Date Night

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Cheree Moore (@mo_haus)

After 18+ years of marriage, it must be said... Daniel and I are in a season where date nights are a struggle. And not because we don't enjoy going out together.

Several of my friends have recently told me that they appreciate the weekly hikes I plan because they don’t have to think, they can just show up. I realized that Daniel and I are that way with date nights. We always enjoy when we go out, but the planning and making it happen just never seem to happen. 

So when a friend organized a group date for tonight, we were elated to tag along (no planning!) and we had the best time. We started out by meeting in front of the Hunter Museum of Art for drinks and hellos before moving to Tony's Pasta Shop. They will seat 8 to a table, but were nice to split us up at two tables that were side-by-side. We ended the evening on the patio at Rembrandt's for coffee and dessert. Heat lamps kept us warm and the conversation was hilarious and encouraging. 

Daniel and I were the youngest of the group and between our 18 years of marriage and the oldest couple's 30 years of marriage, there were many funny stories as well as wisdom about marriage to be shared.  The oldest couple joked that they had been married for 30 years, happily for 13. To be honest it was encouraging to hear that everyone had had hard years at some point. That growing up together can be tough, but getting through those early years and hardships is worth it. We all have ups and downs.

It’s not every day that five couples (whose spouses don’t necessarily know each other) can get together and hit it off right off the bat. This night out was such a gift. Especially since it was sandwiched in between some difficult parts of a long day. Sometimes you are spending your day cleaning dog or kid or figurative poop up from your life; and several hours spent with your favorite guy and some great friends make the hard parts more bearable.

Weekly Hike: Greenway Farms

My parents gave me a call as we were heading to our weekly hike. They are in Arkansas dealing with frigid temps and snow with a heating system that barely works and space heaters keeping them warm ––thankfully they still have power. They were surprised to hear we were on our way to our weekly hike. 

 

In our neck of the woods, temps made it up to 40 today and what little snow we got yesterday has melted. The south is being blasted with unprecedented cold weather, but our little corner of Tennessee has had very little impact.

Since our previous two hikes were 5+ miles I chose a shorter walk this week – I want my boys to continue to enjoy our weekly walks in the woods.

Our hiking crew met us at Greenway Farms, parking by the start of the trail to the Quarry (normally we start at the Dog Park). We walked up the hill until we reached Ropes Trail and then we began the muddy part of our walk. When we got to the Boy Scout Trail we headed downhill to rejoin the Quarry Trail. On another hike we will have to complete the Boy Scout Trail.

We took the gravel trail down to the quarry where the kids enjoyed climbing the side of ridge and throwing rocks into the water. We also noticed a bunch of huge icicles on the quarry wall.

To finish out our hike we climbed up and walked on the ridge around the quarry, back to the main parking lot, ending with a total of 2.5 miles for the day’s hike. 

I’m thinking everyone must enjoy our longer hiking days because we stood around for another hour visiting while the kids played!

Last week the boys were hiking shirtless, this week everyone kept their jackets on and stayed busy looking for icicles. That's Tennessee weather for you.

This was the 15th hike (15/52) for the year and we covered 2.5 miles bringing total miles for this year to 45.

Snow Storm 2021

I don't want to make light of the fact that many people throughout the south have been suffering over the last several days. There have been frigid temps and ice on roads that can't be cleared and snow over 6 inches deep. Texas has been experiencing rolling power outages as power companies are unable to meet the needs of the people. I have many friends who are experiencing this first hand. In Arkansas, my parents have power but are dealing with heating units that cannot keep the house warm. There is nothing I can do, and I have been on my knees praying daily.

That being said, our little corner of the USA has not had the same experience. We had about 36 hours of temperatures below 20, but almost no precipitation. It snowed all day long – sweet, gentle, swirling flakes – but there was only about half an inch of accumulation.

 

I spent most of the day cozied up by our wood-burning stove while my boys found that they didn't need a whole lot of snow to sled down our property. By the end of the day they had recruited friends to "sled" with them. This resulted in one busted sled and lots of giggles. 

 

 

They were hopeful for more snow, but made the most of what they had. We ended the day by the fire watching The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Cheree Moore (@mo_haus)

Our thoughts and prayers continue to be for everyone still struggling through this intense arctic blast. I know it has been a really hard week for so many. 

Valentines

As a couple, we have never been big on celebrations. Covid and the fact that we have only ate inside a restaurant twice in the last twelve months made it pretty certain Valentines would be low-key this year.

And you know what? It was. And it was fine.

 

We are getting ready for a big trip in a few weeks and Daniel has some general vehicle maintenance he needs to complete before we leave. This is a big deal to him. Having a clean garage to work in, is also important to him.

 

So we spent the weekend, as a family, cleaning and organizing and getting this cleared so he could pull the new truck into the garage for maintenance. Did I mention the fact that it is so big that only half can fit in at a time? Or the fact that there is only 5 inches of clearance (total) on the sides?!?

 

 

So this year, Valentine's was mostly about supporting him. In the end, that supports family goals of getting on the road. And I am ok with that. There weren't flowers or a fancy meal. I did pick up chocolates for all of us, and Isaac requested take-out from our local Chinese restaurant. 

 

And it was a good day. 

 

To top things off, the boys have been working hard at building there own stuff while I helped Daniel. Jack built a little workbench, completely on his own. It was strong enough he could stand on it when he finished. Building appears to be his new favorite hobby.

Weekly Hike: General Bragg Trail

The boys and I are studying American History this year and we have been learning a lot about the Civil War over the last couple of weeks. Since I try to pick different locations each week for our hikes, I thought a hike at The Chickamauga Battlefied would be a good fit.

I picked the General Bragg Trail as our focus point (there are more than 50 miles of trails at this location!). We did not follow the exact route, but we did cover the entirety of the five mile hike.

 

 

 

This was not the most scenic hike we have done, and it was quite muddy even though there hadn't been recent rain, but I felt like it provided us a tiny idea of what it might have felt like to march or trudge through these woods at the time of the Civil War.

 

The kids always surprise me and are generally good sports when the hikes are long, even the littler ones.

 

There are so many monuments throughout this battlefield with markers telling of battles fought and who fought them. 34,000 casualties happened in these fields and woods – a sobering thought to be sure.

 

One of the boys found a jaw bone of what we think was a deer, complete with teeth. Another boy pulled out one of his loose teeth while we walked! You never know what will happen on the trail with kids.

 

 

 

Yesterday was surprisingly warm out, and as we hiked Jack begged me to let him take off his shirt. I agreed and within 15 minutes there was a slew of little boys running around shirtless. One of the little girls wanted to know why the boys were naked – hah!

 

I always enjoy our walks, and feel very privileged that others are choosing to join us each week.

 

 

At the beginning of the hike I went into the Visitor Center and grabbed Jr. Ranger books and badges for my boys. We have been collecting these for the last two years. The material was really beneficial to go over today as it is cold and rainy out.

Here are our badges and books for the Jr. Ranger program. I would highly recommend grabbing them if you visit this National Battlefield. Something I learned is that this was the first park in the country with this designation.

 

This was the 14th hike (14/52) for the year and we covered 5 miles bringing total miles for this year to 42.5.