3 Milestones and Fontana

 Milestone 1: Griffin lost his first tooth. OK, technically it was pulled to make room for a monster tooth that was pushing through behind it. But he was excited to leave his tooth out for the tooth fairy none the less.

Milestone 2: Olive June gets a much shorter hair-cut. She looks so cute with her new face-framing long bob.

 She was shy for the first photo.

 But perked up for the second.

Milestone 3: Catalina gets her first ear-rings. She is so cute anyway but this adds to the cuteness.

 Look at those eyes.

Catalina loves her Mama . . .

. . . and her Dada too.

So Mollie found a deal at Groupon for Fontana Village. We were all set to go as a family when we had some problems with Olive June's sleeping habits. We were afraid she would keep the whole family up during the two-night stay and we would all be miserable. So Griffin and I ended-up going by ourselves.

Fontana Reservoir / Dam is a beautiful place to visit. Located in North Carolina, Fontana is at the foot of the Smoky Mountains near the beginning of the Appalachian Trail. It must look amazing during the fall. Below is a view from the road down to the lake.

On the way up, Griffin and I stopped at Tallulah Gorge. I had never climbed down and I thought this was a good opportunity.

Near the bottom you get to cross 300ft long suspension bridge that expands across the gorge. The river and some falls are about 100ft below the bridge.

We had fun.

Going back-up was not as fun. It was incredibly hot and Griffin needed to be carried up 3/4 of the 800 stairs. Pictured above is just one of the flights of stairs. I was sore the whole rest of the trip.

Once at Fontana we decided it would be fun to go fishing. We went to the Marina to rent a fishing pole. We did not fish at the Marina because a wise local told us, "fish don't bite this time of yee-air."

So we went to the Trout pond that was located in Fontana Village.

We fished with nigh crawlers but caught nothing. I believe we would have had more luck if we were fly-fishing; I saw large trout swim right-by our bait numerous times. As a consolation prize we got to see monstrous Bull-frog tadpoles, medium size frogs, small fish, a crayfish, and newts that other kids caught in the pond.

 As part of our Groupon package we got to go on a sunset cruise on Lake Fontana.

Here is Griffin's excitement level.

 He perked-up when he got to drive the boat . . .

. . . and take my photo in front of the dam.

At home it has been raining most afternoons. One day, when there was no thunder and lighting, OJ was out playing in the rain.

I will leave you with a couple more Catalina photos to brighten your day. She can scoot / crawl now and we have to be careful of what we leave on the ground. She is an eater and puts most things in her mouth. I can't believe we are already at that stage.

Hey you, look at what I can do.