One more

Happy Thanksgiving!

Before joining my parents for dinner we took family pictures in the woods (empty lot) in our neighborhood. For the first time I attempted the use of a remote control and tripod with the camera to get shots with all of us in them. Afterwards we went over to my parents house to eat a fully cooked feast waiting for us - much appreciated! And the kids are spending the night over there, so I have time to edit pictures and update the blog. I even ordered my Christmas cards! Great day.

 my favorite:

Happy Halloween!

 Super Sparkle (Barbie) and a soldier:

Our friends Lila and Daniel joined us for trick or treating this year and we walked the long route - almost 2 miles! The kids were troopers and kept up the whole way. Gavin managed to score a full size 3 Musketeers. He ate some candy last night and the 3 Musketeers after school today, then traded in the rest of his candy to me for a pack of Pokemon cards.

Fall

It finally cooled off a couple weeks ago, we celebrated by decorating for Halloween:

Amelia says "this is how a princess do it:"

 

 Watching Charlie Brown Halloween:

 Amelia likes to write the letter A throughout the day:

 consignment store finds:

perfect weather for playing outside:

40 in TN

Jake decided to celebrate his 40th birthday with a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains to go hiking. We went over fall break and stayed 4 nights in a cabin in Cosby, TN, a few miles from Gatlinburg. The narrow, windy mountain roads made it seem further than it was, but Jake seemed to enjoy the mountain driving. 

Fri, Oct 6:

 Gavin did a great job running up and down the hill by the cabin to carry up firewood:

 Sat, Oct 7:

We hiked to Grotto Falls in the Great Smoky mountains, a 2.8 mi roundtrip hike up the side of a mountain to a waterfall. Gavin wanted to go another 6 miles to the top. No thanks.

 After the hike we ate lunch and did another hike by the Sugarlands visitor center. Afterwards we were happy to get back to the cabin to relax:

 Sunday it rained all day so we did some indoor stuff. We visited the muscle car museum in Sevierville:

 The worlds largest knife store:

 "The Island" shopping center in Pigeon Forge where Jake and the kids picked out tervis cups:

 and Arcade City at the Island:

 kids playing with toys they won at the arcade:

 Monday we walked around downtown Gatlinburg and visited Ripley's Aquarium:

 Then we drove over to the Bush's Beans factory tour:

 And back to the cabin: