Tennessee flight pictures July 2011

Tony took Mom and Dad up flying while we were in Tennessee to see the Great Smoky Mountains from the sky...first time my Dad got that view :-)  The plane was super old and held together by duct tape...Tony wasn't sure it was going to go so well but they made it safely on the ground and checked that off their list!

What to do on a hot hot hot day?

 

 With the weather being in the mid 90's all week and the heat index at 105 we spent Thursday in a swimsuit at Dollywood's Splash Country, a place we haven't been to since Cait was born.  Cam doesn't remember our prior two visits except one of the slide runs reminded him of something :-)  The day was great 6 hours of sun, warm water and some cool pics thanks to the Olympus water camera.  Cam and Tony went down one of the 80 degree slides that you can't see the bottom from the top and his description of it to me was priceless, "Mom, I will never do that again it was like my whole stomach came out of my body", as he was saying it he was making all these crazy faces and rolling his eyes.  Just hilarious because I have never heard him say he wouldn't do something again.  Cait of course was all smiles showin off her two front teeth that are peeking their way through. 

Mexican Coke, Pecan Pie, Wine and Candy...the four major food groups

Something amazing and something tragic has happened over the past year.  Mexican Coke (made with real sugar, not high fructose corn syrup) seems to be popping up all over the world.  If you know me, you know this is my favorite thing!!!  Last week it was at Flavor Fruit Farm, this week the Apple Barn in Tennessee...nothing brings a smile to my face quicker.  So to be able to get a piece of southern pecan pie and match it up with vanilla bean ice cream and a nice cold Mexican Coke...this is my idea of paridisio :-)  The tragic part is the kids love mexican coke now and basically stole it from me and taunted me the whole time as they drank it and to think i carried the both of them for 9 months and went through natural childbirth to bring them here.

The Apple Barn also brings some of the greatest wine like Apple Pomegranite, Apple Strawberry and Applewood White...great summer wine that you can drink out on the deck looking at the lake.  Love this place, can't wait to visit every year!

My little Jose's

The most amazing Mexican place in the world is No Way Jose's in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  A place that we have been going since before the kids were born.  I absolutely love this place because the colors on the building are so bright and vivid, you couldn't ask for a better place to take some impromptu pictures.  When it comes to food I highly recommend the Taco Burrito and the Pineapple Margaritas...yum yum yum!  I adore these pics of the chicklets, the one Cait hiding and the only where the sun is shining down on Cam will definitely be on my wall someday :-)  One more day and we will be making our way back to Michigan :-(

Cam is flying through the air

So all day Wednesday I had Cam in my ear saying Mom I want to go indoor skydiviving, please oh please!  Tony and I have done this about three times before with friends and family and it is quite a blast.  So we gave in and away we went and the moment we stepped through the door Cam had some other things flying around in his stomach which made him question whether or not this was a good idea :-)  So Tony jumped in and suited up once again which made all of those butterflies fly away and the training began...15 minutes later they were in this tube and I got to take some pretty cool pictures from the observation deck.  The quality is pretty low as I was taking the pics through about a 5 inch thick glass...but still pretty awesome for my guys.  Neither one of them like to keep their feet on the ground.

The stream runs through it

 Has to be a place in your life that you go to and things seem to stand still.  I have two places both from my childhood.  Bolles Harbor in Monroe where I use to go fishing with my grandpa, spending evenings after dinner with my parents walking out on the pier and The Chimney's in Tennessee.  Both places have some great childhood memories, mainly ones where few words are spoken but your ears are filled with the sounds of water.  One was the sound of my fishing pole hitting the water, the other is of water rushing over the rocks.   Almost surreal taking my children there with my parents as I see three generations at one time enjoying the same thing but almost spiritual to everyone involved.  It showed me how my children have grown over the years as this was the first year where they both were jumping all by themselves upstream to the farthest point we have been with them.  Too cool and a moment I will remember until next year when a new memory is made :-)