A trip up the mountains

Michael was asked to come back and speak at a graduation banquet at our "home" church in Mills River. ( I say that because I think Mills River will always feel like home to us since that's where Michael first began his ministry. We moved there right after we got married and spent the first five years of our married life together there. Lucy was born while we were there and we became the "Flack Family" . . . so even though we love being where we are now, we still think of Mills River as our home.) So after Lucy's awards at school on Thursday, we got in the car and headed up the mountain. Since we had all the kids with us, we wanted to hit up some of our favorite places while we were there. We stopped for lunch at Juicy Lucy, a great hamburger place.

Alex was excited!

Lucy ordered a hot dog but decided that my burger tasted better. . . we told her to order one, but oh well! (On a side note, I love Charlie's face in the background!)

And a trip to Juicy Lucy wouldn't be complete without a milkshake!

After lunch, we went to one of our favorite places to play - The Play Lodge!! The kids were so excited to run and play and explore. They had the best time. They played for a solid two hours with no stopping. And the best part was that they played nicely with each other and with other children. 

And then I took these pictures to compare to the ones from the last time we were here. This picture is from this trip. . .

And here was last time, right before we moved to Lewisville. The boys are 9 months here. 

Alex with the duck back then. . . .

 And now. . . time sure flies!!! Slow down babies - you're growing too fast!

It took the boys a little while to warm up to the slides, but once they got started, they didn't want to stop!! :)

After the play lodge, we went to the hotel to rest a little before our evening at MRUMC. I told the boys they could have their MiMi's but you had to be up on the bed in order to have it. Lucy came up to join Charlie. . . apparently he thought the rule was that everyone on the bed had to have a Mimi because he promptly placed one in Lucy's mouth! :)

We had such a nice time seeing so many people at MRUMC and it was a wonderful evening celebrating so many wonderful graduates. It's hard to believe that when we left these kids they were just finishing up with 8th grade and now here they are, graduating! It was such an honor to be asked to return to help celebrate them and their many accomplishments. We are so proud of the amazing young men and women they are becoming and grateful to be able to claim them as our own. (After all, all those kids from our youth group days will always be "our kids" even when they are all grown up!)