$5 Date!

Tonight has been long awaited, but not at all expected. Adam has been engulfed with work and school (5 seminary classes). Yes, I said five. Would you like to hear that number again? Just kidding! I am starting to sound like my friend Suzanne who has four children, yes four, and she constantly states that number so that everyone can feel the weight of it :)(all smiles for you Suz)
Surprisingly, Adam is sitting on the couch (not at his office) looking over his school work , and tells me I should go rent a movie. I am sitting across the room at the little closet with a built in desk with my lab top wide open, listening to David Platt's teaching on the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Theology you may say, a passionate heart I would say, who teaches through the Word in 1 hour with more scripture than any one I have ever heard and less inspirational points. It convicts my heart, brings me to repentance, and wants me to know more of God's Word than I ever have before. But more on that much later.
So back to this whole date thing. Adam tells me to go get a movie, and that he should be finished with his school work when I return. So off I go to the nearest Red Box, and then stop at McDonalds for a strawberry smoothie (me), small fry (me again), and what I thought to be a one apple pie (not me). But when I was pulling out of the parking lot, I reached down and realized that I had not one, but two apple pies. Then I remembered the story of my friend Kelly whose husband wanted to buy one apple pie for fifty cents. The lady behind the counter replied " I'm sorry sir, it's two for $1.'But I just want one, he said. "I can't ring it up that way, it's two for $1." --- I wonder how many people have gotten frustrated over this? I just think it is plain funny tonight!
So Adam and I will sit back, in the one weekend he had off this month, watch Iron Man 2 (no chick flicks were avaliable)and enjoy each others company. Who knows? I might eat the second apple pie! :)

"With a name like Noah, he has to love animals!"

Since this was an Exotic (meaning strikingly unusual ) Petting Zoo, Noah and Myah got to pick up and hold the baby goats. Of course, Myah needed a little help from Papa Dan.
Noah thought this was the coolest thing! He went up to EVERY goat, bent down if front of them and said," Hey there goat! What ya doing... huh? Seriously! Every one of them! He was so funny to watch. My mom says all the time," What do you expect? With a name like Noah, he has to love animals!" Indeed he does.

Adam was funny to watch too. He lead the way in feeding the animals, getting his hands and feet (because he wore flip flops:) drooled on by every animal in the zoo. I preferred to take the pictures.

I am pretty sure that Noah is looking in my direction in this pic and I yelled out," DON'T PICK UP THAT ONE!"


And as we entered into this exotic petting zoo, Leah had this look as if to say, "BRING EM ON!"

Sharks, Penquins, and Toddlers Oh My!

Here is a family pic of us at the Ripley's Aquarium in Pigeon Forge. For some reason we have chosen to take a family pic right outside the shark tank!?!
The Penguin Exhibit was my fave.
Here is Noah and Myah with my adoreable, crazy-energetic nephew! My sister would say the same thing about Noah! :)

This is how we rolled around town. Noah and Myah in the lead...

And baby Leah bringing up the caboose! It's rough being carried everywhere! :)

So Back to Remembering Vacation..

Adam LOVES the mountains! And his little butter bean (Noah) and sweet pea (Myah) are following in his footsteps! We planned a weekend getaway, in Pigeon Forge, before meeting up with the rest of my family in Wears Valley. Although it was challenging staying in a one bedroom condo with all 5 of us, it was worth it. The Resort had everything right there!
It took us 13 LONG HOURS to get to this place. We had one dilema after another. Everyone got to bed that night at 1a.m.! But we didn't have to drive anywhere to enjoy the great outdoors! This was the view from our balcony. Noah and Myah loved the cool playground!
And the coolest part, so I thought, was the awesome lazy river! The kids loved going around and around. But they were a little afraid of the waterfalls!
Leah enjoyed the lazy river too! This was her first time in the water and she loved it! All my babies love the water just like their mama!!!

Family time was great! Although I will say that it is really difficult to have a RELAXING vacation when you have such little ones! But the memories we hold, as we watch their faces light up, with every new encounter are priceless! The only thing I would have changed would be for Adam to be done with his summer semester classes. He worked on his school work while the kids slept. But at least we were all together!
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