2nd Summer Trip- Tennessee

Summer Trip #2

-Tennessee-

In front of Fall Creek Falls.

The largest falls this side of the Rockies falling 256 feet, they were truly amazing.

Fall Creek Falls

Cane Creek Falls- These falls (actually a cascade) were very beautiful as well.  The kids played, swam, caught tadpoles and had allot of fun at the top of these falls.  There was also a suspension bridge just above the falls that was great fun to bounce on.

Tennessee BBQ- Tangy, Smoky and Sweet- what could be better!

Brenner and His Tadpoles

The Kids on the hike to the bottom of the falls.  We had lunch down at the bottom and a lot of fun swimming and just sitting in the mist of the falls.

Brenner holding a millipede and Mia holding herself.  There are no bathrooms at the bottom!

Cumberland Caverns is a cave that is over 28 miles in length.  We walked through about a mile and a half and it was very cool- literaly, the temperature inside is a cool 56 degrees all the time.

In front of "Mobby Dick", a formation that looked like a whale.

A toad that Cayden found in the back seat of the car after picking up some fire wood- Rib it!

The Kids panning for gems and all sorts of good stuff!

Three Little Spelunkers! Too Cute!

The kids and fire flies in a bottle.  There were hundreds of these little buggers at dusk, very pretty at night.

Cool Treats!

The kids playing (rough housing) in the camper.  Forts and bombs with the pillows and blankets.

The fire at night. Very pretty the second night with the flames in green, blue, pink and purple.  We found a neat new "Magic" fire pouch at the general store, very cool!



We had so much fun in Tennessee!

The kids kept asking if we can come back next year but Daddy has other plans, maybe some time soon.  The Lake House in Georgia is next and then on to the beach in Florida- The Trek moves on!

-The 1st Summer Trip-

Decatur Alabama

 The first trip happened a week early as Daddy was online planning out the summer and found the Alabama Jubilee Hot Air Balloon Festival was over Memorial Day weekend and could not pass up such a great opportunity!  65 Hot Air Balloons in the air all at the same time!  Are you kidding me!

 The Kids in front of Transformers "Bumble Bee" at the antique auto show earlier in the day.

 Inside- yes, inside a balloon laying on the ground filled with cool air from a big fan.  It was very cool and just massive looking from that view!

 The kids, the Balloons and some cool treats.

 The "Balloon Glow" at dusk, very beautiful!  The black one you see in the center is the one we were inside of earlier.

 The next morning and the "Balloon Release".  No matter how hard I tried, I could not ever get them all in the camera shot, far too many balloons over way to much sky. 

Simply amazing!

 Although all the kids thoroughly enjoyed it all, Brenner is a bit older and appreciated the whole thing a bit more.  This was one of his favorites.

A picture of one of Daddy's favorites, and it actually landed about 30 or so feet from where we were standing taking it all in to deflate and roll up.  Fun to watch!

What a fun beginning to hopefully a great summer!

More stuff and Southern States to come so stay posted-

Last Day of School  

Here are the kids on their last morning going to elementary school together.  As Brenner will be in middle school next year, a big 6th grader, they will attend different schools.  Where did the time go?  A Middle Schooler?  Are we talking about our kids???

Alisa will surely love that Brenner is not wearing a T-shirt underneath his top shirt, how did that slip past me?!?  And take a close look at Mia's shirt, yep, it says "love one another" and we bought it at the local Target!  Maybe someone high-up in the Target chain is LDS?!?!

-Summer Trips-

School is out in a week or so for the summer and as we spent our Vacation wad on going to Utah this spring, allot of Camping is ahead of us this summer.  I had the grand idea to visit as many Southern States with our new little camping trailer as possible in 2012 and we are kicking it off with a trip to Tennessee the end of this month.  We will go to a neat cave and do a little spelunking, see some great waterfalls and have some good old camping fun!  Alabama is planned for the second week in June and Florida is planned for the end of the month.  North and South Carolina in July and possibly Kentucky and Virginia by Fall! We will see. Throughout the summer, Nikki has Monday and Tuesday off which gives us a three/four day weekend each and every week until August.  So we my just visit Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana too!

The kids are also all signed up to be manta rays on a local swim team and with scout camps, Mia's Birthday and everything that summer has to offer it looks to be very busy!

BRING IT ON!!!

                                     Lego Land Atlanta

Lego Atlanta! Very Cool!
The Tall Buildings, the Fox, the Aquarium, Turner Field, the Capitol and so much more all built out of Cayden's favorite little bricks.  As you can only imagine, he was in LEGO HEAVEN!

Brenner in front of Lego Turner Field.

Cayden next to the Lego Georgia Dome.

And Mia standing next to "Lego Mia" all built out of Lego bricks!

In the 4D theater. What a fun day!

Les Miserables

We went to Les Miserables with the Carters and it was AMAZING!

The new production of the original was very close to what I remember from before.  The stage did not rotate around and their were several very subtle changes, but for the most part is is the same old show with the same music and truly amazing new staging.  When Javier jumps to his death it is much better than before and everyone loved the Paris sewer scenes.  Exceptional in every way and worth seeing again!

Trip To Utah

-2012-

The trip started with what elts- Pup Pancakes! And lots of good food to come, homemade and from all the great Utah places we miss so much.

The weather could not decide what it whanted to do as we had snow days and beautiful spring days.

Decorating Easter Eggs- so many to decorate!

Bing made Easter Dresses for all the girls and also one that matched perfectly for each of their dolls, so much work, but how cute do they all look!

Laddy and all the boys!

Bing and Laddy- We all love you bolth so much!

The kids after the Easter Egg Hunt.

Marzipan Cake- Yummy!

Jump and Jump!

Out of order but Easter Morning Picture.  Cute but very small baskets, as the usual large ones did not fit in our carry ons.

The Salt Lake Temple Picture.

The flowers were absolutly beautiful and our kids are not to bad either!

Happy Easter! Our fire place matle all done up for Easter.
And the kids decorating Easter Cookies- Yum!!!
We will be in Utah this year for Easter (a long awaited trip) and so we decided to get an early start on the holiday. As soon as the "Green" for Saint Patrick's came down, the Easter stuff whent up.
Bring on the Easter Bunny!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Mia out in front of our little Tulip Garden.

All the kids in their green. No pinching here!

And the traditional "Green Feast". We had Paige and Brandon over for the night and had a lot of fun. The kids played while the parents talked about every thing over the last year and just had a great time.

Here is to the Irish!

Pine Wood Derby 2012

Well it is here again, the annual Pine Wood Derby!

Mommy and Cayden getting his Wolf Badge and other awards.
Cayden at the end of the track waiting for the cars to come down.

In the end his car came in 5th out of 19, so not to bad I guess, but next year we hope to take it all! He had a great time and that is all that matters I guess. Ya can't win them all!

Great Job Cayden!

Kitties!

You all heard the story of how Mia and her brothers adopted two stray cats several months back. Well one of them kept getting bigger and bigger and we decided she must be pregnant. So Daddy put a box and a blanket on the front porch several weeks back thinking that a stray would never use such a spot and guess what- SHE DID! On Cayden's Birthday she (Socks) gave birth to four little kittens in Daddy's Box! They are very cute and as you can tell from the look on Mia's face, She is very excited. Now she not only gives them food but milk as well. We can't argue with her, the mommy needs milk!

Happy Birthday Cayden!

Caydens traditional Cookie Cake- Yummy!

The Boys at his party. A Scavenger hunt, Pinata, Pizza and presents, what could be better, Oh- Cake and Ice cream!
Everyone had a great time! Happy 9th birthday Cayden!

What's Been Going On?

Valentines breakfast made by Mom- Yummy!
Mia waiting for the cookies to be done.

Cayden building something great out of Legos.

Brenner with his nose in a book.

And Mia with all her "Stuffed" friends.

Costco update-

The Wet/dry vacuum that I bought at Costco thinking that I got an ok deal on it for $38- On sale today at wall mart for $24.95.

Give me a break! Took our cards back today and got our $55 back!
Costco is a Joke!!!

Costco?

Now I realize that I tread on dangerous water to even suggest to you all my true feelings about Costco because everyone that I talk to is infatuated with every thing that is Costco, but I am going to step out on the plank anyhow.
As our kids are now a bit older and going through milk like crazy, Nikki and I recently bought a card ($55). We were excited as everyone elts has had one for years and we just have not for whatever reason. We got our card, walked through the cavernous store, the produce, the meat, the bakery and on and on. We did look at prices but without giving it much thought, everything was just so huge! We did buy three gallons of milk (in funny square cartons with an inch and a half of air in the top and very large mouths that spill everywhere as you pour). Exiting we all shared a pizza and a couple of drinks from the eatery and all was fine with the world.
About a week later It was time to go and reap the deals of buying in BULK! As I wandered the isles looking for things that we purchase regularly I was a bit perplexed-

Kroger/Walmart Vs. Costco
Milk 3.10 vs 2.99
Saved .10

Chicken Breasts

3 lbs for 6.49 vs 9 lbs for 21.99
Lost 2.50 (WHAT!)

Bread

One Loaf 2.00 vs Two loafs 4.00
A Wash (but have the extra
loaf to go bad in the pantry)

Dish Detergent

75 oz. 6.50 150 oz. 13.99
Lost 1.00 (and the bottle just
about broke my wrist to lift)

Laundry Detergent

This was not even close as the Tide
Detergent and even the Kirkland brand

were all over 22.00 a bottle for the same extra
value size of Sun for 14.00 form good
old Walmart.
Would love to wash with Tide but have
never been able to afford to do so!

Meat
3.99 to 4.50 a pound from Costco

3.99 to more at Kroger, But often on sale

for 3.50 or less. Never on sale at Costco.

Everyone says how wonderful the cuts are

at Costco. Am I to believe that 80% ground

beef is any different or that the pot roast is of

better quality at Costco vs Kroger. I don't think so.
Cows are Cows and truth be known, they all come

from only several suppliers nationwide!

Butter

Now here is a deal!

8.00 for four 1 lb blocks

Kroger 3.00 for one lb block

2.50 on sale

Savings of 4.00 and enough butter

to last 4 months!

Cheese worked out to be cheaper

by .50 a pound and eggs were cheaper

by a few cents as well. I found a Gallon

size can of sliced Black olives for 6.99

(1.99 per can otherwise) that would have

been an exceptional deal. But where do I

put the extra after I open it for a handful

of them for our pizza!?!?! In small

Tupperware in the fridge!

Many other things were not cheaper when the comparison is done oz. for oz. and lb. for lb.

One more- Tires for the Armada

We do need new tires and I priced them the other day at Kaufman Tire. I was shocked that they were over 40.00 a tire more than two years ago. They came to just over 800.oo for four with a wheel alignment and thought that for sure Costco would finally come through for me. Costco tire- 221.00 per tire is 884.oo and the alignment was extra!!! Even with their coupon for 70.00 off four tires, they still came in more! Long story short- At 10 cents here and a quarter there, and being taken to the cleaners on just about everything elts- NO THANKS!!! We drive an extra 8 miles to get to Costco and Pay 55.00 to be a member, We have 90 days to go get our money back and unless I can make 55.00 back on .10 milk purchases (550 Gallons), I think we will go and give our cards back!