peas please

Thursday

Sam's swing and peas

I think that most of these are self explanatory...

Thursday GC '08

Wow! Busy and HOT, HOT, HOT, summer has arrived!!

We started the day with karate then went straight to Splash Country. The first pictures were at the rest stop about 1/3 of the way. We played math games on the way and sang songs. John was explaining to Sam about dividing and percentages. For example, the rest stop was one third of the way if we have traveled 1/2 hour and the trip is 1 1/2 hours. Divide 1/2 into 1 1/2 to get 1/3. Also, how long does it take you to go 60 miles if you are going 60 mph? Don't know how much comprehension but it was fun and that is how it starts. When we stopped, they also stomped red ants and threw the football. We stopped for lunch at Burger King in Sevierville. That was the first real "fast food" of the two weeks, moms. John ordered a double and Mason and Sam order a cheeseburger but asked for the second one. I knew that they were going to be busy so we did and Mason ate all of the second one and Sam almost all of it. They started out on the river ride all together and came back all together. Then Mason kept going. This is the photo of the lifeguard extracting him at my request. It was only about 2+ feet but he was trying to swim up stream. Then we went to get the child locators. A great plan where you can locate everyone in your party at video stations. A person comes up on the screen with their name. Thank you Dolly! We then went to the big wading/activity pool. Now, to the wave pool. I insisted that they put on life jacket and then were on the inner tubes. I decided that I needed to put on my suit. It was so hot! When we got back to the car, the temp was 104. Of course that was in the parking lot but I would guess 95 to 97 in the park. John went on the tube slide on the inner tube by himself. We wished the others were big enough to do it. The younger boys discovered that they were big enough for the butterfly slide. You can see the result. They were next to each other so was manageable. Ice Cream and then on the Sam's house. Lauren fixed burgers, peas and mac and cheese and needless to say they devoured it, INCLUDING THE PEAS! Check out the motivating factor, Uncle Tom and whipped cream. He speaks BOY! Then they went on Sam's big swing, even Granny gave it a run. Mason could not be persuaded. John loved it after the first HELP! We drove home and all were asleep when we got here. It was a hard day and one on three isn't the best situation but we had fun and arrived back home all together. I was surprised frankly that I wasn't any more tired than I was but I crashed and for the first night, we didn't take showers, just brushed teeth, changed clothes and crashed. We are excited to see Uncle Todd tomorrow.

Wednesday III

I still can't get the words to line up with the photos but, anyway, the last group has Master Olsen doing the form that the boys will do for their testing. I asked him to do it so that we have something to go by for them to practice that we know is correct.

Wednesday II

Wednesday, GC '08

It is 7:08 AM Thursday and I know that someone will be awakening very soon. We went to the karate yesterday, to the fire station with Nana and then followed the fire truck to the lake to see them squirt the water and do some tests. While we were there, we took advantage of the new playground by the lake at Winged Deer Park. We went to Sam's and bought swim shirts. I have been having a hard time keeping them sunscreened. I suppose the first of the year, they are more vulnerable. They like these shirts and (I hear voices)and wore them when we went to the pool later. I am hearing the gentle sound of an African drum coming from the den. ???
After the swim, there was a problem in the big pool so they had to swim in the dive pool. They did very well and jumped off the board many, many times. John got his feelings hurt when the guard told him not to jump but he was just trying to keep the extra number of kids in that pool safe. Aunt Kathy joined us and we had a nice visit while watching the boys. After the swim, we went to the Japanese restaurant. They laughed a lot and were friendly with the people that sat with us and the chef. Had showers, pj's and watched a bit of Star Wars. Another good day. No tears today and no blood.
That makes it a good day with three boys.

After Bedtime on Tuesday

They were asleep soon after 8:30 this evening!! I think that tomorrow we need to take it a little easier. Maybe get some new books and read some.

Wanted to tell you that Mason and Sam think that Big Mouth, the shark whale that Sam sleeps with and Bunny are going to get married. Huh???!! Can't help but wonder what their children will look like.

Also, before Liz left with her Dad, leaving skid marks in the driveway, we had the guttering man take our photo. That is the only one that we have this year with just the five of us.



This was taken in the Barter II Cafe where we had lunch. Lots of historic photos.

PS

I need a lesson, can't get that labeling right. The photo with the children tossing the football is in front of Barter Theater II, the other is in front of the old main Barter. The big cake is celebrating the 75th anniversary of Barter.
Also told the children that their grandfather and I had our first real date at Barter. I think that it was 1961 and we went to see Carol Baker in Bridge to the Sun. I didn't tell them but I remember the outfit that I wore. It was a white skirt with a white sleeveless top with a square neckline outlined with an embroidered blue border. It had a matching short sleeved sweater with the same embroidery down the front of the sweater. Of course, I also wore short white gloves as I remember.

On the veranda at Martha Washington enjoying the good life


yesterday but too cute to not include











In front of the old main Barter

Tuesday, GC 08

We went to Barter this morning for a 10 AM performance of Sleeping Beauty. We arrived a bit early so had time to toss the football to release some of that energy that had accumulated in the boys in the hour car ride.
We also had the chance to walk through the lobby of Martha Washington Inn and I told them how great grandfather, Dr. Tom McKee had gone to dances there when he was a young man. There were even some old photos on the wall which were probably from the same era. Liz seemed to enjoy knowing that.
The boys seem to really enjoy theater. They were literally on the edge of their seats and I regreted not being able to photograph them so that you could see their response.
They came back to the house to play in the yard. Probably the most popular game that they play together is Star Wars with the $1 foam rubber sword from Target.

announcement to family and friends

The testing for the orange belt in Tai Kwan Do will take place about 10:00 AM on Saturday. They are going to have a lesson at 9:30 and then will be tested. All of our friends are invited to observe. There is a nice place to sit and observe through a window. This is a big deal for the boys so hope that parents will be here.

I swear, there was no benedryl involved...

Wahoo! Liz and I can watch Oprah. It is 4:00 PM and they are all asleep!!

More Monday

Ah summer! Rolling down a hill on a summer day.

Poor Elizabeth, the boys pick on her so much, humph! Wish that I knew how to show you the evidence on the video. Perhaps later.

We took a picnic and went to the playground. It is very warm today but a beautiful day. John said that he was tired. I forgot about the change which Master Olsen made to our schedule. He changed it this week form 2 until 9 AM. Just didn't set into my brain. I knew it. Also, the lessons are just 30 minutes this week. Have tickets for Barter tomorrow morning so we won't make that either.

Monday, June 2nd

Hey everyone,

Just a few photos from Sunday, at the end of the day when I realized that I hadn't taken any. We went to church and SS and the boys were very good. No resistance to going to the classes. Helps to have a group.

We ate lunch with Carol and I was proud of them. Came home and played outside. We read about Thomas Jefferson before bed. Think that we will go to the library today.

Photos are of wounded warriors who were having sword fights in the yard.

Group of children is nursery when Jim and Cheri Miller were playing dulcimer and guitar for them during church.

Day #5

Today is Saturday and there was a little interference with playing today. Granny had a meeting at 10 and Preston stayed with the children. We all went to lunch at Fire House Restaurant and the boys all got a half rack of ribs as Granny had promised. From the three boys, there were two ribs left. Our friends were amazed and the boys behavior would have made you proud. We went swimming for a couple of hours and I did get a couple of photos this time.

I'm beginning to think that this thing is temperamental, can't get the photos now. I will try later for the bank ones.

You have to see the bank. All four love to play in there. Mason and I went to the drive-up window and they insisted on having a bank card. John went over to the ATM to withdraw some of my money. They all played together which was fun to see.

The news/weather station was so much fun. Mason especially like the weather part and put all sorts of weather symbols and temperatures on the map. He knew where Florida, Tennessee and Texas were on the map. After the others went on to the next area, I found Mason still placing things on the map and talking about the weather. He said, "Tornadoes are really bad". I got some of it on video. Maybe I can post it with some help from Preston later this morning.

Friday, GC 2008 #4

Well, its Saturday morning and for some reason the blog connection worked this morning!!

So a report for Friday...

It was a bit cloudy and cool but a warm day was predicted. We decided to go to Hands On Museum until the clouds moved away. This was a really cool crane in a special traveling exhibit that could be moved by the wheels in several different directions. As you can see they all like this, (note all 4), I even spent some time playing with it as were some other grandparents.

Liz made this really cool arch with the help of a couple of taller people.

Above is the display with water and levis and dams. (Can't get it to move)

Maybe I better post this before it blows up again.

In Karate there is a word by the door which they are to say followed by sir. This week it is leadership. I told the boys this morning that I think we should have a GC word for the day and that I thought the first one should be kindness. Sam thought that it was a good idea but John being the 8 year old thought that it was dorky. We'll give it a shot and see what happens. We talked about how important it is for a gentleman to be kind and that we make choices about the kind of people that we are all of our lives and that they can make decisions now about who they are.