Let's Hangout!

Our long distance family has dabbled in video chatting via Skype and FaceTime, but Renee told us about Google+ Hangouts.  We are now able to three-way video chat with all these crazy folks at once!  You get a small screen of each person at the bottom, and whoever is talking pops up on the big screen.  I think you can add up to 9 people.  I guess it stacks the video feeds up Brady Bunch-style as you add more people.  I can only imagine how crazy that would get!  We've been trying to "hangout" once a week, and it has been working pretty well.

Oh, The Places You Have Gone!

One of Jeff's Christmas presents from me was this set of maps.  I framed them in with no glass and with foam mats behind them.  I also got everyone their own colored thumbtacks so that we could pin the states and countries that we've visited.  Ashley was disappointed that she has only been to 15 states and 1 country.  I reminded her that she's six!   

There's a lot of this big world left to see!

Jeff (blue) is leading the states race with 29.  I've got 27 yellow pins, Nate (green)  has 18, and Ashley (red) has 15. The kids are hoping to get passports soon and start pinning some other countries.

A few more pics

I forgot about the pictures on my actual camera.  Here are a few of them:

Our home for the weekend: Cabin 8

An early birthday celebration for Jennifer

Racing down the trail

Marker at the peak

Back to Mount Magazine

We just got home from a weekend getaway to Mount Magazine.  After consulting the blog for reference, I realized it was exactly 3 years since our first trip.  This time, we went with the Fowlkes and stayed in a cabin instead of in the lodge.  It was so nice to have our own space and still have access to the lodge amenities.  If you are looking for a place to get away and unplug (not literally - there's electricity and WiFi), I highly recommend it! It is only a 2 hour drive from WLR.  Now for the pics...

We made it up the mountain on Friday night just at sunset.  After looking at the weekend weather forecast, I was afraid this was the only glimpse of sunshine we would have the entire weekend.

The wet weather held off long enough on Saturday morning for us to take a quick hike up Signal Hill to the highest point in Arkansas.

Found a geocache near the top

Signal Hill

Clouds rolling in at the Lodge

Nathan, Evan, and Ashley enjoying the big, indoor pool.  (That's Will swimming out of the frame.)

We asked someone to take a picture of all eight of us.  That never happens!

Flashback to 2009

And here we are today

The rain turned into sleet overnight and coated the trees - but thankfully NOT the roads - with some ice.  We made it down the mountain with no problems and are looking forward to another trip.