The Smoky Mountains

After Lexington we drove wouth through the countryside and to some craft towns/villages. We found chocolate covered blueberries, some gifts for the David's, and a totally cool craft cottage in the middle of nowhere. The trip out of Lexington was breathtakinginly beautiful. We kept driving and made it to Middlesboro, TN, or was it Middlestown, or Middleton? Well it was something like that, I was too tired to notice or care! They had a nice clean hotel room and a comfy bed, that was all that mattered.

The next day we stopped for lunch in Pigeon Forge. I thought it was a pretty neat place, reminded me of Branson, MO. Then we went through Gatlinburg, TN. Wow!! That was an incredibly neat, beautiful, and fun looking town. I would LOVE to go back there. It was so darn cute and located in a beautiful spot in the mountains.

Then we drove on this scenic drive through the Smoky Mountains and it was INCREDIBLE!! It was the most beautiful drive I've been on in a long, long time. Nana was loving it too, like heaven on earth! There were so many beautiful places to stop and look at the creeks, an overlook, or take a trail. It was amazing and breathtaking. Of course I had to stop and do a small photo shoot with the girls. They were somewhat uncooperative as usual, but I managed to get quite a few anyway!

We also stopped at the top of the mountain on the North Carolina/Tennesse border and went to see the overlook. Emery got so excited! She shouted to me 'Mom, look!! There's God, he's all over the Smoky Mountains!! Look Mom!!' It was so stinking cute. I wish I could have gotten that on the video camera. Even the people around us got a good chuckle out of it as she pranced around all excited!

We had promised the girls something fun after we got off the mountain (not a good choice on my part!). There were supposedly a Santa's amusement park, and a few other things. Needless to say the Santa's amusement park was about to close (and not worth the $$) and the other attractions were either closed or defunct. Poor things, it's hard being in a car that long as a kid without wearing off some energy! So, we trekked on to Asheville, NC. There the girls found one of their favorite restaurants, Texas Road House, the girls were excited! It wasn't something fun, or would wear them out, but it was something familiar, and that helped with the crankiness. We were even able to push on to Hickory, NC after dinner. Which on our way we say a black bear trying to cross interstate. Thankfully he figured out that was the wrong direciton and headed back into the forest! Hickory was the last stop before our new home. The hotel had a pool and our room was only 2 rooms away, so the girls were thrilled. They got to wear out some energy. Amazing what a pool can do to my children's attitude!

Here are tons of pics from that day through the mountains! Enjoy!

Lexington

The next day was a long one in the car. We tried to get to Lexington, KY early to go to the Horse Farm. We didn't quite make it in time, I think we spent too long looking for lunch in Louisville!

We stayed in downtown Lexington that night. The hotel clerk recommended an old pizza place in a renovated church a few blocks away. So, we hiked through some of the historic district in downtown Lexington. It was beautiful. The colors were so vivid and bright. We would have done some more walking but the girls and Nana were a bit tired from the long drive. Here are a few pics from that evening.

The next day we went to the Lexington Children's museum. We thought the girls would have more fun there than the Kentucky Horse Farm. They had a blast! Some of the pics above are from there. Once the kids wore themselves out a bit, we drove through the beautiful Kentucky countryside. I fell in absolute love with the long black fences surrounding the properties, and the huge black barns everywhere. I always envisioned the fences as white, but they were all mostly black. There were also stone walls everywhere too, they were ancient. We managed to find an abandoned barn, which I promptly stopped and we got a few photos. Enjoy!

Hope you had a great weekend! We did once Tad felt better. Sun, sand, and the ocean waves! Life is good!

St. Louis

Sorry I've been absent the past two days. We've been preparing for Tad's birthday today and the poor thing is sick. Hopefully he'll feel better later today.

Anyway, day 2 of our trip started in St. Louis. On our way to breakfast we got pretty close to the Cardinals stadium. I've never seen it before, but I thought it was beautiful! At a stop light near the stadium, I was reading a chalkboard sign outside of an Oyster Bar restaurant. I mistakenly read "Free Tickles....." I thought, well, interesting, they are giving away free oysters. I was reading the sign out loud to the car before it dawned on me I read it wrong. It said 'Free Tickets', not 'Free Tickles'. Boy, did we get a chuckle out of that!! That's what I get for speed reading everything!

After breakfast we decided to go to the St. Louis City Museum, based off the recommendation of one of Tad's karate buddies. We thought we might melt if we went to the zoo. It was like a giant kids play area. They had several floors, and even stuff on the outside. It was like they used a bunch of old junk yard stuff, welded it together for a HUGE play area that was at least 3 stories outside. They used old escalator stairs for actual stairs. Old school buses, old airplanes, etc. The inside they had mazes everywhere for the kids to climb through and explore. It was super cool. They even had a ferris wheel on the roof. The building was 11 stories tall. Stories 5-11 were condos. In addition to the ferris wheel they had a giant 100 foot slide outdoors, and a little pool they could walk across. We are definitely going back! If you get a chance to go, you should. Here's some pics from our adventure that day!

I have no idea what this slide was made out of, but I can just describe it as a bunch of rollers. I went down it too, it was quite fun.

There were these huge ball pits outside. The girls had fun tumbling through these and got sweaty too!

They also had a little magic show. We were sitting in the front row, and the magician picked Emery to assist him in a magic trick. He poured a pitcher of water in the paper, then opened it and it was dry. She then had to 'spit' on the newspaper to put the water back in! It was cute, and she did what he asked!!

The museum also had a little train ride operated by a 'little person' (is that the politically correct term I hope?), who Ella was taller than. They had fun riding on it!

Here's a view of the ferris wheel on the roof of the City Museum. Ella and I rode it, but Emery chickened out on us. Emery also chickened out on the 100 foot outdoor slide, even though she went on the 100 foot indoor slide 3 times!

They also had a small stepping pond on the roof as well. Ella went through this several times and enjoyed the spraying water to cool her down. It was a hot day. Emery decided she wanted to try it too- even though the stones were a little too far apart for her. She tried anyway and fell in halfway through. It was very shallow, it came up to mid-calf on me as I had to climb in and get her out. Needless to say she was tired and PO'd, and ready to go. Everett was too, she was hot and very tired. So, we ended our fun time at the museum and headed to the car to change into dry clothes for the big girls. Ella and Nana posed quickly for me by the outdoor sign, Emery was too mad to take a picture.

The rest of the day was spent driving to Evansville, Indiana. The girls all crashed east of St. Louis and we had a pretty peaceful trip through the countryside. We stopped in Carlyle, Indiana. that was funny seeing everything with Papa's name! Including the middle and high schools!

We even turned off Gertie to go through some of the Indiana countryside. Unfortunately my other co-pilot (Nana) forgot to mention when we needed to turn. We got VERY lost! But it was fun! We eventually turned on Gertie and she guided us through the Indiana countryside, which was beautiful and got us to Evansville safe and sound!

Stay tuned tomorrow for more of our fun adventures!

Dance Recital

I wanted to get some casual pictures of the girls the night of dress rehearsal. I only succeeded in getting Emery's. The girls had to be there at 2 totally different times, and we had to eat dinner in between Ella's time and Emery's. We were going to get pics of Ella after she had her rehearsal, but we forgot and changed her so she wouldn't get her costume dirty. But here are a few precious ones of little Em!!

The long awaited day finally arrived. We were waiting until dance recital was over before we made our move out east. I was working backstage all 3 recitals, so I did not have the joy of getting my girls dressed with makeup on- that was left to their aunts, Auntie Lee, and Aunt Tammy. They did a fabulous job!! The girls looked beautiful! And they were ready to dance! Ella did an incredible job remembering her dance routine, having straight legs, and pointing her toes. Even Emery did a great job- we had to get her attention to look in the wings at her teachers to remember what to do- but considering she is 3, she did awesome. It was only important that she was cute- and she was!!

We left the following day, after taking Papa for his Father's Day/birthday breakfast. Boy- that was hard. I had to say goodbye to my sister and my dad in the same day. Auntie Lee tried to leave quickly to avoid the teary eyed goodbye, but we did have a small one. She gave me an IPOD of her crazy African music tunes (love ya sis- they totally remind me of you!), and I do listen to them when I miss her!! It was gut-wrenching watching him say goodbye to my girls. I knew he loved them dearly, but to see how much he adored them and was devestated to be apart from them really got to me. It got to Ella too. She was also crying in the car for a bit, like me, as we started our trip.

But we treked on. We decided to name our GPS system something to avoid saying GPS all the time, and well since the GPS's talk, it needed a name, right? So, hence Gertie Petunia Smarts (GPS) was born. She is a bossy little thing, and often has to recalculate (due to me ignoring or missing her turns), but she is quite handy! We made it to St. Louis that night, our goal for the first day. We stayed near the Riverwalk, so we had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, and took the girls on their first, possibly my first ( I don't recall going on one before), and possibly Nana's (I can't remember) horse drawn carriage ride! We had a lovely host/driver-whatever they are called, named Sasha! She was so animated and had a blast with the girls. She immediately invited them to sit up front with her, and she talked and laughed and giggled with the girls on the whole ride. Turns out Sasha taught pre-school for 17 years, no wonder she was the perfect host/driver for the girls. That ride was one of the highlights of the trip. Emery asked to go on one every day after that, and occasionally still asks!! I guess they liked it!!

Here are the girls with Sasha just after they climbed to the front. Can you tell they are a bit excited?

Ok- before you bust out laughing at how tired and pathetic we look- please remember WE WERE!!! It was at least 10pm, and I didn't sleep much after spending the previous day on my feet working all 3 recitals and the whole morning packing to move!

Below is a pic of all of us after our amazing and incredibly bumpy ride. The streets at the Riverwalk are all made of brick, and from the original state who knows how long ago. We asked Sasha if they ever fix the streets, she said yes, they hide the bricks while fixing it because they are valuable, and then return the street to it's original bumpiness to keep the 'nostaglia'. Remember that and go before you eat, not after to have your dinner bump around like ours did!!

This last pic is with our faithful carriage pulling horse that is fearless of cars, Ben. The girls thought he was beautiful, and of course needed their picture with him. Can you see the tiredness in our pathetic red eyes? We were pooped, well except for striking a model pose Ella. She sees a camera- and it's all about posing these days. The end of a very tiring both emotionally and physically first day of travel.

Stay tuned for more tomorrow!!