Every Vacation Deserves 2 Posts...

Here are more pictures from our trip from Aunt Nicole's camera. You can see everyone working hard on building a little dam in the creek and then checking out a salamander that Uncle Johnny caught.
















We always go around and let each person say their favorite part of a trip so here are the results from this one:

Caleb: tubing and playing with Walker



Adam: riding the horses and fishing

Annabelle: "I ride a 'orsee"

Seth: fishing with the boys

Me: walking up to the coffee shop every morning to get yummy, organic coffee and then sitting by the river to drink it.

and my hike.
























Seth wore these huge waders when he fished because he gets hives from cold water (weird, huh?) and Annabelle would say, "Daddy's boops!" when she saw him. It was so cute!



Walker is unbelievably good with babies. Aaron stayed with them this year while Aunt Nicole taught Kindergarten so they are more like brothers. You should see how Walker works so hard with Annabelle so that she won't be shy around him. It is very impressive and quite unlike an average 11 year old boy......

Trip to Townsend, TN

The Harrison side of our family decided to take our annual vacation in the mountains of Tennessee this year. We stayed in a little place right on the river and a few miles away from Cades Cove. They were some really fun, rowdy, grungy (and I mean that in the best way.....just ask Angie about me and my grunginess) yet so peaceful days together.

We were really excited that our destination was only 2 hours away from us this time around. HOWEVER, we got stuck in traffic on 40 for 2 1/2 hours right at the start of the trip over. The first hour was OK, but then we all started to get a little cranky and impatient for the last one. So we missed the first loop around the cove that night but all was forgotten upon arrival and everyone was happy.

Friday morning everyone got up at the crack of dawn and began the fishing marathon that lasted all weekend.

Adam was especially patient and caught a few fish.

Annabelle was excited to find that Nana brought Max along.

The kids were so excited to be with their cousins. Caleb and Walker played a lot of "war" while Amy and Adam played dogs and such. There was LOTS of fishing and rock hopping/wading/swimming in the river and Seth kept a perfect fire going in our little fire pit out back. Family, fire and a river........what more could a little boy (and their Moma) ask for in this life?

Later that day we headed back to the cove where the boys and Annabelle went on a horse ride. Well, the boys rode horses on the trail and Annabelle rode with Nana in a wagon, but if you ask her she definitely rode one herself! She reminded us quite often that, "I ride a 'orsee". I went on an awesome hike with Heath, baby Aaron, Nicole and her folks during all of that. It was a lot tougher than we thought it was going to be but I was so happy to be out hiking with only myself to take care of for a few hours.

That evening we had a lovely meal at a restaurant called Timbers. Oh yeah, Caleb wanted a mohawk this time around so Aunt Lorie did the honors right before we left. He won't usually let me stick it up and so it just looks like a really funny haircut most of the time. It is going to go later this week.

On Saturday, we drove over to Cherokee and stopped along the way to play in a VERY COLD mountain creek and have a picnic lunch.




Uncle Johnny is the best.....he is always in there helping the kids find salamanders and build dams. The cold water didn't seem to bother Aaron at all.
He wanted to get down and waller in it!

That night we went to see the play Unto These Hills. The boys were thoroughly entertained because there were a lot of fight scenes. Annabelle was thoroughly entertained by all of the skittles I fed her through it. Nah, she liked it but was quite verbal about how much she liked it so Seth took her out after intermission. It was really neat and a great lesson for the kids about how not to treat others.






Then Sunday there was more fishing and chilling out by the river.











And we ate lots of smores...... (I know that you gals with one baby are gasping at the thought of my one year old munching on marshmellows and skittles but you'll proabably do the same with your third......I would have never have fed them to Caleb at that age!)






And played in the creek a bit more.........



Annabelle carried this baby doll of Amy's around all weekend. it was too cute!

Then we ended the trip by tubing down the river. I know I don't look happy in that picture but I surely was. It was super fun.





So that's all I can get out right now. I am sure I will have more to say later.................

Thanks for reading!





PS There is a great new video of Annabelle singing on our video page.

More Beach Pictures

Are you ready for more beach pictures? I got my camera back so here are a few that I took:

One of the best features of our beach house was the deck.
We spent a lot of time hanging out on it.

Jonathan dug a big hole EVERY day for the kids to play in on the beach.

And then, EVERY day the tide washed it away.

Annabelle liked the pool a lot more than the ocean.

Last year we all got a kick out of Lucie wearing this bathing suit. It was Annabelle's turn to wear the "pastie" suit this time. She loves to make people laugh so it was her favorite!

The kids played so well together. Kiah and Lanie loved to play house with the little ones and pretended to put them to bed in Paul and Uncle Jonathan's bunks. Annabelle still makes herself a little pallet on the floor now that we are home.
Something that really struck me this year was how old my boys are getting. Caleb in particularly seemed so mature! He took showers all on his own and dressed himself without any guidance from me. I think they felt big because they were in the "boys room" with Uncle Jonathan and Paul.
I can't remember where Aunt Lorie was for this picture but we had Kiah stand in for her and she just loved that! I have never thought before that Amie and Leslie looked much alike, but they sort of do with the dark hair now. We all kept getting them confused throughout the week.

Here we are for one of our late night dinner parties.
A couple of the nights we even dressed up nicely.
Yeah, I think the dinners and after hour entertainment was my favorite part.
One night we played our own version of the "Newlywed Game". Guess who won?
Jonathan and Beth!
I think they won because they was no pressure for him to do well.

Crabbing was Caleb's favorite activity and he caught the biggest one of the week. The guys took them to a dock close by and they caught lots of crabs by dangling a chicken neck (yes, you read that right!) from a string and then netting the crabs when they tried to eat them. It was very exciting for them and we loved eating them when they got home.

Beth caught a pretty big one herself.

Aunt Leslie and Annabelle bonded on the ride home. She named her new doll Leslie this week.

Seth and Adam enjoying the waves.

Did I mention Annabelle's recent expansion in her vocabulary? Aunt Lorie worked all week with her making her say new things and she says practically anything now.........you just may not be able to understand it.

Aunt Theresa visited us one day and brought lots of prizes for the kids. She spent the afternoon coloring and painting with them. Suddenly Amie and I found ourselves without our kids and lying out in the sun on the beach. What a nice treat. (not to say that the whole week was much different since we had all of that built-in childcare abundance already) The kids had so much fun with Aunt Theresa.

Annabelle would have been completely satisfied to play in the water hose on the deck all week if we would have let them.

All this talk of the beach trip makes me think over and over in my mind:

I miss Leslie!