"Oh no!!! I hate getting wet!"

We're riding the trams... a lot like disneyworld, but a little funkier...

"So- where we gonna go first?"

Here’s some more pictures from the trip to Dollywood on Saturday, I hope you enjoy them!

I’ll keep you posted.

We made it to Dollywood!  Whoohoo….  check out us on the River Rampage Ride – DollyWater

We're waiting our turn at the River Rampage....

It’s not always easy, ya know, arranging kids and cars and everything, so I’m very pleased we actually got there. The sad thing is early in the afternoon Sonexay picked up Kira while twisting and slipped a disc. We then cut the trip short and took him to the ER back in Sylva.

Still, we got all the “heavy lifting” out of the way (turned our tickets into actual passes with photo-ID, learned how to get there, where and how to park, etc.). The next trip will be way easier, and we still have eleven months to use our passes. The drive over the mountain was very nice- it was a beautful day (so much nicer that the hike last weekend!).

Anyway, we all still had a wonderful time together. It was Cori’s first trip out with the kids. They all got along as well as I new they would- everyone loves Cori. Sound familiar? Yeah……

That’s it for now. I’ll keep you posted.

Everyone have their seatbelts fastened????

Feeding the ducks is always a good time!!!

Hiya folks!

Well, we’re trying the Dollywood trip again, but this time the weather is in fact cooler! Instead of a heat index of 101 it’ll be 88…. we can live with that. Why don’t you join us?

What a month. Between work, Green Corn, the hike to Mt. Leconte and my “brain issues” I’ve had a lot to think about. What the heck is going on, and what am I going to do now?

In the process of all this ponder, and while cleaning out old files on an old computer at work I ran across some interesting photo. These were mostly pictures Bobbi ha

Kim, Nonnie, Jill and Gretchen.... Sarah is sitting on the right facing away....

d taken- KidZone, family stuff, “Seekers”…. things like that. I’ll make a photo album somewhere (Project # 3,276) so y’all can look at them. God knows I have done. These are older digital photos taken with a “second generation” camera…what are we upto now- twentieth generation??? Anyway, I thought I’d share them with you.

So, I’ll be away for the weekend. Yeah, I know- I should stay home and mow my lawn…… naaaaaaaaaaaaaa      I’ll keep you posted.

Bobbi holding Ethan.... I'm not sure of the date (which changed when I copied the file).... 2005 maybe?

Here’s an update of events. I am sore!

The little fairy princess!

In spite of being pretty beat-up still I went and worked out this morning. It’s mostly my legs- I thought it was lactic acid buildup, but it feels like I sprained the whole leg (each of them). I did push it pretty hard on the way back.

Tonight I spent the evening with my kids. Here are some pretty great pictures. The first is Kira, the little princess. The next one is the boy Ninja! He’s doing a leap in the air with his samarui sword. Pretty wild, eh? What a great little guy. We all had a tasty Laotian meal (very spicy!) and played some video games. I’m afraid I’m not much of a challenge for the lad!

Crouching tiger, leaping Ethan!

I’ll keep you posted.

How was your weekend?

Somebody put soap in our fountain! I suspect Smoky Mountain Mustangs fans (who got a whoppin!).

I hiked to Mt. Leconte! Man, was it hard….. It was more than 8 miles each direction, and changes elevation 4500′ over the course of the hike. That may not sound like a lot…. but the average set of stairs isn’t quite 8″ tall, so that’s like climbing 6900 stair step…. We started at 10:30am and got back a little after 9pm (the last twenty minutes hiked by flashlight).

It was a great trip, especially since I made it. There was a time there I thought I might not. I really had to push myself to finish. Now I can kick back! LOL…. The trip did one great thing- it cured me of my deisre to “through-hike” the Appalachian Trail!
I’ll keep you posted.

Bobbi and I always said we’d go there together…

I'm adding to the height of the mountain!

Oh yes, oh yes- it’s Green Corn time! I don’t know what I was thinking- thinking I could do a ten hour hike the day after two night’s of stomp dancing….. Well, I made it through the whole night! If you don’t know what it is it’s kind of had to explain…. Imagine a “revival” full of “true believers”. Now, instead of dancing picture people singing and dancing around a campfire with the same fervor. It’s not just any ole dance, either. A stomp dance is just what it sounds like- you STOMP! The idea is to let the earth feel you dance by stomping as hard as you can. It is a form of prayer. Our culture bids us dance!

 It’s hard on everyone, but especially on the guys who carry a few extra pounds (like I used to). It’s also hard on the women who dance with 10 pounds of turtle shell rattles on each leg. Plus- you have to do this while singing. All the men should sing the “response” to the leader’s song (call and response). The songs are very moving. I even remembered to sing them (most of the time- when I wasn’t trying to catch my breath!).

Last night was an easy night- we only did it for three hours (ten minutes of hard dancing followed by a 5-10 minute break). They let us off early last night because we started at 6am today (well, not me- I won’t go up till 9am). Anyway, I didn’t think I would be able to but I took a minute to dash off this note. Something a little incongruous about blogging then stomp dancing….

I’ll keep you posted.

I’m going to open up this blog to members of the family who would like to post here. If you are interested just let me know. Now I’m off to “The Big Cove” to go stomp dance!

I’ll keep you posted.

A view of Mt Leconte from Galtinburg, TN.

Howdy all. I’m not sure if I’ll post much this weekend. There’s so much to do.

It is the time of the Green Corn Ceremony. It actually started today, but I had Boy Scouts. It’s a three day festival of Cherokee singing and dancing. It’s our biggest “Stomp Dance” of the year. I haven’t attended in some time and I’m really looking forward to getting back to “the source”.

Then, on Sunday, I’m hiking to Mt. Le Conte to take some of Bobbi’s ashes there.  At 6593 feet, it is the third highest peak in the park and the sixth highest in the whole Appalachian chain. I’m not sure if I’m going to take the “short but straight up and down” trail or the “a little easier but not as easy as you think”

Bobbi on the Appalachian Trail near Mt. Leconte in 2005

trail, but I’ll decide on Sunday.Weather will probably have a lot to do with it. I’ll take the camera and try to get a few photos…. The mountain is just off of the section of Appalachian Trail Bobbi and I hiked often. We had always talked about going on this trip…. and now we are.

I’ll keep you posted.

As I said, I’m just now able to go through the videos from Bobbi’s memorial, and as I am I finding other videos I’d forgotten I’d recorded. My Movie Here’s Bobbi holding up the tile she made for Gale’s Garden.

Last night I talked to Bobbi’s sister Jill. It’s always a pleasure, and we talked for a long time. She’s so much like Bobbi in the best way… They sound alike and talk alike.Bobbi@Gales

I’m separating the blogs. Right now this blog is split between two domains- bobbilynn.org and hughlambert.com. I’m going to move hughlambert.com to a new blog. I’d like to keep the blog for Bobbi “sweetness and light”. However, I have a lot to say and it’s probably going to upset people, and I don’t want to do that here. I don’t know, but imagine most folks are following the link from bobbilambert.com, and that will continue to work. One day however, you may see another entry in the blogroll (in the right hand column). I’ll let you know.

Thanks for checking in, but I’ve got to run along. I need to go work out and then go to Rotary! I’ll keep you posted.

It’s summertime in the mountains….. We are all pretty good. I am great! I am so grateful for the love and support I am constantly being blessed with. It may restore my faith ;-)

I went for a long mountain bike ride on Sunday. It was wonderful, and I didn’t even get very tired. Yesterday was my night with “my kids.” Cub Scouts was cancelled at the last minute so we turned it into Fun With Poobah night (I’m Poobah). I think carrying grandchildren overhead like an airplane while running through the house should be an Olympic sport- I’d win!

Work is better this week. It’s mostly my attitude. I’ve seen several great movies this week- In The Valley of Elah (Tommy Lee Jones) and Taking Chance (Kevin Bacon). Watch them if you get a chance. Bobbi’s brother Greg also got me hooked on a great TV show- Doc Martin. It’s from England and there are very few episodes, but it is just charming and well worth your time.

I’ve started something I hadn’t been able to do till now, and gotten a nice bonus in the process. I started watching (and editing) the video from Bobbi’s memorial service. While doing that I found the videos from two years ago at the family reunions we had as a memorial for Bobbi’s father Gale. There are many times where Bobbi actually talks to me. Let me explain- we got the new camcorder to video the grandchildren specifically, and most of the videos I have of Bobbi are of her interacting with other family members. But at that memorial, as we both knew what was coming, she took the time to actually talk to me as I “taped” (“hard-drived her” just doesn’t sound right) her. Talk about the agony and the ecstasy…. I’ll post the reunion videos when I get them in some kind of order, but I may keep “mine” to myself for a while. Forgive me in advance, okay?

That’s all for now. I’ll keep you posted.