Back to Reality

So hi there! We had a great, great, great vacation. For not planning anything, we sure did keep busy. We are so glad we rented the minivan, Zach and I had lots of room to ourselves and we had plenty of space for all our stuff. Plus, the way Dad drives up the mountains, Mom was glad it wasn't HER car he was beating the snot out of.

Our first day, we drove halfway and stopped for the night. We were lucky there was an indoor bouncy house place with an arcade right by the hotel. Then we met up with one of Dad's old high school friends for dinner, he was silly!

We got to Pigeon Forge around 3 pm the next day, traffic into the area was horrible! The main strip is really, really touristy, we avoided it the entire rest of our trip. We checked in and began the adventure to find our cabin. 20 minutes later and a lot of windy roads, we found it no problem. It far exceeded our expectations and the view was amazing. We just relaxed that night and picked up some groceries.

On Tuesday, the weather was iffy, so we went to Ripley's Aquarium. It was very cool, very huge and very packed! We headed back to the cabin for lunch and decided what to do next. There was a space open on the 4:30 whitewater rafting trip about an hour away, so we did that. The guide assured us as we were floating down the easy segment of the river, that no one has EVER fallen off the raft on the "easy trip". Well, we soon came to a very, very small drop...like maybe 3 feet, and he asked if we wanted to "surf" the current. Meaning he turns the raft sideways and we kind of float in the drop area. We said sure, why not!? Well, 10 seconds into it, the current caught the raft, spun it around and yours truly flew out. Dad immediately jumped in after me. We got pretty far from the raft and were under it at one point. Dad's instincts kicked in and he found a rock to brace his feet on and kept me calm until Mom and the guide reached us. It was pretty scary. I'm glad I had a life jacket and helmet on. I only went under for a couple seconds. The currents were strong and there were lots of rocks. Zach was petrified. Mom pretty much sat on him to keep him safe while she helped paddle. Fortunately, I climbed back in and shook it off and proceeded to enjoy the rest of the trip. Mom was a little irritated that the guide didn't show much remorse, but oh well, we still would have done it again. We don't have any pics from the trip, but the rafting company is supposed to send us a CD of some photos soon.

Anyhow, after all the excitement the rest of the trip was calm....other than the time Mom forgot the keycode to the cabin and we were locked out for an hour...and oh yeah, Zach slipped out of his innertube in the pool and went under for far too long! We tried really hard to avoid the touristy stuff like Dollywood and the shops. We did some early morning hiking to Laurel Falls (missed a bear sighting by 10 minutes!). Took a cable car ride up the mountain and enjoyed swimming, cooking out and relaxing at the cabin. Mom and Dad really miss the pool table and hot tub. The drive back was long and sad. But they surprised us with a trip to Dinosaur World on the way home, so that really helped dry up our Tennessee tears.

So now I have only three short weeks of break left before I start school on the 17th, boo! We're going to pack in lots of fun and do some activities in the afternoon to get my brain ready for 2nd grade.

Here are some pics from the trip, there are a lot!
http://picasaweb.google.com/nursears/PigeonForge#

Later~
Katherine

And Away We Go....

Long time no blog, eh? This week was pretty mundane. It was hot and we were laying low and not doing much of anything before our vacation. We went swimming with our neighbor at his Grandma's house, that was a whole lotta fun! We've really been itching for a pool...maybe in a couple of years we'll tear up the yard and put one in.

Our other exciting news was Speck the Turtle. Mom was cleaning up the yard after we finished up on the waterslide. She walked by the driveway and thought there was a zucchini in the driveway. Not too far-fetched of a thought considering we have SO much zucchini in the garden. Upon closer inspection, the zucchini with legs was actually a red-painted turtle. He was a big guy! And grouchy! He had huge claws, a shell covered in moss and he hissed (for reals) when you touched him. Mom picked him up and put him in a tote until we figured out what the proper thing to do with him was. We called around and decided the best place to take him was to a local lake that had a nice, peaceful shoreline. So after 4 short hours, old Speck was freed back into nature. Zach took it really hard. He really liked Speck and wanted to keep him as a pet, but that wouldn't have been good for both us and the turtle.

So we picked up our rental swagger-wagon today and have the thing about loaded up. We'll be driving halfway to TN tomorrow and the rest on Monday. We're all very excited and ready. As we type this, Zach is curled up on the floor next to Mom crying and whining, "I wanna go on 'cation right now Mama, I be a good boy I promise!". He has no concept of time. So the bags are packed and that's about it. No plans or reservations...just showing up at our cabin and taking each day as it comes to us. Mom likes not having a big itinerary although it feels a little weird. We may go rafting, hiking and/or to some attractions. We'll see.

So have a fabulous week. No WiFi in the Smokys so we'll catch you in a week or so!

Katherine.












Speck cheers















Speck tears

Gonna Go Back in Time

We went to a neat little historical museum today. It was on the list of things for me to do this summer in my Science Passport book. It was like a giant time capsule! Mom didn't have high hopes for the place, but we were all pleasantly surprised. It was neat to see the kitchen tools, toys, technology, cars and manufacturing equipment of "yesteryear". Most of the items were from pre WWII era except for a few cars. Zach loved the old train sets and real fire trucks the best. I liked the musical instruments and the clocks. We both liked tooting the horn on the real steam engine. Mom liked the nice collection of WWII memorabilia....newspapers, ammunition, uniforms and engines. There was a cool display of old CAT machinery and the first diesel CAT engine as well. Sounds kind of lame, but it was educational and fun. Did you know people used to sit around and listen to the radio as a family?!? I said we should take Papa Miller there to see if he recognizes any of his old stuff, ha ha ha.

We were supposed to head to WI today but as of last night it was supposed to storm today. Go figure it all cleared up and we could have went today. Unfortunately, Mom had not packed yet, the house was in shambles and we wouldn't have made it up there at a decent time. So we'll head up tomorrow instead. Mom is dropping us off and then driving back home to have a weekend with just Dad. I bet they'll be SO bored without us! I know we won't be bored at all!

Later taters
K.

Blast from the Past

These pics popped up on Mom's slideshow today and she realized they were taken exactly two years ago. It's always fun to look at a little then and now. Looks like I was working on the phonics/leapfrog reading program, looks like Zach was just toddling around and getting his first haircut. WOW! Two years sure does go fast!

KaaaaBOOM!

No pics from our weekend at the river because goofball Mom actually remembered the camera for once, BUT forgot the memory card to store the photos! I can tell you quite proudly that I went tubing twice and didn't even fall out. However, Dad had to promptly pull the boat over and get me out when I announced that "there is a bug in my container!" I had fun eating s'mores, visiting with Grandma and playing. Dad actually took Zach up a day early to get the boat ready, so Mom and I had a super-special 24 hours of girl-only time. We went letterboxing, out for ice cream, to an old-fashioned candy mercantile, to the Japanese steakhouse, to a Patriotic Concert on the square AND lit off sparklers....like that wasn't enough! The morning before we went to meet the boys, we watched some TV, cleaned the house and packed our bags. It was a great time and Zach ended up really enjoying his special time with Dad.

On Sunday, we got back home and decided to try to go to the city to watch the fireworks. We were lucky that our buddies next door were also going that way and Dad was able to get them into his work parking lot to watch them with us. It was great to have friends to sit with and no crowds, but Dad seriously chose the absolute worst spot in the entire lot....right behind a big 'ol tree! We'll know better next time. I was too busy eating popcorn and chitty-chatting to care too much and we were too lazy to move.

Today Dad had off again. We went for a nice hike and spent some quiet time together. Back to the grind tomorrow. Swimming lessons and screwing off, what a rough life!

Hope you had a spectacular 4th~
K.





















Oooooh, ahhhhh, it's a tree!

Summer Don't Slip Away!

Wow, July 1st already! Where did it go? Mom told me today only 6 weeks until school starts. For someone who was SO sad when school was done, I sure have changed my tune. I could get used to this summer business!

This was my week of "nothingness". It filled up quickly, though. I had 2 swimming lessons, a trip to the local Bicycle Park, some errand running, a birthday party, the library, piano lessons and lots of outside time. Last weekend we ended up staying home, but had friends over to waterslide both nights and did some fun things at home. Mom has been filling up the afternoons with math worksheets (bleh), some summer journaling and lots of reading. No rest for the weary!

Zach just loves having me home. When I was at the birthday party on Tuesday he was absolutely lost without me. Don't get me wrong, we have fun but we still get in each other's hair more than Mom cares for. We both have been sent to our room on several occasions this week. It mostly involves me correcting him and him getting very upset about it to the point of screaming. Mom wants to install little cameras in the basement to see what really goes on.

We're probably staying home most of the weekend and then heading to the cabin for the 4th. Should be fun as long as everything is in working order and the weather cooperates. Our trip to TN is coming up in two weeks, Mom really needs to get on the ball and plan some things out...but we want this to be a laid back trip, so maybe that just won't happen. The minivan is booked for rental though, so that alone will be a small adventure in itself!

Happy Fourth of July!
K.