Smoky Mountains

Each year thousands of backpackers climb the Great Smoky Mountains...Nature's peace flows into them as sunshine flows into trees; the winds blow their freshness into them...and their cares drop off like autumn leaves.

John Muir

Then end of October always brings with it my birthday and our anniversary.

To celebrate the big 3-0 this year and our 8th wedding anniversary, we headed to The Smoky Mountains.

Staying in Sevierville, this was our view from our hotel room.

We stayed in a very kid-friendly hotel that had a huge arcade, laser tag, bowling, pottery, putt-putt, this massive tree house (that Mason got lost in and I had to sweat my butt off crawling through there looking for him), and...

the thing that won us over - an indoor water park. Arriving at dinner time, we made the kids eat dinner before  we dipped our toes in the water.  Poor kids.

While we were only in Tennessee for a few days, we discovered that it's a place we'd love to go back to.  There's so much to see and so much to do.

Our few days there were spent outside - exploring, learning, touring, experiencing...

Our first place to stop was Cades Cove. 

Cades Cove is an isolated valley preserved to look like it was in the 1800s.  It has original pioneer homesteads, barns, businesses, pastures, and farmland.  It's a loop of road that takes you 11 miles through the valley by car, but also offers areas that you can walk by foot.

  

We saw old homesteads, a few old churches, a few old cemeteries...

It was beautiful.

Our second place to stop was Little River.

This was a little boy's heaven.

If it were up to Mason, he would have spent his entire trip here...skipping rocks, climbing rocks, collecting rocks.

It was beautiful.

  

What, mom?  

Our third place to stop was Clingman's Dome.

Clingman's Dome is the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains at 6,643 feet tall.
Our plan was to go at dusk to watch the sunset...but...we were up high - in the clouds, fog, and "smoke".  There was no sunset to watch that night.

"...on top of old Smoky"

It was beautiful.
Even though we couldn't see across the mountain tops, it was still beautiful.

 When we drove back down the road, we took a picture of where we were at Clingman's Dome...

somewhere in that smoke. 

After our visit to Clingman's Dome, we went into Gatlinburg and did a little walking, people watching, and eating.

The Smoky Mountains are a composition of endless themes and variations, changing with every season, with every month, in every cove and hollow, on every summit, with every pair of eyes that sees them.

Michael Frome

  

Our fourth place to visit was Laurel Falls.

It is a beautiful 2.5 mile round trip hike.  It is a paved path and a fairly easy hike...but...pushing a double stroller with 3 kids riding in it made for quite a workout!  Whew!  I felt bad for laughing at Kevin so I offered to push for a little bit...but I made it maybe 50 feet and couldn't go on.

it was a lot harder than what it looked likeit 

It was beautiful! 

We had a wonderful getaway to the Smoky Mountains...

and I'm so very thankful for our time together there.

We're already looking forward to next time!

8th Year, Keepin' It Real

From 2002...

To 2005... 

To 2013

1 reason (or 3) that we've made it this far is because Kevin accepted me for who I am!

These were my top ‘this is me - take it or leave it’ points when I met Kevin -

**I will fart in front of you and I expect you to fart in front of me.  Don’t hold anything back and don’t sneak off to another room.  If you can’t fart in front of me, then we shouldn’t be together.  Let’s keep it real.

**I will keep the bathroom door open when I go to the bathroom.  You could walk by at any time and find me peeing OR pooping.  The door will always be open.  Sorry.

**I will more than likely sing to almost any song when we‘re in the car.  Even though I can’t carry a tune sing just like Stevie Nicks, Dixie Chicks, and Dolly Parton (especially when I sing Islands in the Stream)...and I won’t know the words half of the time, I’m still going to sing.  Don’t try to stop me…and don’t laugh at me.  Laugh with me.

************************

And now, after 8 years of marriage...

we’re still farting in front of each other,

the bathroom door is still open,

and I’m still singing my heart out.

Happy Anniversary!!!

A Piece For Each

Makayla - 

Her newest accomplishments are learning to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (starting at Middle C, of course) and discovering the love for spelling.  She loves to spell and is always asking me to teach her new words to spell.  I find papers all around the house with words written everywhere - makayla,curry, mason, mia, mom, dad, papa, police, emma, adalyn, cat, dog, love... 

Buuuuuut...a little frustration for mommy has come along with this new found love of spelling. 

Daily, we have conversations that go like this:

Makayla:  Mommy, do you want to go to V-V-A-L-M?

Me:  Where?

Makayla: V-V-A-L-M.

or

Makayla:  I really want a E-B-A.

Me:  A what??

Makayla:  An E-B-A.

Daily, we have conversations where Makayla spells "words" and I have nooooo idea what she's wanting to communicate with me.  She gets upset that I can't decipher her words and refuses to speak the word, but continues to spell it.  I'm hoping that she'll quickly improve with her letter/sound/spelling skills because, oh my gosh, it's hard...for me and for her!

Mason -

Mason and I were alone having one on one time, all cuddled up, watching Caillou, and eating popcorn.  I topped off the perfect moment by handing him a fruit snack.  THEN (i don't like asking questions like this, but sometimes i get curious to see where their mind is at), I asked him who he loved more - mommy or daddy.  Thinking he would definitely say "mommy" (i mean, after all, i was rubbing his legs, letting him watch his favorite show, snuggling with him, AND i snuck him a fruit snack), I was blown away when he said "Mia".

So...then I asked him who he loved more - Mia or Makayla.

And, he answered "Grandpa".  

He's a smart, smart boy and his heart is oh, so good!

He knew just exactly how to answer those questions...

Mia  -

She's amazing and I think has a sixth sense.  Almost every.single.night no matter what time we turn our lights out to go to bed, she wakes up.  It truly is amazing.  I don't know how she does it or how she knows, but the second the lights go out, little miss wakes up.  She fusses around and fusses around until one of us go up there to tell her goodnight.  All we have to do is give her a kiss, lay her back down in bed, whisper goodnight, and she falls back asleep immediately...before we can turn around to walk out the door.  It's pretty cool and to be honest, I kind of look forward to it every night.  It's not something I'm tired with, yet...

Grandpa Curry Turns 60

Tonight was a special night.

 Grandpa Curry turned 60 years old!!

(the highlight of the kids' night - blowing out grandpa's candles)

...and for a month now, I've been itchin' to present him with his 60th birthday gift.

I love giving gifts...

and I've surprised Kevin with a couple of favorite gifts that were perfect - gifts that neither he nor I will ever forget.

Flying lessons.

A surprise trip to Florida  for his birthday.

And, now, I can add another favorite gift to my list - 

a gift for my father-in-law on his 60th birthday.

A gift that I didn't come up with on my own, but one of which I read about on other blogs.

Something that grabbed my attention, something I was determined to follow through with, something that took a month to complete, something that was so fun and very exciting to create - 

60 memories for 60 years of life -

We filled 60 envelopes - each with a memory from people that have been a part of Greg's life (past and present). 

The first envelope was my letter to him - what I love about him...thanking him for opening his heart and home to me and for being the grandpa that he is...that he means 'the world' to my kids.

 Here, in the first envelope, is the last part of my letter:

We had memories beginning from the day he was born - 

...to today (pictures from his grand kids) 

...and everything in between:

All the way back to 6th grade through high school -

Words from co-workers (past and present): 

Words from his sons and family members:

We had fun memories written on toilet paper -

...and memories that made us laugh out loud -

So many pictures and kind words were shared -

 Tonight was a special night.

 60 envelopes and 2 hours later -

each envelope holding a special memory for Greg.

each envelope carrying kind, uplifting words.

it's good for the heart and soul.

Happy Birthday!

You mean so much to so many people and you deserve the best!