Family Fun Weekend

This past weekend, these wonderful ladies planned a weekend away/reunion for a small part of our family.  Well the only part that typically gets together on any regular basis.  I imagine a family reunion with my entire family would be a lot bigger and also fun.

This weekend was filled with lots of laughter, happy/funny tears, games, eating and drinking.  As always eating and drinking are on our menu.

The kids enjoyed staying up late and playing with their cousins and family.

The big kids did too.   And yes we all took baths that weekend at some point.  Some more than others....I'm not naming any names.

We were also banned from using cell phones/texting/and facebook'ing.  I was the first to lose that game and it was okay.  Although I think I lost first for using profanity first.

Hmmm Charlie must have went out early with phone use too.  We did enjoy the nightly bonfires and thankfully no one was set on fire.

A few people even enjoyed their naps.

We wore purple and gold of course.

We bobbed for apples.

And everyone scored one, well everyone that played scored one.

Lots of adult participation this weekend.

I think Chuck is a winner.

We celebrated lots of October birthdays and even a tiny person's November birthday.

We ate lots of cake and sweets.

We played all weekend.

And we all brought white shirts/sweaters and took silly pictures...per Laurie's request...without complaining I may add.  Here are all the "kids".

And my sweet family.

And Timmy's sweet family

Chuck's sweet family.

And this cute couple.

Awesome...newlyweds...can you tell?

And Rock-n-Roll's family.

The guys

And Crazy old Barb.

At this point these little people were done, unfortunately thankfully Laurie was not.

Because if she had not been done, we would have missed this sweet shot!

And this one.

And one of my favorite pictures of the weekend.   I love my children have so much family that loves them as much as I do.  Family we can always depend on anytime we need them.  It was a GREAT weekend.  Lisa, Leigh and Lindsey we have a lot of planning to do.  Love you all!

Oh and one more because they are dang cute!  And because I had to buy them white shirts.  White + kids 6 and under = disaster at my house.

The land of the mouse

So maybe you heard...we visited the Land of the Mouse again.  I know, the kids expectations on Disney is high now.

 Meredith and Noah have both been three times and Margot just experienced it for the first time.  It's honestly not the kids, it's me.  I love it.  I'd rather go to Disney, then some exotic island.  I guess I'm weird.

 But I'm going to be honest now, the mouse land, it did me in.  I promise we are not going back until Margot is about 4.  Even with an extra set of hands, it was exhausting.  Had we not brought my mom, I might have booked us all plane rides home mid-week.

 Oh I kid, the kids loved it.  Margot was a definite trooper.  She was so very tired, but she hung like naps were a thing of the past.  Poor baby asked to go to bed at 5pm the day we got home.

 Meredith and Noah saw Disney again for the first time, Noah was a baby (22 months & 11 months) on his first two trips so this was essentially like he was going for the first time again.  He was amazed.

This year we did more stuff in Disney than we ever had before.  I guess it was their ages.  Well Josh and I  and the two bigs, Mimi and Margot joined us here and there, in between naps and rests stops for Margot.

 Margot was scared to death of all the characters, she would scream frantically and run into her daddy's arms everytime one approached us.  By the end of the week, she loved them and thought they all should greet her personally and give her a hug. Her favorite characters were Pooh Bear, she cut a very long line of people and walked right up to him to plant this smooch on his lips!  And she also loved Thumper.

We were actually waiting in line to see Minnie Mouse about 100 feet away and she saw Thumper across the way and demanded to go see her.  So we go out of  a very long line to meet Minnie to go and see her.  Her favorite rides were the carousel, Dumbo and it's a small world.  Oh and FYI, best place to see the characters in my opinion is Animal Kingdom, best setup to stand in lines and cutest shots!

Meredith decided she was over princesses.  Instead she was enthralled with the lion king.  With her envelope of money she brought home the entire set of lion kings stuffed animals.....exciting! (Can you hear my sarcasm, it's there....I loathe allergen collectors stuffed animals.)  Nevertheless we now own several stuffed animals shaped like lions.  It wasn't what I would have picked, but it wasn't my money.

 This year, the kids got money in and envelope from their Mimi and when it was gone, it was gone.  Meredith waited all trip to spend hers, hemming and hawing and thinking long and hard about what she wanted.  Her favorite shows were The Festival of the Lion King, Muppets, Mickey's Philharmonic Orchestra and Beauty and the Beast.  Her favorite rides were tea cups, Dumbo, Peter Pan and It's a Small World.  She also rode her first roller coaster...Splash Mountain...and while she was so very nervous, she loved it.  And she also rode her first thrill ride...Test Track...she also loved that!

Noah loved Disney World, but he really loved was the transportation to and from Disney....the boats, buses, and the MONORAIL!  I could have skipped purchasing this guy a ticket and just put him on the monorail in the morning with some chicken nuggets and a coke and picked him back up at the end of the day.  He knew all the different colors that rode on the various tracks and could not wait to get on them.  It only added to the excitement that we stayed at the Contemporary, where monorails passed through the actual hotel.  Yes, exciting stuff indeed! (no sarcasm...seriously...loved this hotel!)  The highlight of his week was taking a picture with an actual monorail driver.  After he was finished he looked at her and said "One day I'm going to be a monorail driver just like you!"  To him it was like meeting Cinderella.

And he also did meet Cinderella and that confirmed what I already knew...my boy is a flirt!

Noah's favorite rides were Small World, The Track, and Peter Pan.  He cried because he wasn't tall enough for Test Track...I mean crocodile tears.

The trip was great, the kids had a blast.  It was also right around Noah's 4th birthday so we scored a Birthday pin and every person who worked at Disney from characters to food service workers told Noah Happy Birthday.  He had no clue how they all knew it was his birthday!  Super cute!

Disney was awesome, but next time we go I think I will require everyone be able to wipe their own asses first and entertain themselves happily and quietly on the plane.

Day 4 - Rock City on top of Lookout Mountain

On our last full day in Chattanooga we headed back to the top of Lookout Mountain, but this time in Georgia to see Rock City.  This place is so gorgeous and worth the visit.  The kids were very in to climbing up the steps and into the caves.  The scenery was gorgeous and I took hundreds of pictures, here are a few of my favorites!

No idea why I am sporting the Chicago sweatshirt!  I've never even been!

The kids on their favorite thing, the swinging bridge.  It was a very long way down.  It didn't phase them at all.

Josh was very nervous though!

They wanted to go again, so Josh took them. Notice Noah trying to see down...brave, fearless boy!

Josh and the tikes on Lover's Leap, isn't the view gorgeous!

We let the kids sift for gold, they thought this was really neat.  Noah dumped his entire bag of sand and rocks in at once.

Meredith took her time.

Noah with his treasure!

Josh heading through "fat man's squeeze"

Meredith heading through "fat man's squeeze"

Me and my boy with a gorgeous view!

Meredith loved Fairyland Caverns

On the way out we stopped in a hand made leather store.  Noah got a new belt with his name on it, to help him hold up his pants...that are all too big!

And Meredith modeling her new leather purse!  A diva in the making!

We finished off our trip by heading back to our hotel where we dined on pizza in a train car and then played in the indoor pool and with some of the other kids there.  The tikes had a blast and said the trip was as much fun as Disney World!  It is a great family trip.  Let me know if you have any questions.  The next morning we headed home bright and early and while I was sad to see our vacation end, it's alway good to be home!