Dollywood

Noah letting you know that he had just gone on his first roller coaster -ever. The Thunderhead at Dollywood. He was soooo excited!

The Mystery Mine

Doug, Rachel and Kate waiting patiently on us to go on the Mystery Mine.

Mystery Mine Coaster

Photo of Darla (Grammy), Noah (with his 'scared to death' look on his face) and me happily screaming on the Mystery Mine... man, I love roller coasters! When the ride pulled in afterwards Noah said "That was AWESOME!!!". That's my boy!

Noah and Rachel playing at the splash pad in Dreamland Forest in Dollywood.

Rachel and Kate sporting new sun shades.

Noah and Grammy riding the ferris wheel.

Doug and Rachel riding the ferris wheel.

The five of us =)

In front of the Mystery Mine.

Noah very excited after riding the Mystery Mine.

More splash pad in Dreamland Forest.

Baby Kate waiting patiently at the splash pad for the kids to play. She had an awesome day - it could not have gone any better with her! =)

Grammy and the girls.

Noah and I riding on these flying boat swingy things...

The train ride at the end of the day. It was an awesome day. The kids did so good. I think it was everything we thought it could be. We hope to head back and enjoy it again soon.

Day at Grammy & Papa's House

The kids have a lot of fun playing over at their Papa and Grammy's house. Papa lowered the basketball goal to 8 feet and Noah has been really loving shooting and making baskets. He might have finally found his niche in sports as far as what he loves doing. His daddy couldn't be happier about it either - Doug loves basketball to and would love to see Noah grow to love it. He has really improved since he first picked up the basketball Easter weekend. Rachel enjoys riding her bike and the pedal BMW. It is such a blessing to be able to pick up and go see grandparents whenever we or they call... It has been a long time coming and the kids are loving seeing their family often. I'm so glad we were able to give them that and also that they will grow up with that being the 'norm'. It is truely a blessing to have our family back so close in our lives.

Old Friends and New Friends at the Splash Pad

We met up with a good friend of mine from highschool today to play at the Splash Pad with her daughter Alexandria (Alex). Chris, Emma, Chloe, Noah, Rachel, Kate and I all loaded up into the explorer and headed over to meet Alex and Renee and the kids played in the water for a while before we headed over to McDonald's (can't these kids ever pick anywhere else to eat? I mean, really?) for lunch. Alex is just as cute as she can be and I know the kids enjoyed playing with her. I wish our kids hadn't been so tired from staying up so late last night while having an impomptu sleepover while the old(er) [ha ha] folks played cards. The two middle girls didn't play too long - they were so tired and they wanted to sit all wrapped up in their towels. Noah, Emma and Alex seemed to really enjoy playing in the water and with the water cannons. Kate slept through most of our day. It was great to catch up with Renee and meet Alex - I hope we'll see more of them very soon!

Sandy Springs

The kids have been enjoying the discovery of all the local parks. They love to play at Sandy Springs and we took them to Springbrook park a couple of weeks ago and they really liked playing there too. They also got to see where I lived and went to school and church. It's neat to be able to show them where I grew up. We are looking forward to seeing more parks and fun places to check out. This weekend we are looking forward to playing at the Splash Pad a Carl Cowen park with friends. =)

Fourth of July 2009

We hope everyone had a great fourth of July this year. We spent the holiday with both of our families - Doug's family early in the day and my half for the evening. We cooked up some hotdogs and hamburgers for dinner and let the kids play in the pool, bounce house and on the swingset. I love that we are finally able to spend our holidays surrounded by the people we love. We didn't attend a big fireworks show this year but I don't really think the kids missed it all that much. Alcoa did not put on their big show this year due to economic reasons so we just let the kids play until 9 or so at mom's house and then the Chris's headed back to our house to play some cards and let the girls spend the night. Good times.

First few days in Tennessee

These are a few pictures from the first couple of days we spent in Tennessee. Chris and Christina meeting Kate for the first time and the kids playing on mom's swingset. I have tons of pictures to share. More time = more pictures... Off to unpack some more boxes! More pics soon!