12 Years

We celebrated our 12th anniversary this past weekend. Friday night we had a date night, courtesy of Aunt Natalie (thanks for watching the kiddos!) and Saturday we headed out to Cades Cove. It has been WAY TOO long since I have been there. I didn't want to promise the kids we would see animals, so we just called it our "Adventure Day" and let what happen, happen.

We saw horses....

We walked up to see cabins.....

And checked out their "backyards"...

and realized that when you decide to leave late, and are on adventure during naptime you get pictures like this...

and this (Reese covering his face screaming, "No! I won't smile ever again!)....

(I promise, we did really have fun!)

We decided some swinging was in order to get rid of the grumps....

We will do this soon Abram, just for you.....

We had only seen horses and one deer by this point, and started to get a little sad, so someone decided a joke was in order....

(Get it? Hardy har har) We took a break and climbed a tree..

Just when we thought we wouldn't see any other animals,

Kris spotted this....

Sometimes he has a tough time focusing the camera, but in this case I liked it because it looks like one of those "Bigfoot" pictures. Luckily this fella was going the same direction as we were and needed to cross the road...

But our car was in the way, he thought about turning around....



 We moved instead, and let him cross. This bear was probably 6 feet from our car.

Did I mention I love Tennessee? Because I do.

Are you looking at me?

It was a fantastic day, ending with a trip to Subway and a country store for some treats and apple butter. 12 down, forever to go...

Metcalf Bottoms

My friend Lori is awesome. She has a fun blog, makes cool things, makes fun movies, can talk you into just about anything, and has awesome ideas like going to Metcalf Bottoms. It's a swimming hole sort of place, in the mountains. It was the. Best. Day. Ever. It was one of those "Bucket List" kinda of days. Play in the mountain water with the kiddos-check. Catch crawdads with the boys-check. Float on tubes with the boys-check. Jump off rocks into the water with Abram-check. Leave your camera so you don't get any pictures-check. Luckily, my friend Brianna is an amazing photographer and always has her handy dandy camera with her, she got some great candid photos.

The water was a wee bit chilly (as demonstrated by Kris).....

But not too cold for crawdad huntin.......

We caught, maybe 15 ish??? Reese kept asking to put one in the bucket. I said, "Sure" thinking he would touch it and freak. Nope, he followed directions perfectly and proceeded to put several more in after they were caught. That kid never ceases to amaze me.

It also wasn't too chilly for walking down the trail to jump off rocks.....

or if you're nervous at first, there will be someone to throw you....

There was a 50% chance of rain. And it did, right as it was time to go anyway. The rain POURED DOWN! And we looked at each other and laughed...until we realized all of our stuff was a little ways up the trail! So we ran through the mud filled trail-it was hysterical! And even in the pouring rain, sopping wet, we laughed as we loaded up our wet kiddos full of those droopy eyed smiles-you know the kind-where they are so tired from playing so hard, but have had so much fun they don't even care. The boys have already been asking when we can go back.

Goodbye to Tybee

I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to go back to reality. I wanted to continue taking turns making dinner, shared effort in cleaning up, taking turns entertaining each others children, going to the beach whenever we wanted, laughing at Kris's zebra striped sunburn that he threatened me not to take a picture of. Goobye running on the beach, goodbye boogie boards, goodbye watching "The Ring" for the 100th time and making fun of Lisa because she still gets as scared as the first time, goodbye relaxing while the storm moves in....

Goodbye fireball contests (and whooping the competition)......





Goodbye big house that wasn't really big enough for the people we crammed in........



Goodbye beach (photo by Abram)....



Goodbye....until next year???

Passion Patrol

How could I not brag on myself and tell you I stuck to my running schedule (by the way, I sort of signed up to be part of a relay team) while on vacation!! And made my sister, and cousins do it too!!! Well, let's be honest, my cousin Lisa was the only one who stuck it out with me (we won't mention who stayed back to eat cake instead). It was tricky to find time to run, so a couple times it had to be at night-you know-when it's PITCH BLACK outside and you have one handlight and one bright cell phone? You know, when there are couples bringing out the blankets, and the wine, and you are running by-slightly breaking "the mood" with your flashlight swinging back and forth while you run, kicking up sand and heavy breathing, panting "THIS SUUUUUUUCKS!!! I HATE THIIIIIIIISSSS!!" because you're about to die and you would rather be doing anything other than exercising at that moment.

(one night after running, not as dark as the next night)

Tybee Island Lighthouse

I used to be obsessed with lighthouses. I don't know why. They seemed magical to me. Maybe because I had never been on the coast before, and had only seen them in movies. I worked in California for a couple of Summers when I was in college. One off weekend, some friends and I drove down Highway 1 (BEA-U-TI-FUL!! Gorgeous, magical, out of a magazine, etc) and we came to the Pigeon Point Lighthouse. I screamed and begged them to pull over. I hugged the lighthouse (no joke, some people hug trees-which I have, and it was against the law because you could kill a famous redwood-which I did not know, and I might, or might not have a picture hugging the hypothetical tree before I read the sign. But that is a story for another time. And some people hug lighthouses.) Anywho-I am over the obsession (and hugging), though I still find them quite fascinating. That being said, Tybee Island has a couple. And we went to one......

And we each had a partner. Here was mine.....

and we climbed ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY EIGHT STAIRS....

to wave to the little ant people.....

and take pictures that make you wana throw up because you kids keep sticking their arms

through the bars keeping them safe at the top....

the breeze was nice....

and if you want the full experience, you can make your family cram into the blocked off stairs

to the tippy top where it's a million degrees....

Fun Facts of the day:

-To save time, because we were going straight to the beach after, we wore our swimsuits. We justified this idea by telling oursleves, "It's the beach, everyone will have one their suits and cover ups." ...........we were the only ones in suits.

-Abram literally RAN up 178 stairs and wasn't out of breath. I made him stop at every little window we past making it a game to see how high we had climbed, when really it was to catch my breath.

-Susan forgot until we got to the top, she wasn't a fan of heights. Neither was the lady hugging the top of the lighthouse, (and it was not because she was a lighthouse hugger).

-Reese walked all the way up, not so much all the way down.

-According to the older lady who was one of the lighthouse guides/line referees-if I didn't quiet down while trying to entertain the children, I would shatter the glass at the top of the lighthouse.

-When you ask a random stranger to take a picture of you and your family with the lighthouse in the backround, you have to be specific-other wise you get a straight on shot of your family, with the bottom of the lighthouse in the backround.

Savannah

We went to Savannah, for an hour. Seriously, it was SO HOT AND HUMID-we couldn't take it. We had done it all before, so it wasn't a biggie. However, we needed to stop at this awesome candy kitchen we remembered from before. Not only were they making fresh candy and giving free samples of their chocolate deliciousness, but they had all of the "old school" candy there as well. You want Big League Chew-they got it, Root Beer Barrels-they got it, everything you can imagine, plus more-and everything covered in chocolate.......the kids were in heaven, and annoyed with the picture taking..but I am talking about barrels of candy-literally!

We had lunch at the Pirate House, supposedly a true pirate hangout back in the day, and I have two stories for you after the cute pictures.....

Anyone remember when I was stressing about Abram not eating meat of any kind, besides McDonald's chicken nuggets (gag, I know). And how I tried the ol' "You'll sit at the table

until your finished." and it didn't work, and how he would get so upset he would throw

up all over the table because he didn't want to eat? And how I cried and stressed over it?

If I wasn't feeling so lazy, I would link you to a post. It was stressful, and I was worried-

something has happened this past year-tastebud change, maybe? I don't know. But on

vacation this 5 1/2 year old went crazy and tried so many new things-crab, shrimp,

cole slaw, fish sticks, and while we were looking at the menu he asked, "Does this

place have cheeseburgers?" and I tried not to look shocked and told him I thought

for sure they did, but he would have to eat it if he ordered one. Abram said, in a

matter of fact way, "I really think I would like a cheeseburger."

And he did.

I almost cried a little.

And yes, yes I did take a picture to document this moment.

The last time I was at this restaurant there was a "pirate" walking around looking/acting/sounding just like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Carribean. No joke, he was great. We did see a pirate this time around-however, I am assuming this was the "kid friendly" pirate as he had a very effeminate voice and a "bless your heart" kind of English accent. I am sure there might have been pirates with such a voice/bad accent back in the day, but it was hard not to have my mouth hang open when he whipped out his flute and acted like he could play so that we could "dance to a jig" or told us of sailing the seas and having "adventures". Especially when he avoided all of Abram's pirate expert questions about sword fighting and treasure hunting to go hang out at another table with kids who weren't old enough to talk-I am pretty suspicious that he might not be a pirate afterall.....

As you can see, he was an awfully clean cut pirate too. On our way out, we saw a more realistic looking pirate. Abram shouted, "Look a real pirate!!" and made some conversation.  The pirate obliged and answered his questions enthusiastically (complete with a pirate accent). As we were walking away, Abram said, "MOM! Did you see his teeth?! He must've been a real pirate!" I couldn't tell if his teeth were "in character" or not, but he could have definitely given some pointers to the guy we saw.

P.S. I am having blogger issues-I don't know why the type in this post looks bizarre-working on it. it could be karma after making fun of "kid friendly pirate".

Then There Were Dolphins.....

I told Kris-2 things I want to do while at the beach-go to the Crab Shack, and go on a dolphin tour. There were times when we lived in Savannah, we would go to the beach and just see them jumping-I wanted the kids to see it too. I found this dolphin tour that was highly recomended (thanks TripAdvisor!). So we went along with Captain Mike and got to see some dolphins....(by the way, sorry for the boring text, I am trying to push through this whole vacation posting so I can fill you in on the rest of the stuff we've been up to)...

Waiting for the boat to go.....
 
 Seeing Pelicans....and their poop...


Abram: Kate, did you know that I saw a dolphin that got bit by a Cookie Cutter Shark? (in a book)

Kate stares...

Abram: But don't worry Kate, dolphins are (flexes muscles and looks at her googly eyes fully of intensity) very, V-ERY STRONG!"

 

This isn't the best picture (below), but it's proof I was on vacation too....

And what to do after a long morning at sea (ocean, whatever)? Ice cream....oh yes-
chocolate ice cream.....I thought it cost close to a million dollars because we were on vacation-no, it's because the cone weighed probably 3 lbs each, of pure awesomeness......