Marc's Confirmation

Today our sweet Marc received the sacrament of Confirmation.  It was a precious day with our boy.

We bought him his first suit ever!  He looked very handsome.  (I wish his hair wasn't wet!).  :)

The children went forward and knelt before the bishop who made the sign of the cross on their foreheads with holy chrism oil while saying in Latin, "I sign thee with the cross, and I confirm thee with the chrism of salvation in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."  Then he gives them a little slap on the cheek "symbolizing that the Christian is now a soldier for Christ and must endure suffering and the persecution that comes from conflict with the world."

Each child had a sponsor that they chose who is a role model and helps the child along.  Marc chose our friend Patrick, but I don't have a picture of them- the professional photographer took some.  Our young friend chose Marc Sr. to be his sponsor.  He was honored to be asked.

There was a luncheon reception afterwards.  I had to get a pic of the grey suit/red tie gang.  :)

We are so proud of you, Marky and so happy for you having received this special sacrament.  God bless you, sweet boy!

Dollywood

On Saturday morning we got up and spent the day at Dollywood.  We wanted to get use out of our season passes.  First, we went to Flapjacks for breakfast- we'd been there before and the children were eager to get teddybear pancakes.  :)

Then it was off to Dollywood!

We hadn't been to Dollywood in the summer months since Tucker was a baby- it's a whole different experience than in the winter.  There are tons of water rides and we spent most of our day soaking wet!  :)  We started off the day, though, by Marky and I riding this crazy-fast rickety wooden roller coaster.  I was proud of myself for getting on (we are in the 4th row huddled together)-

While we rode the coaster the littles played on the playground-

Then it was off to more rides-

Definitely a highlight of the trip was the River Battle ride.  You ride in boats with water guns and fight other boats as well as the folks on land.  We liked shooting the water at the boats as much as being in them!  We were all six totally soaked.  

We at one point paid money and got in the "family dryer" that only sort of dried us off-

We had lunch at "Ham and Beans" and the boys ate their weight in cornbread-

This is how we got around-

Tucker is now tall enough to ride roller coasters.   Marc, Tucker and Marky rode Dolly's version of Space Mountain and loved it.  They also rode the river drop ride- I had to keep Charlie because he was too small to ride and Julia because she was not interested in any fast rides or sudden drops.  :)

We did, however, all six ride the River Rampage circle thing and ONE of us (MOMMY!) got completely and totally soaked.  After we got back the people running the ride said on the intercom, "hey everybody in line- look at this lady- she is totally soaked!" and they clapped.  :)

Before:

After- Poor Charlie did not like the raging river ride!

We had to get him Dippin Dots ice cream to take his mind off things.  :)  Then we rode the cars-

We had a great day.  I forgot how much fun Dollywood is in the summer!  We rode a few more rides and then made it to 5:00 mass that night.  After church we went back to the hotel and showered and changed for our dinner show.  More on that next post.  :)

P.S. We call Tuck Tuck the human barometer.  I can tell how humid it is outside by how his hair curls- and it was very humid on Saturday in Pigeon Forge-

In Virginia someone said, "Tucker you probably need a haircut."  And he said, "yes, but they don't cut it because everybody loves my curls so much."  :)  He speaks the truth!

And sometimes while waiting in line we took turns holding Charlie- even big brother held him when he'd say, "I'm tieyuhrd off all dis walking!"