Singleton Family Adventures: After New Zealand

It has been 15 weeks since we returned from New Zealand. The trip defines our year so far, but the experiences in New Zealand encourage us to explore our own little corner of the world here in western North Carolina and the United States in general. To keep the records of our adventures, I will continue to update the blog.

Leaving the drought in New Zealand, we found ourselves immersed in wet weather here in NC. First with a late winter and a spring that never seemed to want to surface. Now, one of the wettest summers we can remember. Rain falls for Lake Toxaway (in the next county over), surpassed 18" for the month of June! We have had rain almost every day since I can remember now. Each of our adventures this spring/summer have included "clouds sweating" (rain, as the girls call it). But enough whining about the rain, on to the adventures...

Looking back on the past 15 weeks, here are a few of Singleton Family Adventures to share:

NC Science Olympiad State Championships
NC State University: Raleigh, NC
April 26-27, 2013
The 2nd place regional finish the day before we left for NZ, positioned Fairview's Science Olympiad team a state competition bid. The kids did an amazing job preparing, studying, competing and supporting one another. For a first year team at state, two of our teams brought home medals and the team placed 20th overall out of 45 teams, pretty amazing! Mckayla and her partner, Alexis, placed 8th in Dynamic Planet. The bus rides to and from were epic and the mad dashing around the campus to get to events was exciting, yet stressful. What a wonderful experience for the girls! Their teacher/coach, Mr. Ray Crawford, deserves a medal of his own for his leadership of this program.

Skyler and Alexis prepping their bottle rocket for launch.

Evelyn and Mckayla setting up the final tasks for Mission Possible.

Fairview Science Olympiad Team 2012-2013

Skyler and Alexis: Team Captains

The loud, packed, Reynolds Colesium, waiting for the awards.

Alexis and Mckayla: 8th place Dynamic Planet!


Mckayla and Skyler

Mother's Day Hikes
May 12, 2013

Okay, this was a pretty low key hiking day, but we did visit the new trail to High Falls. The trail was built to provide put in access for the West Fork of the Tuckaseegee. A very impressive trail. The rainfall in the area made the falls a torrent of water with no dry spots for lunch, so we hiked back out and drove over to Whiteside Mountain for another short hike and picnic.

Jack in the Pulpit

Skyler with High Falls in the background. Notice the height of the spray off the bottom of the falls.

View from Whiteside Mountain.

Mark, Skyler and Mckayla on the Whiteside trail.

Skyler's 8th Grade Graduation
May 29, 2013

Skyler "graduated" from K-8 this year. Next year she heads to Smoky Mountain High School as a freshman, where does the time go...

As one of the top 3 students in the 8th grade, Skyler was selected to give the "present" speech. With help from her AIG teacher, Mrs. Martin, and of course the peanut gallery at home, her speech was absolutely amazing. And I am not just saying that because I am her mother! She was animated, funny, and had the audience in the palm of her hand. We were very proud of her and it was great to have the grandparents (Oma and Opa) be able to attend.

Skyler giving her speech

The 8th Grade Posse

Skyler and Mrs. Martin

Skyler and Mrs. Pannell

Skyler, Oma and Mckayla

Debby, Skyler and Mckayla

Oma, Skyler, Opa and Mark

Mad Mountain Mud Run
June 1, 2013

During June we had one dry spell for about a week, right before the Mad Mountain Mud Run. Yet, it was still a muddy good time. By no means were we competitive, but we had a blast working together to negotiate some pretty tough obstacles and lots of mud this year.

Macaulay's, McRaes, and Singletons

Lucy, Katie, Eliza, Lee, Skyler and Mckayla

The "official" after race photo

Girls in Science Camp
Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont
June 10-15, 2013

Mckayla applied and was accepted into the "Girls in Science" camp at Tremont this year! Twenty four girls from NC and TN are selected to attend this week long science camp for rising 8th grade girls. Skyler attended last year and loved it. Mckayla's experiences were equally amazing. She caught butterflies, dragon flies, and salamanders; hiked, sang goofy camp songs, and did camp chores; and made lots of new friends.

Mckayla and Madeline

Yeah, salamander!

Bird banding (Mckayla lower right)

Breakfast (Mckayla far left)

Endless River Adventures Kayak Camp
June 14-16, 2013

Skyler attended kayak camp with ERA for 3 days in June. Mckayla wasn't able to join because of the conflict with science camp. Over the 3 days, Skyler got her roll on the right side, paddled the lake, Tuck, Nanty and Ocoee. Fun times with a fun group of kids and an awesome instructor, Juliet.

Practice rolling

The line up: Skyler far left in black life jacket.

Nantahala River

Go Big! Running Nantahala Falls in a 2 person duck, with Jessie and Carmen. (Skyler is in the back)

Yeah, we didn't flip!

Backpacking in Panthertown
June 23-25, 2013
with the Crawfords

Finally, we made time for a backpacking trip! After New Zealand, the girls were ready for more, but finding the time, was problematic. In late June, we did a 2 night trip with the Crawfords into Panthertown Valley. Our base camp was near the intersection of Panthertown Valley Trail and North Power Line Rd Trail. Awesome spot with plenty of trees, easy access to trails, and a "cooler" of a stream. One pot gourmet meals, cheesecake, the "interesting" raspberry crumble, rain, thunderstorms, the fire that just wouldn't start, smores, red dot trails, jungle hiking and rock skipping all made for a great adventure.


Salt Rock Overlook, are we ready for some backpacking?	Ty, Kennedy, Skyler and Mckayla

Ray and Mark scouting the route.

Happy Birthday Ty! Homemade (instant) cheesecake.

Camp chores: wash and dry the dishes.

Skyler catching a sun beam in between rain showers.

The Singletons: School House Falls

The Crawfords: School House Falls

Rock Skipping 101: Ray teaches Mckayla the fine points of "the skip".

Ugh, no fire!

Striking the Lewis and Clark pose.

Breakfast under the tarp.

Many waterfall hike on the "red dot" trails.

Elbow Falls: is it raining, again?

Braving a swim at School House Falls.

Hammock Time

I don't know, you try it. No, you try it. The raspberry crumble taste off.

Campfire the 2nd night, yeah smores.


The gang at the end of the hike. Debby, Nancy, Ray, Kennedy, Skyler, Ty, Mark and Mckayla.

Dead Frog Pose, gotta have one at the end of a hike.

Wrightsville Beach
June 27-July 1, 2013

Our last little adventure for the month of June included a quick trip to Wrightsville Beach on the coast of NC. The primary reason for the trip was to catch up with my friend Linka and her family, but we were also in need of some beach time, sunny weather, ocean waves, fresh seafood, and a reprieve from the rainforest of the mountains. Guess what? It rained there. We did have some nice weather and were able to run, walk on the beach, try boogie boarding, swim in the pool, and stand up paddle, plus eat lots of yummy seafood. But we also spent a lot of time inside our little motel reading, relaxing and watch the beach life go by. It was great to catch up with Linka and we hope to make another trip down that way this year.