Well we just spent 6 nights camping out in Kentucky on our land.  Mitten Hollow.  It was awesome…no cell coverage, no email, no TV.  Just trees, mountains, cliffs, and crisp autumn air.  We drove up to Atlanta last Friday after work and hoteled it for a night enroute – the whole trip takes about 9 hours.  Zoe and Avi did fine in the car, meaning they fell asleep thank GOD. Saturday we finished the drive up to Berea, oh, and bought a chainsaw before heading to the hollow.  We were so excited to see the new fence and road built…complete with a “Mitten Hollow” sign!  The weather was great for camping – 80’s in the day and 40’s at night.  We all snuggled together in our little 3 man tent.  It’s perfect for the 5 of us….Kat, Avi, Zoe, Bryan, Arlo at our feet.  It’s nice and toasty.  Bryan’s campfire was so wonderful every night and morning – in fact it was such a good fire he only had to start it the one time.  The coals stayed hot until we left.  For five days we played around on the property exploring trails, rapelling the cliffs, climbing through caves, and bushwacking through the weeds.  It’s was so exciting and relaxing.  We also dreamt alot about where our ‘forever’ house will be and what it can look like.  Something to start in the  next few years and finish as we get around to it.  The beauty of Estill County Kentucky is that there aren’t building codes…perfect for us to just do what we’d like.  and we will. While in the area we also went to a cute little Fall Arts festival in Berea, had lunch in Lexington, and visited the Shaker village in Harrodsburgh.  The more we visit this part of Kentucky the more we love it!  Zoe had a blast playing with sticks and dirt and leaves and bugs.  Avi did adequately – he is still a fussy little sod.  He was no different than at home…so why not just be somewhere better than Valdosta (which may just be anywhere).  Not going to let a crying baby keep us down!  He actually did pretty great during the days when we hiked around alot….seems to be getting quite happy in the snugli carrier.  Car rides are rough with him – he is just not a happy camper unless we can get him to sleep.  For this trip I put the car seats on the sides so I could sit in the middle of the back when necessary.  Turned out to be necessary nearly all the time.  ugh.  Both kids did well sleeping in the tent, though.  We had them both between us, with Avi next to me for nursing.  He woke up the same 3-4 times like at home and nursed laying down.  It was cute to see the two kids sleeping together.  I woke up a few times to see Zoe spooning Avi or wrapping her arms around him.  Adorable. 

The whole trip has been great.  So great to feed my soul in the mountains…it’s tough to be returning to Valdosta.  I’d love to just campout up there all the time.  It was also nice to walk in the woods with the kids, sit around and watch the fire with Bryan, and see Arlo happy and running amuk.   We definitely go to the hollow for peak fall foliage time, too.  It was gorgeous and flaming in color – we watched the leaves change color down the mountain as the days went on.  Our final day there it rained overnight and brought alot of leaves to the ground.  autumn smells amazing in Mitten Hollow.  We were all sad to go.  Zoe keeps asking why we have to stop camping in “betucky” and says that next time we’ll build our cob house.  Maybe so.

To finish our weekend we visited Cumberland Gap National Park.  This hidden gem is awesome.  The campground was great, the trails are great, and we got to walk in Daniel Boones footsteps on the Wilderness road.  Now we’re spending two nights in Atlanta to watch the air show.  How nice a hot shower will feel!