Spending time with my siblings is one of the things that I cherish most in life. Even with the age gaps (10 years between myself and John) and all of us growing up, they have always been my favorite people to hang out with, laugh with, go on adventures with, do photoshoots and make little movies. I know this has a great deal to do with the environment in which we grew up not always being the best... even still, it definitely brought us closer together.
I am now an adult and, in my eyes, they are still kids. As much as I want them to stay kids forever, I know things are already changing. John is in high school, Amelia just graduated high school and Bobby is about to head off to boot camp to become a marine. I guess I'm afraid of change. I guess I'm scared of losing the bond I have with them as they grow up and go on adventures of their own.
I'm so lucky to have Erik. He completely understands how important these kids are to me and why I cherish my time with them so much. Erik came up with the idea of a Sibling Camping Trip a few months ago which would probably be our last major bonding experience before Bobby heads off to bootcamp. And as it just so happens, Amelia and John had never really seen the mountains or even been camping for that matter. Of course this sounded like a great idea and Bobby, Amelia and John were so excited! We got Erik's brothers Zach and Taylor on board and even our oldest brother Matthew was most likely coming. Just a week before we were all set to go, we realized the one thing we overlooked (dun, dun, duuuun): the weather. As it turns out, Black Balsam Knob was hit with a cold streak with temperatures hovering at around 40 during the day and 20 at night. And so, the 1st Annual Sibling Camping Trip 2016 was canceled. :(
As a backup plan, Erik and I decided to invite everyone to Atlanta to spend the weekend with us and Zach. While this wasn't quite the same, we swapped an adventure in the mountains for an adventure in the city! We still went for a hike, saw some sites, made s'mores over a fire pit and of course... took some pictures along the way!
^^^ (Our total fail freeze frame jumping picture on Stone Mountain... yes we are this cool!)
^^^ (I'm not sure what we are doing here, but we're doing a great job at it)
FIN