long weekend this time and struck out on Thursday morning. We got to Mom and Gerry's cabin around 3 PM and got settled in while waiting for Nana and PopPop to arrive (Nate's mom and step-dad.) We took a trip to the waterfall only to find no water falling. There were mere puddles where only 6 weeks ago a roaring fall lived. It was disappointing, but we enjoyed the trek through the woods, anyway. Until, that is, it was time to return and the golf cart wouldn't go. Nate had left the key in it and apparently, that runs down the battery. Turns out, it also shorted some kind of wire and we were lucky it didn't burn up completely and start a forest fire! Nate pushed while I held Alexander and steered. His mom did her share of pushing and Charles got in there and gave an old heave-ho when needed. For the last big bump, we all had to push so Kathryn took over steering duties and did a great job. She was very proud of herself. Since the golf cart was out of commission until Gerry arrived with a new wire, Nate got out the ATV and took each of the kids for a ride up and down the driveway (which is almost a mile long) and a little through the woods.
They had a blast, but Alexander screamed bloody murder while awaiting his turn. He's not the most patient of fellows...I took the opportunity to snap a few shots of the kids in Ama and Ampa's new grass. We couldn't believe how great it looked in only 6 weeks!

We brought pizza in and enjoyed dinner in the cabin. Shortly thereafter, we were still sitting at the table and Nate said, "There's a bear!" We all jumped up, ran to the window and sure enough, there was a very large black bear eating the corn Nate had put out earlier, presumably for deer. Mom and Gerry have seen bears quite a bit, but we hadn't yet, so I felt that made our weekend complete and it was only the first day! I told Gerry I expected to see bears on my birthday weekend and he made sure he let them know; they graciously accepted the invitation. :) Sadly, I didn't get any good pictures, but Joan did, so I'll have to get a couple from her.

On Friday, we visited Swallow Falls and hoped water would be falling there, at least. It was and we climbed down a steep slope to get to a swimming area.
Nate took the girls in and Joan and I supervised Alexander while he splashed in a puddle.

It started sprinkling and Alexander was ready to go so we went on our way. Later, Nate told me he was a nervous wreck with the girls in the water because there were so many places the ground just dropped off. Kathryn can swim so he wasn't as afraid for her, but in hindsight, he regretted having Juliana out there at all. Next time, I'll have to try to distract her with a nice, deep puddle.After resting for a while upon returning from our adventure, Joan and I went to the grocery to pick up a few things for dinner and saw 2 fawns that still had their spots in a patch of shady trees. I've never seen such young deer so it was very exciting. Mom and Gerry had arrived when we returned and we had dinner together and then we roasted marshmallows over the fire and had S'mores. Ummmmmm...S'mores....

On Saturday morning, I got up to a big sign that said, "Happy Birthday" and got lots of birthday hugs and kisses. We had breakfast and Joan and Charles arrived for an impromptu party. Juliana got presents from Ama and Ampa and I got presents, too! Among the highlights were my beloved annual new jammies from my mama and a gift card for Carrabba's (my very favorite restaurant in the whole wide world) and a purse and a very nice piece of jewelry Joan brought me from China. It's very neat as it's made with some kind of magnetic stones so you can make it any length necklace you want or even a bracelet. I wore it as a double necklace and it matched what I was wearing perfectly. :) Then, Joan pulled out this flower thing she got in China. She lit several wicks in it and we waited. After a couple minutes, fire shot up and the flower opened and then it sang, "Happy Birthday." It was really neat and I want to see if I can find them here. I snipped the wire to cut the music and didn't think much more about it until we were headed home and could hear the song playing in the back of the van. I had to go digging for it and practically dismantle the whole thing to get it to stop! It was rather amusing that it just didn't want to quit.

Saturday afternoon, Joan, Charles, Mom, the kids and I went to the Nature Discover Center for their annual "Art in the Park" event. We had a good time wandering through the displays and the girls tie-dyed T-shirts. Joan and Charles departed from there and we headed back to get Nate and Gerry for dinner. They had stayed back to "scout out Gerry's land" (Translation: Fool around on the ATVs.) We went to Uno's (cause that's what the Birthday Girl wanted) and had Chicago-style pizza. Mom and I shared a chocolate chip cookie ala mode dessert and it was sooooo deeelicious. It was worth every calorie! Nate and the kids got ice cream on our way back and although I fully intended to have ice cream, too, I was just too full. I'm sure my thighs are thanking me. On the way back, I suggested we drive by where we'd seen the fawns so mom could see them (Gerry saw them on the way in on Friday, but mom missed them.) Much to our delight, they were there again and we all got a good look. What a highlight of our weekend!

Sunday morning, we did a little ATV riding and packed up to leave. It was another great birthday weekend at The Cabin. We had a pleasant trip home and are already looking forward to our next visit.

Juliana in her new jammies. I'm really enjoying having a girly-girl!