Virginia/Tennessee Trip part 2

Well we had a great visit with Memaw and Pawpaw and work up Sunday morning and got on the road early.  The first thing we had to do was fulfill our Sunday obligation- and we did that in on the way in Salem, Virginia at Our Lady of Perpetual Help.  They had the prettiest advent wreath hanging with ribbon over their large baptismal font at the back of the church that had a running water feature.  We got back in the car and headed on to Pigeon Forge, TN.  I decided a while back that I prefer staying in Pigeon Forge to Gatlinburg now.  We went straight to Dollywood, because we LOVE Dollywood and get season passes every year and  Dolly KNOWS how to celebrate the season!  It's called a Smokey Mountain Christmas.   :)  (I used Marc's blackberry for all these pics-)

All these lights dance and flash to music every 30 minutes or so-



We went to the Red Bird diner and got delicious junk food- :)





Tuck Tuck drove Daddy- we learned that Tucker is FEARLESS- he rode crazy rides that he was really too small for-  one was the drop from up high,  he has also done the zip line by himself-




Daddy took Julia and Charlie to the carousel while I took Marc and Tucker to fast rides-





Marky rode the bumper cars many times while we took the littles on the baby rides-



Charlie loved this!



Flying bees that went up and down-



We then spent some time in the craftsman valley watching the leather workers, the blacksmiths and wood workers.  The great thing about Dollywood is all the shows- Marc and the older kids watched a show- O Holy Night, while Charlie and I strolled about-



We also saw the New York City ice theater perform a wonderful show on ice with wonderful singers- the kids LOVED that!  Then we watched their electric light parade and called it a night-









We got back to the hotel and the babies passed out- we get two adjoining rooms and keep the doors open- we put Tucker and Marc in one bed, Julia in the other, and Charlie in one bathroom in his pack-n-play.  :)





The next morning I begged, begged my family to head on home, but they insisted on going to the Wonderworks museum.  It was a  tiny bit fun, but really nothing more than a science center, which we go to all the time anyway.  The only highlight was Marky and I doing a game of laser tag one on one.  :)  I will NEVER go back there, though- I call it the ADD zone- just lights and noise and chaos.

Oh- and Marky, Tucker and I sat in this replica of a diner going through a bad earthquake- Tucker thought that was hilarious-






















So that's our trip- fun times with my sweet family.

Virginia trip part 1

I found my camera!  Can I get a whoop whoop?!!!!!  Christmas card post is below.  Sooo- we drove to Virginia to see my Dad's parents, Memaw and Pawpaw, two weekends ago.  It was a wonderful trip.  We take two days each way of traveling, because after four or so hours in the car Charlie is done and that's the way it is.  We stopped in Greenville, SC on the way up and got there on Friday afternoon.  We spent a fun day playing at their wonderful house.  Saturday we got up and headed to Bedford to see the National D-Day memorial.  Bedford is a tiny town that my grandmother grew up in, but they have the D-Day memorial because they lost the most boys per capita on D-Day than any county in the US.  Such a sad, sad time for that town.

The memorial is beautiful and we spent a long time there with the kids running and me doing the quote reading that fills my soul.  I bet they wonder if anyone reads this stuff- I read every single one.  :)





This is in the shape of the sword- the symbol of the mission- in the gazebo is a statue of General Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces-



Above him is a replica of the maps they used in the field.  A toymaker in London used his factory to make "puzzle" maps of the operations- they would be sent and then assembled in secrecy-




Here's the story about that-




















Hey there you precious little love bug-





So grateful to have great-grandparents for these babies-



Pawpaw lost a brother in WWII and another brother was on Omaha beach on D-day and lived- Pawpaw was in the Korean war-





Marc wants Marc Jr. to memorize this-




Marc bought us all a BINGO game and it was a HIT!  Even little Tuck Tuck can basically play-











Playing with Memaw after baths-




All this adoration meant we got to take 8 more home- 2 for each child-


One great thing about Memaw and Pawpaw's house is their big, sloped back yard- the kids rolled down it a million times!






















Such a nice time with the family.  Part 2 in Tennesse coming up!