Enjoyed a trip to Pine Mtn State Resort in Kentucky and a visit to Bean Station TN

Brody has been having a good week this week.  He got blood again last Monday and went in for labs again this past Monday.  He did not have to get chemo last week or this week and has been feeling much better this week than he has in a very long time.  We decided to take advantage of this little break in his chemo regimen (this break is part of the regimen he has been following.  He's still on schedule) and we headed for a short trip to the mountains with Papaw and Grandma.  Papaw rented us a cabin for all of us to stay in for 2 nights in Pine Mountain State Resort in Kentucky.  The cabin was very nice, had plenty of room for all of us, and a great view.  Although the boys were a little worried that the cabin might be overcome by bears.  The boys have spent a lot of time in the evenings lately watching Bill play a Playstation game that is set in the old west and involves a lot of killing of Grizzly bears to sell for stuff you need in the game.  The bears in the game are very aggressive.  So the boys are a bit petrified of bears.  There were several signs in the mountains about the black bears that live there.  The boys wanted pepper spray and large sticks and for Papaw to have his knife before we could go hiking.  We didn't buy the pepper spray.  We convinced the boys that spraying a bear with pepper spray might just make the bears really angry.  But they made sure Papaw had his pocket knife and each boy took their time to find a mighty stick.  I think Papaw thoroughly enjoyed teasing the boys and scaring them by pretending to be a bear and growling and scratching at the cabin walls from outside the cabin. 
We enjoyed a mile hike to "chain rock."  We didn't see any bears on our journey but we did find a lost beagle dog who managed to find his owner before we left the trail.  "Chain Rock"is a large rock that has a giant chain to hold it from falling off the mountain into the town of Pineville, Ky below.  It was an awesome view on the hike to and at Chain Rock.  We also did a shorter hike to Pinnacle Overlook in Cumberland Gap.  The boys got to stand on Kentucky and Virginia at the same time on this hike.  They thought that was pretty neat.  They really wanted to hike to a spot where they could stand on Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia all at the same time but we decided not to do that on this trip because it had started raining and the trails were getting slippery and Brody had to be carried through much of the mountain hiking trails we had already done.  We'll have to come back on a future trip to do that trail.  Once it started raining we headed to Bean Station to visit family there.  We got to see Uncle Bill, Aunt Evelyn and cousins Chris, Tina, Christina and Hannah and Precious (Evelyn's black poodle).  The boys had a great time playing with Precious, petting Chris's horses and playing hide n go seek in the back yard.  This morning when we got in the van to head back home, Brody said he wanted to go to Tenessee again to see "the little black dog."  I had to tell Brody that hopefully Precious would come up at Christmas time to Ohio and he could play with her then.  Evelyn made us all a fabulous meal that we all really enjoyed.  I really need to learn how to make chicken n dumplins.
Well Dad (Papaw) is just pulling off the exit to Monroe, OH.  We will soon be to Papaw and Grandma's house where we will load into our van and I'll drive us the rest the way home.