Mother/Daughter Backpacking Trip

Rebecca has been talking for years about how we needed to take a backpacking trip together.  This summer when Joseph was away on drill with the National Guard seemed like the perfect opportunity. We were afraid if we waited much longer, that Rebecca would be pregnant or have a child and that our trip would never happen.  Turns out that on this trip, Rebecca was already pregnant, but I didn’t know it yet (because Joseph didn’t know yet as he was away on drill and she wanted to tell him in person).  So we had another little backpacker with us.  Rebecca did a good job keeping the secret, though I’m pretty sure she had to straight up lie at one point.

I was a little worried that backpacking in July might be miserably hot.  But lo and behold, we had a cold snap like I don’t ever remember having this time of year.  The high was just in the 70s and the low was in the 50s.  We were actually quite cold in our hammocks!

We were only gone for one night, and we camped at Alley Ford in the Obed River area.  We did not see another soul on our hike in or out.

We opted for hammocks instead of tents, and we also opted not to bring anything complicated to eat.  We heated water for hot chocolate and tea and ate power bars.  We spent our time reading, napping, journaling, and having some deep conversation.  I’m so glad we went when we had the opportunity.  I think we’ll be fine camping with her little one, but we will probably not be backpacking together for a while.  

South Holston 2019

First of all, before we could camp, Terry had to fix the camper where water had entered and rotted the floor.

There were also a lot of logistics to navigate with this year's camping trip.  Joseph and Caleb needed to get off of work (Terry did, too, but he's self-employed, so that's a little easier), Nathan and Meredith both wanted to take the NCLEX first, Noah needed to be on break from the summer semester at Lee, and I needed to be off a few days from my therapist training in Nashville.  So we ended up with just three days with all of us to make it work.  

Joseph and Rebecca had their own campsite and also hosted his mom when she came up for a few days.  Meredith camped in our trailer with us - her first camping trip!

Since I've talked about South Holston so much in earlier posts, I'll just let the photos speak for themselves.  Except for this first photo.  I think we could say that Little Oak Campground on S. Holston Lake is our WHEELHOUSE.  

West HIlls

Terry and I have been trying to get more involved in the neighborhood.  To that end, I signed us up for the West Hills wiffleball team, which basically involved a few practices in a neighbor's backyard and then playing in a tournament with other Knoxville neighborhoods.  It brought me back to my grade school days when this was one of my favorite sports.  Turns out I can still hit the ball!  But when we were on defense, I just stood at the ready and prayed the ball would go to someone else. And it always did.  LOL.  Our team had a 2-2 record, up from last year when we were apparently
0-4.  Go West Hills!

Another thing I've gotten involved in is a program called Walking School Bus.  We meet the kids at the end of the school day at West Hills Elementary, and then walk with them to the gazebo near the West Hills Y where their parents pick them up.  It has been a lot of fun chatting with the kids!

Last, but not least, I've finally gotten in the habit of going to work out at the West Hills Y.  I've made friends with several ladies there, and they even have a book club I've joined.  Here I am with some of my friends in spin class on the day of the Kentucky Derby.  Our creative instructor assigned us all names of horses, and some gals even wore hats.  All the songs on the playlist were about going fast or money!