Camping-Mar.'11

In March, we joined Aunt Lizzy's family, Aunt Delia's crew and Uncle Ethen's family to get our "camp on".  I realized for the second time in my life that cold camping is not for me!  I think the kids will agree.  It got down to 30 degrees!  We were freezing for the better part of the night.  But, the before and after was fun!  We all cooked dinner, made s'mores, and Uncle Ethen even told some scary stories!  The next day was spent riding bikes, fishing, enjoying our surroundings, and catching Little Anthony's baseball game.  I think that was the highlight!!!

Ethan and Jonah tearing up some marshmallows.

 Amber was trying to stay warm by the fire.

Giana's cheesy grin.

Ethan and Vince enjoying the stories from Uncle Ethen.

We saw Rudy the Blue Lip while we were camping!

Here are my girls at the baseball game.  Their Aunt bought them suckers and they got their faces painted!  We were definately basking in the sun. :)

The nephews come to visit-Feb'11

We were graced with a visit from 3 of our nephews from Vegas.  We try to stay close to the nieces and nephews, but it's not always easy to do.  Especially when they range from 21-0 years old and are at all points of the country!  But, we live it up when they do come.  We were able to take care of Noah, and trying to watch out for the older ones is impossible!

L to R-Amber, Noah, Jonah, Jared, and Giana

We didn't get to see this guy much, and when we did he was breaking into our house! LoL

Frankie brought a plus 1 to S.C. this time, so he was showing her around.  Little did we know that Michelle would shortly become a member of our family!

2nd from left is Noah and Jonah. 3 seats from them is Jared.  Such dare devils.  These next pics are at Frankie's.

Here is Emry "racing" with Giana.  Giana is very competitive and likes to beat people.  So, she and Emry had lots of trash talk to dish out to the others.

Poor Amber got smacked point blank in her go kart while sitting still, there was trauma.  Brandon knows how to put a smile on any one's face!

Here's a picture of Noah, Jonah, and Uncle Joe Cleveland.  We like when Uncle Joe comes because he brings goodies and he can beat us at games.

Rocco, Frankie, Michelle, Me, and Brandon right before we took them to the airport.  (I dk why Michelle isn't nestled in with us)  We had some trauma trying to get Noah back from the Grandparents.  We had some mixed signals.  Hopefully, his parents will trust him to come back!

What Gatlinburg meant to Giana-Feb. '11

Giana was just happy to do whatever we were doing.  We really enjoyed watching her skate around at the ripe age of 3.  She probably enjoyed collecting rocks the most.  Or maybe the disney store.

Giana receiving some assistance from Papa, not pictured was me dragging her around the other 90% of the time.

Wonderworks was not age appropriate for her, but she made the best of it.  She really enjoyed making music on this giant piano.

This girl better be a geologist when she grows up!  She can find a rock in any situation.  Not seen, was me balancing her over a tree branch so that she could tinkle in the middle of nowhere!  Good times...

What Gatlinburg meant to Amber-Feb '11

This girl is so adventurous!  She loves being "on the go".  I think that her favorite part of the trip was ice skating.  She lost a coat on the trip and a new pull over.

Ice skating was fun, but we couldn't wait to get the skates off!

Poser :)

At Wonderworks, Amber did all there was to do.  She even did the rock climbing and the Copes course with Jonah and her Papa (see previous post).

She takes some good photos and boy does she like doing it!  She can pose like no other.  Of course from the time she was born Uncle Robs was her personal paparazzi!

What Gatlinburg meant to Jonah-Feb '11

I love how adventurous Jonah is.  We enjoy watching him challenge his body in different ways.  Gatlinburg brought several new experiences, especially for him.

Everyone got all strapped up in their skates.  We even met some Brazilians there, they are dear to us.

These two "butt" heads a lot, it's because they are a lot alike.  But, they take great pictures together.

I posted this earlier, it was post key chain incident.  We are big on trying to let the children learn from their own mistakes.  However, that road can be frustrating when a third of their money is spent on something that won't be useful for another 10 years!

Jonah wanted to try all there was to try in Wonderworks.  Remember rock climbing, the earthquake, and the hurricane?

We were killing time while Papa bought our tickets.

Rocco, Giana, and Jonah going through the spinning tunnel...

They had the largest indoor copes course.  Rocco, Jonah, and Amber were the brave ones to try it.  Couldn't get a good picture due to black lights and how high up they were.

The kids always love collecting rocks.  We also tried to make a pathway through the water with larger rocks.

Finally, these guys went through some rugged terrain to get this photo op.  I think it was worth it.

What Gatlinburg meant to Ethan-Feb '11

At the beginning of February, our family went on vacation to Gatlinburg, TN.  We all arrived feeling car sick from Papa's driving.  Only to find out that there would be a good chance that we would encounter bears. Yikes!!  We "lucked" out, though, and didn't see any real bears.

Here is Ethan after giving ice skating a try.  It was funny to watch the boys flying up the middle of the rink.  While the rest of us were kindly sticking to the edge.

Getting our shop on.  Peak-fresh doughnuts and candy.  Pit-the kids buying lame keychains for $8 after shopping with Papa.

The kids posing at a steak house.  So young, so angry!

Wonderworks is a cool, interactive museum that we visited.  This is what it looks like from the outside.  Ethan and Jonah

The floor was on the ceiling.

Ok, my pictures are out of order.

Ethan foolin' around.

Testing out some space equiptment.  He did this instead of the climbing activity.

We went through the Great Smokey Mtns. National Park.  We played in the water and found rocks.  It was a great photo op.  Ethan was sketching things during the entire trip.

Jonah's Birthday

As my previous post stated, Jonah's birthday was surrounded by a lot of snow.  But, it cleared up in time for some celebration.  Since I was dealing with Baptism details, Aunt Nellie offered to host a party at their house (Oh yeah, our house was in shambles due to a leak in the kitchen, too.).

Blow out the candles...1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 candles!

We love the kids 8th birthdays.  They are special time for our family.  It's a chance for us to gather and celebrate their baptism.  Jonah had a well, planned agenda.  He had a HUGE support group.  The room was packed with people who wanted to support him.  Jonah, you have made the right choice.  We know that you will have an exciting journey as you strive to become a disciple of Christ.