Easter visit to VA

Eric had so much fun with his cousins at the park.

... especially when he was with his daddy.

Eric seems to be the only one not quite into this.

Amy with Eric.

The cousins headed for the pond to feed the fish.

Jude couldn't get enough of Eric. He was always wanting to be with him and hold him.

On the hunt for Easter eggs...

Relaxing after the hunt.

Another blog

At the request of my beautiful and wise wife, I am going to discontinue my beer posts on this site... however, to the one or two (or none?) of you still interested in my venture for 200 brews can keep pace with me at a different blog, Doug's Beer Knurd Tally!

I'm glad that Amy is supportive of my quest for the gold plate, albeit with rolling eyes. :)

Look forward to seeing you there.

My Favorite Picture

I think this is the best picture I've ever taken of the two of them.

New Pictures

Three more...

Three more beers to add to my quest for Flying Saucer immortality:

Wells Banana Bread was the first. Like I mentioned in my last beer update, this one was a keeper. I had it again this time to count toward my total. Smithwicks Ale (pronounced 'Smiddicks') was my second not the best of the three but decent enough. Brooklyn Monster was my third and was served in .

Wells Banana Bread

Container: Bottled

Style: English Ale

Brewer: Charles Wells Pub Co.

City: Bedfordshire, England

Country: United Kingdom

Desciption: Pours a clear amber body with a small creamy head. Aroma of "surprise" banana bread. Flavor of banana, mild hops, and nuts with citrus-peel bitterness in the finish.

Smithwicks Ale

Style: Amber Ale

Brewer: Guinness & Son Co.

City: Dublin

Country: Ireland

Description: This beer is imported from Dublin, Ireland & has been well sought after in the US. It is dark amberish red in color with a nice thick head. Very well rounded beer with some hops and roasty malts toward the finish.

Brooklyn Monster

Container: Bottled

Style: Barley Wine

Brewer: Brooklyn Brewery

City: Brooklyn, NY

Country: United States

Description: This classic Barley-Wine Style Ale, pours a deep copper color with a thin amber head. Aromas of apple, raisin bread, and a brief flourish of hops follow thru in the flavor with some bready and earthy malt notes. The high alcohol is hidden well in the lingering finish. It is vivacious when young, but will age gracefully for many years, becoming more complex over time. 10.8% abv.

What a Weekend

We just got back from a weekend trip to Boone, NC where we went snow tubing and went to the top of Grandfather Mountain.

The weekend started early with a suprise day-off on Friday. So I spent the day home with the kids while Amy went to work (ha-ha). The kids and I had a blast together and took a nice long walk together to the closest convenience store (about a 3-mile round trip) that took up a couple hours of our morning. By the time we got home, Amy was here waiting for us and we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon together, then got our stuff ready for us and the kids for the out-of-town trip the next day.

We pushed off for Boone the next morning, and made it there mid-day, going straight to Seven Devils (just South of Boone) for our snow-tubing excursion at Hawksnest. I am so proud of the kids! It was cold and windy, but I didn't hear a single mumble from either of them! We played and sped down the hill several times before our time was up and we all had a blast! Jude went by himself the whole time (except our first run, where he went down with me but was bounced off when we bumped the side berm pretty hard. We both were laughing pretty hard at that and he jumped back in for the rest of the ride down). Kerrigan took turns riding down with me and Amy. What a great time. When we were done, we grabbed some chow at a great local diner (Troy's 105 Diner), then went straight to the hotel and after winding down in the pool we gave the kids a hot bath and we all crashed out.

We had planned to come back to Raleigh the next morning, but when we were in the city of Seven Devils snow-tubing, we could see Grandfather Mountain and remembered talking with Dave & Tari about meeting there sometime and knew we had to check it out.

So, the next morning, we set off for Linville (which was under and hour away) and had a beautiful trip there. Instead of taking 105 straight South (which would have been quicker), we went around the East side of the mountain on 321, then 221 slowly winding our way though the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains until we happened upon the entrance to the Grandfather Mountain. We first took the kids to the Animal Habitats where we saw cougars, a bald eagle, a black bear (from a distance) and several deer including a buck. We also took them to the natural museum where we walked around for a while. After that, we drove further up the mountain to the peak of Grandfather Mountain where we walked across the mile-high swinging bridge (which, according to the website, is the highest in America at over 5,700 feet altitude). Once we all crossed the bridge, the paved path stopped and only rocks continued. Amy and Kerrigan waited while Jude and I hiked on a bit. I was so proud of him. He was fearless! The sights were awesome and inspiring. We went out a ways, took a few pictures, then turned back to get the girls and headed back down the mountain.

On the way back to boone, we stopped again at Troy's 105 Diner, since it was so good the day before, and grabbed a bite before our drive back to Raleigh.

What a great time. We're already planning a ski trip back to Boone next year!