Cookout for the ages

We recently had a little bonfire and weenie roast for a few of the kids' friends. We had meant to do it as a back to school shindig but it never came together so this was the make up party. 

The weather had been cool all week but got hot toward the end of the week and was really too hot for the fire but kids were invited and hot dogs were purchased so we went ahead with it. We also had a few leftover fireworks from July 4th that we got to set off. 

To me what was kind of special about the night was the vast array of ages of kids we had. We literally had a 2nd grader thru a 9th grader there!

Here was the run down:

2nd grade: Michael

3rd grade: Evan

4th grade: Mallory, Makayla, Reagen

5th grade: Matthew

6th grade: Cooper

7th grade: Sydnie

8th grade: Jaylyn

9th grade: Cachet

And the cool thing was they all had a really good time together. Paul and I enjoyed it too. We made s'mores and played a few games and just hung out. It was a good night. 

Paul and I always want the kids to feel like they can have people over and we like being the place where kids from the church, etc can be comfortable having good clean fun. We're old but we can hang:)

Busy as a Bee

Last week was such a busy one for me craft wise! I'm so thankful for my crafty abilities and I really love to do things but last week I totally overcommitted! 

I made 16 bows for my cheer team. My co-coach's mom monogrammed the ribbon and I made the bows. They were fun to make and turned out really cute I thought. 

I also  sketched out the run thru for the first game for the girls to paint. It's said Dread the Red when it was finished. 

I also was asked to screen 4 shirts for a local police dept that they needed for a special event. 

Then I had a birthday cake to do. 

Another friend asked me to do some artwork on a canvas she had started for the library. 

This isn't even including two batches of stripes jello for the church kids' ministry kick off event, two cheer practices, mommy duties, a date with Paul, work, preparing a Sunday school lesson and our first ball game. Whew! What a week!!!

Wrapping Up Gatlinburg

 

 
 


I thought I better wrap up our summer trip to Gatlinburg before it gets to be Christmas! We moved from the campground to in town for the last few days of the week. I found the neatest place to while searching tripadvisor and booked us a room at Marshall's Creek Rest Motel. It was near The Village and a very short walk right down to the strip. Each room had a little porch with chairs and a screen door on the room. I had to 'splain' to the kids what a screen door was:)

 

This was taken in The Village. I love that little shopping area. I hadn't been to Gatlinburg in many many years and it was just as I remembered it!

 We had to eat at Pancake Pantry on Saturday morning. The line wasn't too long and it's always worth the wait anyway.

We had fun just walking down the strip checking out the sights.

Michael spied an indoor putt putt place and was all over that. Of course mini golf places are everywhere but it was nice being inside for this one. It was super hot there in late July.

  We went to the aquarium which was great. I didn't get many good pix. Here's one of the kids petting some type of crab I think.

 

We went to Dollywood and to Dolly's water park, Splash Country, and thoroughly enjoyed both places. Michael was terrified of the water coaster at Splash Country and screamed the entire ride. Other than that no harm was done at either park!

More pix around town in Gatlinburg. There are all these campy haunted house type attractions and the kids were a bit fascinated by Stumpy at the Ripley's Haunted Adventure. We didn't go in the place but they liked seeing him scare people as they walked by on the street.

We visited the arts and crafts fair in the convention center that was going on while we were there. They had a neat place set up for the kids to do crafts while the parents shopped.

And of course we had to hit The Track in Pigeon Forge so the kids and Daddy could ride the Wild Woody which is their tradition. They've done it in Orange Beach at Branson as well.

 We all enjoyed the Smokies and the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area. It reminded me of our Branson trip last summer. Very touristy with the taffy and fudge shops, mini-golf, go-karts, etc but hey, we were tourists so we loved it:)

Ahhh, Jellystone

During the first part of our trip to the Smokies we camped at Great Smoky Mountain Jellystone campground in Cosby TN just a few miles from Gatlinburg. We have always wanted to camp but just haven't had any luck making it happen until this trip.

We decided to rent a yurt to stay in. This was sort of like a tent but had beds and a mini fridge and a ceiling fan. The good thing was we weren't sleeping on the ground (tent) and it did rain every day so we would have been all washed out if we hadn't been off the ground.

The yurts were just built for this season so they were nice and new. We loved being right by the stream. With all the rain you could really hear the streams rushing at night. Made for good sleeping.

An inside peek at our (excuse the mess) yurt. It had two sets of bunk beds with a double on bottom and twin on top so it could sleep six. The kids loved each having their own top bunk.

And they loved playing in the stream of course!

Paul built a fire each night. We roasted hot dogs the first night but only had s'mores the other nights after eating in town.

 

There were really lots of activities at the campground but I didn't seem to get many pictures of them. There was a nice pool, a nine hole mini golf, a game room, a Blue Bell ice cream shop, a movie theater with a movie shown each night, karaoke and 'Hey' rides with Yogi. I did snap a pic of the kids on the hay ride and with Yogi afterwards:)

 

I really enjoyed camping. We did have to shower and use the facilities in the bath houses which wasn't bad. I loved just being outside and having a camp fire every night, etc. We think we might try for a cabin with a bathroom the next time we camp. But the yurt was cool. I recommend it to anyone thinking of staying in one!