Ladies Retreat

Well, it's been a few weeks since this, but I just now got around to getting the pictures off of my phone. And since they're from my phone, they're not all that wonderful, but it was a beautiful place and it was a wonderful, relaxing time away!

Beautiful!

Fall is HERE!!!!!

The trees are beautiful, and we are in the peak of the fall season, so Lucas and I went up on the mountain (Monte Sano) to go biking and took several pictures!

Beautiful!

The street leaving our house - the colors are just gorgeous!

A pretty tree in the historic part of Huntsville

Driving into Monte Sano State Park

GORGEOUS view from the top of Monte Sano

Lucas posing with all of the beautiful trees!

Self-Portrait - with all of the pretty trees behind us

Taking a quick break from biking to enjoy the view!

Looking at all the pretty trees!

Since it gets dark here by 5:00, we didn't have much time, but I was glad that we endured the cold to get to see some pretty sights!

A beautiful tree we saw coming down the mountain - I made Lucas turn around so I could get a good picture of it! Breathtaking!

On the way down the mountain! What a pretty sunset! End to a great day in nature!

Parents Visit - Hiking!!!!!!

When my parents were here, we decided to go to the Land Trust in Huntsville to do some hiking. It was a really pretty day, and we wanted to get to do something with Hailey! We had been to the Land Trust before, but went on a different trail this time. We were going to see Three Caves. You never know what you're going to find on these things, but we were pleasantly surprised when we actually got to "Three Caves." It was very interesting and beautiful! We took lots of pictures, so here you go!

Hailey is anxiously awaiting getting to the park. She is DEFINITELY an adventure dog!

Mom and Dad - Aren't the cute, and don't the look SO relaxed? I wish I was retired!

Hailey is ready to go! This is about the only time during the hike that she had the leash on. I'm glad that she isn't a dog that likes to run away!

One of the first really cool places that we came too. I am sure that in the Spring that this is beautiful and that there is a waterfall here.

Picture Time - Lucas and I

Mom and Dad

Lucas at the bottom of the cliff

Hailey looking over the edge to see where "daddy" is!

A view of Lucas at the bottom of the cliff and Hailey at the top

Lucas climbing back up

Lucas being crazy and hanging from the tree - scared me to death! It was a lot higher than it looks in the pictures!

Dad and Hailey checking on the "sinkhole"

Hailey likes to climb trees! :-)

Ok, in actuality, I don't think she was too thrilled that I put her up there, but it's a cute picture!

Dad likes to climb trees too!

Glad it wasn't too high off the ground! He fell off shortly after this! Ha! Love the face!

Mom and Dad climbed to the top of the rock.

Hailey and I taking a short break! We had been going awhile and her little legs were getting tired.

Me and Dad in front of the GIANT (obviously partially manmade) cave - My face says it all - Dad went to check out the sign and it says do not enter, beware of falling rocks!

Me and Dad taking a closer look

Lucas and I in front of Three Caves

Mom and Dad standing at the top of the cliff above the three caves - if you're wondering why there is a rail, it is because it was really high and steep... But amazing!

Random pretty flowers that I saw along the way!

Cool Picture - It was a beautiful hike!

Hailey carried this stick around for a LONG time - which is funny because she does not normally find much interest in sticks. Balls are definitely her favorite toy!

Mom hiking

Coming up the final hill, or should I say cliff? Ha!

Mom standing by the sign of the trail that we just came up, Alms House Trail. It sure was steep!

A stick bug that we saw coming back to the car. It wasn't doing so well, but it was cool, so I had to take a picture!

Hailey is beat after a LONG hike, but she sure did have fun!!!

Parents visit - Moving a tree....

Well, my parents came to visit us for a week! This was a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't gotten a chance to blog in a while! It was SOOOO good to have them here! I really miss being able to see them whenever I want! We had a great time and for most of the time, the weather was BEAUTIFUL! Although it did get a little chilly towards the end of the week! But, when Lucas and I moved into our house in April of 2007, there was this really nice little dogwood tree in our front flower bed, well, last spring it grew a lot, and we thought, well we probably don't want a very big tree next to the house, so maybe we should move it... Well, we did some research and found that the best time to move a tree is in the fall after the leaves have started changing since it is going into dormancy, so needless to say, we decided against moving it last fall... WHAT A MISTAKE! This spring it exploded and grew about 6 feet taller and 2 feet wider. Now we HAD to move it, and there was no way that Lucas and I were going to be able to do it on our own, so since my parents were coming we thought it would be a great opportunity to put them to work! Well, we successfully moved the tree, and it wasn't as hard as we had initially thought it was, but we'll have to wait until the spring to see if it survives! We'll see!!!!! Mom took lots of pictures, so ENJOY!

First - we had to pull up all of the roots. Thankfully they were only about 2 inches under the soil!