Mum's away at a conference in West Virginia, so the boys are sharing some hotcakes and sausage from their favorite clown-themed restaurant. While Cam practices his knife-and-fork skills with the plasticware, Ian plays with syrup.
Grammie may have better things to do, but Grampa is clearly engrossed in this morning's episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
Chocolate bunny rabbits + marshmalow peeps = breakfast of champions.
Weird-looking enough to be an alien lifeform.
Exiting through the window instead of the door -- you'd think he'd been born by Caesarean.
Cam: "Is that where jelly comes from?"
Grampa: "Yep."
This guy looks like he's made out of highly polished steel.
Swim at your own risk....
Both Cam and Ian insisted that this had to be Crush from Finding Nemo. Dude!
I don't think this guy is a vegeterian.
Walking while holding hands with both of them at once isn't easy -- each pulls in his own direction.
Brr! There's still snow on the surrounding mountaintops, so the river's only a degree or two above freezing.
Short sleeves weather in the sun, layers in the shade. Unfortunately, all the nicest spots were in the shade. Still, it was a wonderful little picnic, sitting next to the Oconaluftee River.
On our way to the aquarium in Gatlinburg yesterday, we stopped at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, just inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, for a picnic.
Ian wanted to introduce Grampa to his favorite movie. He spent the first ten minutes narrating ("blah blah Buzz blah blah Woody"), and then Cam joined them in the chair.
Ian now has a toybox like Cam's, handmade by Grampa.
Ian loves sitting on laps, particularly in the morning, and Grammie loves volunteering her lap.
Ian agreed to let Grampa play with his ball if in exchange he could wear Grampa's snazzy Hammond Lumber hat.
Nana and Pappy are watching the boys today, so we're having lunch at a restaurant where they don't ask "Do you want fries with that?"
Thanks to Toy Story II, Ian is really into cowboys lately. What he doesn't realize is that he's not riding a horse -- he's riding a euoplocephelus.
His digging and brushing techniques may not be top-of-the-class, but he probably knows more about dino species than most college students -- to say nothing of college professors!
Went to Gray Fossil Site in eastern Tennessee to visit Sue, the most complete T. Rex fossil ever discovered. She was impressive -- even bigger than expected -- but Cam's favorite part of the exhibit seemed to be the flip-book-style animation of how carnivorous dinos ate their prey....
Every once in a while, the boys settle a bit and like to cuddle. It didn't hurt that this time Mickey Mouse was on the telly.
This is what Ian looks like this morning, after the first time he slept straight through the night in his own bed. Champagne, anyone?
This is the view from the President's Conference Room on the top floor of Blackwell Hall, MHC's administration building. Last Wednesday, 27 February, started cold and snowy -- schools closed, icy roads, thick clouds -- but during my regular Wednesday morning meeting, the clouds lifted just long enough to take this pic.
Why does World Market have the smallest shopping carts around? Don't get me wrong -- they do the job, and they don't have that inevitably wonky wheel you find on grocery store carts, but once you squeeze all the kids in them, there's hardly any space left for all the over-priced tea and Hobnobs!
Recently Ian decided he really likes throwing things. Soft toys, hard toys, balls, trucks, rocks, laundry -- it's all fair game.
Fred, Arthur, and I took Cam to a park while we were visiting in Durham.
