Matthew's New Toy

When we were in Tennessee, my parents gave Matthew my brother's old bow.  He and my dad shot a few times while my mom and I were riding and they only lost 1 arrow to the woods!  Matthew and I decided to practice a little more today between rain storms.  I haven't shot my bow in several years but we both polished up pretty quickly, as you can see from our very nice groupings in the second photo.  Those hay bales never had a chance!

Our Vacation

Matthew and I spent last week vacationing with my parents at their cabin in Tennessee near the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. We took both of the horses along and spent our time riding, hiking, and relaxing.

My mom and I rode the first full day after we arrived. My new horse, Mow, was wonderful and I really enjoyed spending the week bonding with him.
















My dad, Matthew, and I headed out for another ride.















Matthew and Rabi also got a chance to bond over the week. Matthew rode him 4 times (a record, I think) and I didn't ride him at all!
















In the middle of the week we had a chilly day (low 60s) and decided to give the horses a day off and go hiking. We went to see an old coal mine and hiked about 6 miles to several overlooks of the Big South Fork River.

Here's a group shot at one of the overlooks. Part of the decking on this overlook had recently burned down but luckily the railings were still in place!
















Matthew and I at Devil's Jump overlook, above some class 5 rapids.
















My mom and dad at an overlook of the old mine. You can see the mining tipple over my mom's shoulder. We hiked across the bridge in the photo and all the way up to this overlook (and another one) before turning around and going back.















Some interesting fungus along the hike. I haven't had a chance to look it up yet.





















While visiting we also had a chance to see my parent's new house. They bought it in January and hope to sell their current house in MI soon (it's now on the market, click here to see the listing) and retire to the TN house. The property around the house is beautiful but the house itself needs A LOT of work. It reminded Matthew and I of a rental house! In addition to lots of grassy fields, it has a nice pond and we brought a fishing pole to see what we could catch. Here I am with the only catch of the day, a small bass.






















On a side note, Matthew and I have still not closed on our new house. The bank we were working with was so bad that we have switched to a different lender. This means that our closing has been moved back to May 11th (supposing that the seller gives us the extension, which we are still waiting on). Keep your fingers crossed for us that it actually works this time!