Wilderness at the Smokies

For a long weekend getaway, Aaron's side of the family all met up at Wilderness at the Smokies.  We had the best time ever.  Basically, it is a huge hotel that also has an indoor waterpark inside.  There is also a pool with a lazy river outside that our room looked out over.  We had the best time.  The cousins don't get to see each other very often, so they really enjoyed the extra time together.

 The boy's in their "tree house" bunk bed

Connor and me coming down a slide together.  SOOO MUCH FUN!!!

Connor and Aaron starting the walk up ALL THE STAIRS!!!

 See them WAAAYYY up there??

And, here they come...Connor's mouth cracks me up!!!

Connor is like his mom...he loves him some water slides!!!

Three tired kids enjoying a show before bed

Three of the cousins having a blast...underwater!!

Blake trying to catch the water!

One of the big raft rides...with Grandaddy, Susie, Alex,
Alan and Joy...So much fun!!

It was getting pretty chilly, but we all braved the lazy river the last night

The front of the tube had a bottom so Blake wouldn't fall out. Great idea!!

Outside wave pool

Alright, finally our celebrity spotting...

Can you tell who it is?  Carlton from Fresh Prince of Bel Aire!!

Yes, we are FOR SURE it was him.  No question.  My brother-in-law offered my sister-in-law $100 to do the "Carlton Dance" in front of him.  Well, she was never able to get right in front of him until later that night.  Picture this...Large glass separating the "hotel" part to the eating area inside the waterpark area.  My father-in-law finds out there is money involved, he grabs Joy's phone, bangs on the glass where "Carlton" is standing and videos Joy as she does the "Carlton Dance".  Now, granted, he never turned around.  You can only see the side of his face in the video, but she did score $50 for effort!!  At least, Mark had better have paid up for that kind of effort!  

We got there on Thursday night and stayed until Sunday morning. We played from Thursday night until Saturday night.  Boy were we tired when we got home.  It was one of those vacations where you come home just plain worn out!!  But, so worth it.  I had so much fun.  I stayed back with my nephew the last two nights to continue riding rides with him (and Aaron one night and his mom one night) while the others went back to the room.  I HIGHLY recommend everyone going there at least once.  It was so worth it!!!

68 Years!

On October 3, my grandparents celebrated their 68th anniversary!  Boy, that is a long time!!  If you are wondering...Grandmother is 86 and Granddaddy is 88.  On October 2, our family had a little anniversary celebration at their retirement home where they live.  Here are some sweet pictures from the day.

The Cake

The sweet couple

My boys with Gramps and Granny

Granddaddy and his brother Bobby

Funny story about Granddaddy and Bobby...Bobby came and sat down with Granddaddy.  Granddaddy looked over at him and said "How old are you now?  I know you are a little squirt, but how old?"  I thought I was going to die.  I laughed so hard!  Bobby's response was "7 years younger than you."  So, not sure if Bobby knew how old he was or not.  I just loved standing there and listening to them talk to each other.  They rarely get to see each other, so when they are together, I just love listening to them.

Two of the three granddaughters with the happy couple

The three boys with the happy couple

It was the most perfect day for them.  The weather was perfect and we had a great turnout for the celebration.

Pumpkin Patch Time!!

This past weekend, the boys and I traveled 3 1/2 hours to my hometown to celebrate my grandparents 68th wedding anniversary!  Can you believe that?  Well, that is for another post later in the week.  Anyway,  back to the story.  A friend (that I went to church and school with) and her husband have a fairly large farm that in the past couple of years have turned part of it into a pumpkin patch, fun place for kids to go kind of place.  It is only about 5 miles away from my parent's house, so on Saturday morning we headed out to have some fun there.  The boys had so much fun!  As soon as we got there, Andy was getting ready to load up the trailor to take load up to the pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins, so we jumped on too.

This little girl immediately went to Blake when he got on the

 trailor.  She wanted to hug him so bad but Blake was not interested at all!  I actually went to

school with her dad!  Small world!

My Little Buddy!

My Big Buddy!

Blake found his.  Funny, though...he said it was too big! 

He wanted a little one.  I think he wanted those little, itty, bitty ones

Blake and Pa looking for Pa's pumpkin

Connor and Mimi looking for Connor's pumpkin

The prize pumpkin!

Two happy boys

Family picture time

Trip back to the farm

Once we got back to the farm, the kids enjoyed some play time and animal petting zoo time.  I didn't get any picture of the petting zoo because my battery was dying and I had to save it for the great anniversary celebration the next day.

PERFECT landing

Hay Maze

The weather was perfect and we had a great time.