Our trip down South, Y'all

Last Wednesday, we woke up and jumped in the car for the 550 mile trip down to Clemson, SC to see the Turner family. Fortunately, when we woke up that morning, no one was even sniffling. The H1N1 is all over around here and I was pretty sure that someone would come down with it by Thursday. I am happy to report that we are still not sick (every day is an adventure) and we didn't knowingly take germs into the South with us.

Anyway, here are some pics of our adventure. To see even more, cruise on over to the Turners' family website.

We arrived after a 10 hour ride in the car. Aunt Becky and Uncle Bran gave us the grand tour of their new house--it's pretty nice. We got to squeeze Juner and Henry too. On Thursday morning, Becky and I went canoeing on a "lake" while JIm took care of the girls and Henry was at school. We didn't feel confident enough to take the camera, so you will have to use your imagination.

On Thursday afternoon, Becky and Brandon took off to go to Raliegh NC to accept a Major Award for Best Undergrad Teacher in the state. Way to go Uncle Bran. We kept every one clean and fed and alive . Four kids are a lot. On Friday, we took Henry to school and stopped to get batteries for our camera (we left all of ours at home in the charger). Then the picture taking began.

We took the girls to a park to run off some steam. Juner and Uncle Jim are Birthday buddies. Here they are slowly coming up the boardwalk to the playground.

Shlee hangs like a monkey. The girls were both pretty good in the car both ways--thank goodness for the invention of in car DVD players.

June had no problem climbing the rock wall. We later learned from Aunt Becky that she is a pro at this.

Evie allso hangs like a monkey.

The playground had a small stream--or rain ditch near it. The girls spent some time looking for frogs.

Couple of goofballs.

Aunt Becky and Uncle Bran returned home and Aunt Becky decided to take us to an unfinished train tunnel in the side of a moutain. This tunnel was started before the Civil War, but was eventually abandoned because they ran out of money after the war. It was used 50 years ago for Clemson's Dairy and Food Science Depts to store and age Blue Cheese in.

It was also raining and foggy that day so we were mostly geared up for the weather.

Who wants to go into a tunnel when there are warning signs like this??

Annalise was ok for the first hundred feet or so, then got so scared that she didn't talk. She just gripped my hand really tight.

This isn't a blurry pic, this is how humid and foggy it was inside the tunnel. It was also very dark!

We made it out with as many kids as we took in. Never did find any blue cheese.

Outside the tunnel, there was a flat bed rail car to explore. It sat about 5 feet off the ground and was wet and covered with slippery leaves. it was also about 20 miles from the nearest hospital, so Aunt Becky asked me to try to keep up with the speed demon, June. She's running so fast you can't see her feet!

I did catch her eventually.

The view was outstanding. The color of the leaves were starting to change all the way down to SC, so we were treated to quite a fall show. We loved being up in the mountains. It is a beautiful area.

Near the tunnel, was this 100 ft waterfall. Lovely. There's a legend behind it--read the Turner's blog for more info.

Some of our hosts. Most of the time, they didn't slow down enough for us to get a good picture.

We stopped in the nearby town of Wallhalla to stock up on our "Southern" Souvineers. The kids took a break on this bench. I can't remember what Annalise was upset about. I was excited to find a big old checkered race flag for the house (not a surprise in Nascar country) and also a Bavarian Flag for next year's Oktoberfest. If we could only find a Purdue flag...

The next morning, all the little girls watched some PBS kids with Uncle Jim.

Aunt Becky found out that the students who work the organic university farm were having a "Farm Aid" festival. We had to check it out.

There was a big pile of straw to play on. Evie had fun jumping off and didn't land on anyone.

Annalise had this pretty butterfly painted on her cheek.

Evie had a pumkin painted on her hand.

I walked around and learned about becoming a Master Naturalist, and mucidine jam and mushroom (legal) production. While I was talking to a student, she mentioned that a local goat farm was having a tour that day. You know how we love the goats....We decided to go after we got some lunch.

June gets nervous on the way out... I think she thought she lost her mom.

We got to take a ride on a trailer to our car. it was pretty exciting.

Ok, these pictures are out of order, and I don't want to reload them or lose them, so bear with me. This is Evie holding a baby chicken at the goat farm. All their chickens and eggs were free range. They were some happy chickens!

And of course, there were also goats to pet at the goat farm. Annalise was in HEAVEN!

Like I said, the pics are out of order. We went to lunch before heading out to the farm. We had Pizza. Juner did her best to devoure it like a dinasour. She also got pretty wet from drinking out of a cup.

The girls did really well all weekend long. They ate great and we were even able to watch a little of the Buckeye/ MN game.

Ok, back to the farm. We helped make Apple Cider. Evie kept telling the man who was in charge that her Grandpa has a grape press just like this cider press. Sounds like you may have an assistant soon, Grandpa Taller.

Henry needed some help with the pressing from his mom. The cider was so good and fresh. The man who was in charge of the apples and press warned us not to drink too much or we would be making lots of trips to the bathroom. We did buy a half gallon to bring home and it was delicous!

We took a tour of the farm with the farmer herself and learned all about raising goats for meat. There's more that you probably ever wanted to know. June wasn't amused and decided to pull out her pigtails for entertainment.

What a pretty little girl. Don't you think she needs a giant hair bow to keep all the hair out her eyes?

At the end of the tour, we got to get up close and personal with 2 baby goats.

Annalise loved petting the goat. She asked Jim if we could bring one home. He said no. What a meanie. Today, she said she was going to ask Santa to bring her a baby goat. Does Santa bring livestock??

I also got my hands on the baby goat and loved every minute of it.

South Carolina is lots of fun. You should go there and stay with Becky and Brandon. They will let you sing any Rock Band song you want. (Even the mid 90's stuff that I was particularly good at). Thanks for having us, we had a great time.