Back to School!!!

The kids started back to school yesterday after a long summer of being "soooo bored." They were both ready for school to start back and happy to see their friends. Both kids had a great day and had good reports.
Kaylyn started fourth grade and moved to the big kid hall. That makes me sad! My baby girl should not already be on the other hall! She is also changing classes this year and has a locker for the first time. She's super excited about that and thinks she's hot stuff!

Luke is going to kindergarten again this year. He was so happy to start back to school and meet some new friends. He had a good first day, but when I asked him what he did at school, his reply was "I don't remember." We may have a long year....

Luke and Shelby. Shelby is his friend Shayna's little sister....Hmmm.....we may have some drama going on later in the year.....

White Water Rafting

It was finally time for us to go white water rafting. We rafted the Lower Pigeon River, which was a great beginner trip for the kids. If you have small children, this is the perfect trip; it's not too rough for them and there are still enough of the fun rapids to make the trip interesting. We plan to raft again next summer when Luke is old enough for the Upper Pigeon River.

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

After our rafting trip we decided to eat a late dinner and go to Cade's Cove to see some animals in the wild (because seeing the bear the day before just wasn't good enough :)). As I said before, it's been 10 years since I've been to Gatlinburg and I had forgotten just how long it takes to drive through Cade's Cove. We headed out there just before dark, around 8:00. We finally made it out of the cove at 10:00, and we only drove 1/2 of the loop. We saw some deer and water buffalo, but it was too dark to take pictures. Anyway, by the time we made it back to town we were all STARVING, and Luke was sound asleep. On the plus side, there was no wait at Bubba Gump's at 10:30 pm! This was THE.BEST.PLACE.EVER!! The food was awesome and the service was great. The atmosphere was so fun, and family oriented, even if it was midnight by the time we left! We weren't the only crazy people with young children out on the town so late either!
As I said, the service was great. There were these signs on every table. If it was flipped to the blue "Run Forrest Run" side, the staff knew everything was peachy at your table.

Poor baby, he was so tired, and not happy about being woke up to go eat, but 3 out of 4 of us agreed, it was way past dinner time and we were famished!

The other side of the sign was "Stop Forrest Stop." This meant we needed something at our table and when it was flipped to this side, one of the staff would stop and yell "STOP FORREST STOP!!" and see what we needed. Kaylyn thought this was hilarious and kept flipping the sign.

Say Bye-Bye To The Smokies

Of course we had to stop by "THE" sign on our way out of town to take a picture. We had a fun trip, but it was good to be home.

The Dixie Stampede!

After our day at Ober Gatlinburg we spent the evening at The Dixie Stampede for a little North versus South competition. The kids loved it, especially the fact that they got to eat all their food with their hands!
Patiently waiting for the show to start.

Camera Hog!

Two goofballs!

Me and Darling Daughter

Almost show time!

Here are a couple of my illegal pictures.

Look What We Found!

Or should I say, look what found us?! We were driving back to our Chalet, creeping up the mountain on the winding roads, when there it was...just walking along! I think Chris expected a scene from "The Great Outdoors." We stopped in the middle of the road and it just kept walking towards our car before it finally went to the driveway of another chalet.

These pictures aren't zoomed. We were THAT close!

Walking down the driveway of some poor, unsuspecting souls who had rented the chalet

Didn't find anything in their cars, so he decided to look in the garbage.

Unable to get into the garbage, he decidedto find something in the ditch.

He finally just gave it up and went back to his bear cave.

Party Time!!

In the midst of Chris' hospitalization this little boy turned 6 years old! Since Chris was in the hospital on his actual birthday, we postponed his family party until Sunday in hopes that Chris could be there. No such luck, but Luke still had a great birthday party.

On the day of his birthday, I spent the morning with Luke before going to the hospital to check on daddy. For dinner, I told Luke we could go where ever his little heart desired. His little heart desired....McDonald's, of course! (Is there anywhere else??)

On Sunday we had his party at my parent's house and he was so excited.

His cake: Iron Man

Clothes from Nana. He's grown so much, nothing fits him anymore!

Guarding his presents from Pop. Pop told him it was a "family tradition" that when a boy turns 6 years old, he has to give half of his birthday presents to his Pop. Of course Pop was just kidding, but Luke thought he was serious and tried to hide all of his presents.

And what birthday wouldn't be complete without some hunting gear. Paul got him some hunter orange and a deer call. He's ready now!

Luke has been saying some of the funniest things lately. Here are a few of the conversations between he and I:

Me: NO! (Can't remember why I was saying "No")
Luke: When I grow up, I'm gonna get me some of those babies and I'm gonna let them do whatever they want.
Me: I don't think when you "get" you some babies you will let them do what they want. They might get hurt.
Luke: Uh-huh, I'm going to the hospital and pick them out and I'm gonna let them do what they want!

Another conversation:
Me: Luke, time for bed.
(A few minutes later when he reappears from his room for the 3rd time)
Me: Luke, I said, GO. TO.BED!
Luke: Oh, I didn't hear you. I think I'm losing my hearing.