Pumpkin Patch

Harding Kindergarten put on their annual Pumpkin Patch festival for the kids on Friday. It is a great time to let the kids dress up as farmers (no costumes....) and play games, get some candy and enjoy the fall/harvest season. No honoring of Halloween obviously and a good time for the kids.  Caroline was not, absolutely not, going to wear the pair of overalls that I had for her. I had saved them from when Anna had pumpkin patch and Caroline gave me the funniest look when I got them out for her to wear. My fashionista. She wore a pumpkin shirt and jeans, which I say is a well styled farmer's wife! It worked and she had a good time. I was able to join her class for the games and the group time which was nice and then I headed off to work for the rest of the Friday.

the happy girl NOT wearing a farmer outfit!

decorated her funny face pumpkin

last pumpkin patch...next year she will be up the hill!!

not too thrilled about this picture....love that just a few days later we cut off 4 inches of her hair. she looks so different!!

caroline with ava

Fall Fun Fest @ Hope

Hope Church had their annual Fall Fun Fest on Friday night. This is literally the largest outreach event we have at church all year, even larger than VBS which is HUGE.  The kids always love to go and usually don't even wear their normal Halloween costume but something different. Anna invited a few friends from school, Sophie, Lainie and Katie and Caroline met several friends there. It was a chilly night so we tackled the outdoor things first like the Titanic slide, the obstacle course, the spider jump and the fun new thing called Knock Off where you push a "wrecking ball" to your other friends and try to knock them off their post. Inside there was dinner and lots and lots of games and chances for candy. The kids had fun and even squeezed in a round of laser tag before the big fireworks at 9pm. Overall big night, lots of candy and lots of smiles. This is only round 1 for the Halloween season. I feel like it stretches for weeks!!

lainie as mrs. atkins (4th grade teacher at school), katie as an 80's girl, sophie wearing her pajamas and anna thinking that she is justin beiber. very odd costume and we told her to think of something else for halloween!

throw little sister Caroline as Pocahantas in the mix for a fun night

hard to imagine but this is the wrecking ball and it was super fun

4th grade to the Brooks + Chapel

Anna's class had a busy Friday! First of all they led the morning chapel for the school with a cute skit about being prepared and following God's instructions. It was cute and they had a good time with it. After chapel, they rushed back to their class to take their spelling test and Bible verse test. Then, the big ride on the school bus to the Brooks Art Museum for their first field trip of the year. They always love riding on the bus and Anna's wish is always not to be by someone quiet since she loves to talk so much. The kids enjoyed the Art Museum and Anna even suggested we come back as a family to check out what we did not have a chance to see. The kids then had a picnic lunch at the Overton Park Shell before returning to school. The weather was perfect and I was glad to be able to share some time with her class at the museum. Busy, but fun Friday for the 4th graders.

anna with mimi and papa after chapel. of course we forgot to take a picture of gary and me with her!

listening intently to their tour guide at the brooks museum

4th graders at harding

anna and i before heading over for lunch

Sweet and Sassy

We finally got around to having Caroline's 6th birthday party, which she chose to have at Sweet and Sassy. She has been so excited so we were glad that the day finally arrived. The girls got to dress up, have their hair and nails done as well as a little makeup. Each girl received a wand, tiara and a princess certificate. They were also paraded around the spa to some fun tunes. The girls were really all smiles during the party and we are so glad that we were able to finally officially celebrate Caroline turning 6!!

Caroline all dressed up!

Sassy birthday girl!

Caroline and the princesses

the girls learning how to properly use their magic wands

waving during the parade

afterwards with mimi and papa

making a wish!!

Color Run

The Color Run was held near the Liberty Bowl stadium on Saturday. Gary and I along with Zack and Lauren "ran" the race. We signed up long ago and were unsure if our husbands would actually come through and participate. It was so much fun. You have to understand, this is for fun.....not timed....no winners.....and you enjoy getting dirty and the fun at the end as well. It was great weather and we really had a great time. We all were dirty and it was tough getting all of the color washed off once home (especially the blue and green) but worth it to have the smiles and fun times!!

the four of us after the race....the sweatbands are in the goodie bag and were fun

so fun...gary even did a snow angel in the orange color zone...started a trend and his back definitely had a lot of orange all over it!

Fall break in East Tennessee

We spent our Fall Break in East Tennessee this year. The trip was thought of in advance but actual plans for where we would stay and what we would do were pretty much sealed the week before. That is really not like me, but we really just wanted this to be relaxing. We scored a great cabin. It was very close to all the stuff to do in downtown Gatlinburg, but it was enough away that we had great mountain views and quiet! The girls loved the cabin because they had the downstairs to themselves and there was a game room downstairs that included air hockey, pool, and video games. There was a hot tub on the porch as well. The girls were very, very excited! Gary loved having a Galaga machine since that is his favorite game and he is very skilled at it. I loved Ms PacMan. This machine had about 30 different games.

We drove up on Wednesday. The trip went very well. Figured out about in Jackson, TN that the girls left all the DVD's that they picked out at home. So, RedBox to the rescue. We stopped for lunch in Nashville and we found a RedBox nearby. That was a cheap solution to a problem!! We arrived in time for dinner and were able to get settled in pretty easily. We always try to eat local while on vacation and managed to do that for just about every meal.

Thursday we took the girls on a zipline tour. It was 9 different zip lines and it was so much fun. Caroline was barely over the minimum weight requirement and so the guides and others on our trip really loved to watch Caroline and Anna flying through the sky. Great fun and highly recommended. We hiked every day we were there. We found great trails that were not too long and not too tough so that the girls would enjoy them. We found trails with waterfalls at the turnaround which became a favorite place for pictures. The girls did not complain much on the hikes EXCEPT when we decided we wanted to go to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in TN on Saturday. We drove the 22 miles from Gatlinburg and then hiked the final half mile, which is about over a 12% grade and took about 20-25 minutes! It was very steep and it was awesome. Unfortunately there was not really any view when we got to the top because the rain was coming in and clouds were everywhere, but we could say we made it to the top and saw the trailheads for the Appalachian Trail.

We visited Ober, Gatlinburg one day and rode the skyway to the top for spectacular views of the Smoky Mountains. We rode the rides and enjoyed some ice skating before heading back down the mountain to town. After much pleading from the girls we visited Ripley's Believe it or Not museum. Such a crazy place, but the girls really enjoyed it. They were very much into the weird, odd things that are on display all over that play. It felt old and a little outdated, but still pretty cool. Definitely a tourist attraction at its finest.

On Sunday we tried breakfast at the Apple Barn in Sevierville and then hit the outlet mall for a while. The traffic leaving town was horrific and it took us an hour to even get to I-40 for the drive home.

We really had a good time. It was a different kind of trip for us. No real places to visit but enjoyed nature, the hikes, the changing of the leaves on the trees, the mountain views and air and a great relaxing family vacation. Of course next year we are talking about going back to Disney which is a whole different type of vacation!!

gary and i at the waterfall...yes blurry...anna was the photographer!

the girls are pointing their way to the trails

you could walk behind this waterfall at the turn around of our hike

anna and gary riding to the top in ober, gatlinburg

We bought the profesional CD from the Zipline place since they do not allow you to bring a camera along. They got some great pictures of our family and I have downloaded a few below. Fun times!!