Winding Down Summer

School starts tomorrow! We meet teachers this afternoon!

We've been making the most of every moment of the end of our summer. Here's what we've done since the reunion - in no particular order.

There have been HOURS of Lego building. Jake has been working on all his creations!

We went to the end of the summer party at the library, for their summer reading program. Alyssa was volunteering and I didn't now what was planned. 

How COOL that they had Star Wars characters there walking around the library!

Logan loved seeing them, but was so nervous. I had to sneak a picture with him. After a few minutes trying to convince him to stand with them for a picture and him clinging to me for dear life I told him it was ok and I'd take him back to play on the computers. I took the way the led right by Commander Cody and I'd say Captain Rex, but the blue on his helmet is different.

Natalie snapped the shot. I'm glad he put on a smile while he was choking me!

Natalie needed a friend in the picture, but with that support had not problem asking to hold the gun. She was surprised at how heavy it was.
(So with the hand, the clone trooper could be Echo, but his helmet is still off)

There was also a Jedi and Stormtrooper there. Jake was at a camp out with Robert and missed the fun.

We went to the Fernbank Science Museum. Alyssa hadn't been to the Scoop On Poop exhibit. 

 

We brought a friend of Logan's with us and had a great time.

With the bubble table,

making silly faces,

making color shadows,

and exploring each exhibit. It never gets old!

Some dear friends, that had moved out of town a couple of years ago, stopped by to visit.

It was way to short to get our fill of them, but we'll take any time we get together!

We had our last cub scout activity of the summer - swimming at the river!

The boys had a great time!

We've gone shopping, watched movies, played with friends, gone swimming, and picked up some Sodapalooza here and there! 

The kids are excited for school and we'll have plenty of fun activities to participate in, but it's always a bit sad to see those summer days end.

Reunion in Tennessee

A couple of weeks ago we headed up to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee for a family reunion, my side.

Natalie's first comment when we got to the cabin was: "I could live here." It was beautiful.

We spent the evening settling in and greeting other families as they arrived.

The next day we spent at the pool with all the cousins.

We had so much fun reconnecting.

That evening we gathered for Family Home Evening. My parents shared more about their mission to Madagascar and a nephew talked about his experience working with missionaries in his area.

And, we learned more about our ancestor John Tanner. It was a fun evening, especially as we skyped my sister, Christine, who just had a baby and couldn't make it to the reunion. It was fun having her and her family there - even if just on a computer screen.

Below are most of the cousins gathered for a picture.

 

After Tuesday it rained every day and for a good portion of each day. Logan often commented about how "smoky" the Smoky Mountains were.

Even with the rain we made the most of each day, especially the times when it wasn't raining. 

We brought up the bikes and the kids would ride from cabin to cabin to visit each other - playing games, watching movies, chatting, and spending time together. Every afternoon all the cousins would gather at Grandma's cabin for "Grandma's Store." They would earn "dollars" each day to spend on treats. They loved it!

The boys and I woke up early one morning to go fishing, at one of the ponds, with my brother and his kids.

Logan caught the first fish!  

(well, I did - with his pole)

And Jake the second!

After going back and having breakfast we got ready for our day at the Dollywood Water Park. It was suppose to rain all day with thunderstorms starting around midday. Even with threatening weather we decided to get in as much as we could before it started.

 We rented a few cabanas, which were perfect for keeping our things dry and for those with younger children.

We had a great time! It was cool and rainy in the morning, but the storms never developed! With the weather there was hardly anyone at the park and we rarely had to wait more than a few minutes, if any, for the rides.

Jake and his cousin, Jay, had fun going around together (with the older cousins or uncles). They even braved Fire Tower Falls and went down multiple times!

Logan hung out with me. He loved watching the bucket of water tip over at one of the lagoons and going on every ride he was tall enough for.

The wave pool was a favorite!

We would met up with the girls every now and then, as they were spending the day with the other older cousins.

It was still raining when we had lunch and we had to find a more covered area to eat so our food didn't get soggy. It was just what we needed to get us going for playing all afternoon!

The rain stopped in the afternoon, but it stayed cloudy, and we had a few more hours of fun on all the rides and spending time with family!

By the end of the day Logan was played out and ready to go home.

 Robert had a conference during the beginning of the week, but was able to join us at the end of the week.

He made it up for the boys golf game and our day in Ober Gatlinburg.

We played miniature golf,

took the sky lift

up to the alpine slide,

and rode the water slides!

 There was a maze and carousel and other fun activities. It was another fun filled day with cousins and aunts and uncles!

We later went for dinner 

 - all 40 of us!

The cousins did crafts together and stayed up late every night.

The week ended too quickly and we had to say goodbye.

On the way home we stopped at a historic mountain farm and looked around. Hiking around, it was fun to see the farm house and barn.

There were beautiful flowers

and weird spiders!

There was a little mill shed

down by the creek.

It was fun walking around and trying to figure out how someone farmed and raised animals in the mountains.

We had to be careful around the roots of the beautiful magnolia trees.

When we drove to top of the mountain the mist still hadn't cleared 

 and the boys had to stop so they could walk around in the clouds!

After spending a week in the "smoky" mountains the boys loved being in the "smoke"!

Coming out of the Smoky Mountains, we drive through Cherokee. On the way up to the reunion, we thought it would be fun to stop at the museum on the way home.

It was a great place and we loved walking through and learning about the history of the Cherokee.

We love museums!

  

Jake's favorite part was the display of arrow heads, especially the crystal ones.

 

We walked around the town a little bit, but we were all so exhausted from the reunion, it was good to get on the road again and get home.

We loved being with all our extended family on my side (minus my one sister and her family) and can't wait to see them again.

I also want to go camping in the Smoky Mountains for my birthday! It's on a Friday this year, we'll see if I can swing it!

4th of July!

The 4th of July is pretty low-key around here.

We got a watermelon that didn't want to get eaten (thank you Natalie for hearing Walter), but we ate it anyway.

We went swimming in the river and had hot dogs for dinner. 

I made a great Pavlova with berries for our festive dessert.

We read the Declaration of Independence and watched our favorite Declaration of Independence music video.  And in the spirit of the day found a great video about Women's Suffrage.

While I like fireworks, I don't like the crowds and super late night that 4th of July fireworks bring.

So, we got our on little pack that was just right for me.

Here is our rockin' finale (if Natalie had filmed it so you couldn't see the little box, the video would have looked like it was a really rockin' finale!).
We lit sparklers and 

then went in to blow up and play with some cool light-up balloons.

It was a fun and relaxing day.

We are grateful for this wonderful country in which live and for all that was done to give us the freedoms we enjoy today.

Time to Visit

A couple of weeks ago my parents came for a quick visit. 

They had been trying to come out since May and finally made it out.
We had planned a blackberry pie for Father's Day, but didn't have time to make it (with the cousins visiting then), so we made it while my parents were here.

 Robert had been picking wild blackberries every time he went to work on wood projects (there are some right by the shop).

We finally had enough for a pie!
Blackberry pie is one of Robert's favorites.

 It was so fun spending time with my parents.The girls were at girls camp most of the time they were here, but we had enough time, once the girls got back, to take them to see Brave before they left.

 We are excited we get to see them again so soon at our family reunion coming up.

Having some relaxing time chatting and being way to hot to really go anywhere, I got a lot of cross-stitching done (I was almost done) and finished Celtic Spring while they were here.

I only have Celtic Winter to do and to finish the Celtic Christmas before December.

I love finishing projects and getting new ones started.

Stormy Weather

This a bit out of order from the posts I'll be catching up on, but we had the most amazing storm I've seen in a long time move through our area this past week.

Wind, pounding rain, hail, and the power out for about an hour!

 

Logan and Izzy did not like it at all, but it moved through and they both calmed down after a while.

It left a bunch of pine debris all over and Robert has another tree to cut down (it got blown partway over and about 1/3 of the roots have been pulled up - it's really cool). My garden got flattened. After such high heat and now the storm, my cucumber didn't make it, but my tomatoes and peppers are perking back up. 

We've been praying for rain. We should have been more specific.