Well friends, it’s been a minute.

Since we last spoke, we have completed our Hiking Marathon, had our first booth at the Hiking Marathon Festival in Fairfield Glade, went to Walt Disney World, and had some medical emergencies pop up. Let’s talk about it.

We finished our September marathon on the 25th. It took us longer than it has in the past because of other commitments we had. Highlights included the new Cascade Trail and hiking on “Daddy’s Trail”, otherwise known as the Cumberland Trail. Our oldest kid also had her first art gallery during this month and it got busy! We did get it all done though and are very proud of one another.

On October 4th, we were invited to our first festival! We had a booth with all of our spreadsheets, our budget plans, our schedule for the AT, and Kyra even sold some of her original art. The kids handed out stickers and yapped their little heads off. To be transparent, only 3 visitors to our booth were a little…um, salty? Two ladies crumpled up our stickers and threw them back at us and a third person told us we were ridiculous and also silly for not having a “non-social media way” of letting people in on our lives. I mean, I guess I could send that lady a postcard every other day, but that does seem even more silly. Otherwise, it was perfect. Even better: the moment we packed up our booth, we got into the van and drove straight to Florida for our WDW vacation with most of Mom’s side of the family!

Disney was great. The big kids went seven years ago when they were small. It was so cool to see all of the magic in their eyes a second time. This go, they enjoyed more of the history and science discussed in Epcot, the conservation efforts covered in Animal Kingdom, and the terrifying rides of Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. Our little two were a different story. They met the princes and princesses that they idolize and adore. Runa and Thorrin saw “real” magic and hugged heroes. Seeing the magic that they felt was powerful. Also, Goofy teased our teenager for being uninterested and I mean, that was amazing.

Shortly after we came home, we had some small medical emergencies with one of our children. It’s something that we are still sorting out and learning but we are getting there day by day. In short, epilepsy is a scary word but one that we are coping with day to day.

In the hiking world, we’ve gone out a few times. Two weeks ago, we visited that Fairfield Glad Trail Crew with breakfast sandwiches while they worked on the Red Loop. Mom is also planning a new two day solo overnight hike. Dad is planning a solo too for later this winter. The seasons have changed and so have we. We are preparing for a lot of back field camping and snowy hikes. It’ll be here before we know it!

Anyway, we missed you all and we will see you out there! xoxo

It’s been a minute…

Backpacking The Smokies