Sorry for going MIA for a few days. Visiting family is always time consuming. I was so wrapped up in the warmth that is my parents' home that I was just about oblivious to everything else that's a part of my world.

My side of the family tends to spend quality time watching movies, playing board games, watching football, or just sitting around in the morning, noon, or night talking. It's different than other families who are going constantly. It's always a nice relaxer.

However, there are many occasions where my family plans big things to do. That's how we do it. Big or not at all. When we visited in August my older sister and her husband were there as well and we all made a trip to the Georgia Aquarium and Coke Museum. It was the most fun we've had together in a long time.

This time, we all decided on a hiking trip. While it wasn't quite up to speed with the hiking in the high country, it was definitely a challenge. We loaded up the car this past Saturday morning to head to Roosevelt State Park and do a 6.9 mile loop. Well, that's what we were in for. We thought we were doing a 4.2 mile loop.


We started off really well. Everyone was excited and going strong.


And then everyone (except Clark) started to get tired.



By the time we hit our four mile mark (the time we initially thought we'd be stopping), everyone wanted to get going. Now, this was not because we could not handle going on, but because there was cooking and preparing to do for Dad's birthday celebration. So, we stopped at this little picnic area of the park, and Clark went on a mile up the road to retrieve the car. Clark was the one elected because he thought everyone knew we were going on a 6.9 mile hike, when he was the only one who thought that we were going farther than 4.2.


In the end, we did have a wonderful time. We made it back to the house in time to make the birthday cake and dinner, everyone relaxed by watching the football playoff games, and we all had an adventure of quality time together. That, above all, is the most important.