Gem Mining!!

A superbly gorgeous day here in the mountains of North Carolina ... so we decided to have an adventure with the boys ...

Grandfather Trout Farm & Gem Mining

The trout pond with the HUGE fish in it!

Austin is selling us on something!

Getting all set up in the mining tent ... buckets of dirt and screens ...

Nana's friend, Mr. David, getting us all set up

Sorting it all out ... one for you, one for him, one for the other, one for Paul Paul ... etc., etc.

The look of absolute adventure & delight

Always in motion ... Austin found the most of all! He was amazingly FAST at it too!

Magical Cade. He came up with emeralds even when no one else could even see them!

D I S C O V E R Y ...

Totally engaged ... and a spectator who's dad explained to him "there's no crying on vacation"! What a GREAT line! ;-)

"Is this one, Paul Paul?"

The emerald King

Emeralds, rubies, sapphires and I can't remember what else ...

T R E A S U R E !! (it's hard to tell, but he's holding his treasure bag next to his belly)

The winner of the most treasure found is .... A U S T I N !!!!

The winner of the one who is photographed the most with his eyes closed

(on purpose) is ... C A D E !!!

Waiting for Mr. David to identify the gems ... beautiful beautiful day!

Waiting is the HARDEST thing to do at this age ... they did a GREAT job

The cutest grandpa in the whole world ... PAUL

and it ends as it began ... only braver by now!

It was a GORGEOUS day and the boys we so well behaved!! We had an absolutely DELIGHTFUL experience here. They kept thinking they were rich and could buy stuff with their gems. (!) We tried to explain polishing and cutting and facets and all that ... but they didn't really care about it. SO CUTE! We went for BBQ afterward and they all ate like champions. Turns out gem mining makes you have quite the appetite! And banana pudding tops things off JUST RIGHT according to the boys. A great time had by all!!

Until next adventure,

Paul Paul & Nana