Summer fun continued
During book club Josh took Lily over to the Ray's house so she could spend the night. They were leaving at 5:15am and I'm so glad they took Lily and didn't make me get up at 4:45 to get her over to their house. Lily was nervous but ready to get it over with and overall she had a meaningful experience. She hasn't said too much about it but she was really tired when she got home and then we had a quick turn around on our trip so I hope we can talk more about it later. She learned she can do hard things and that in itself is a good life lesson. While she was gone we had the sister missionaries over for dinner and one day I went to the temple by myself. I had thought to ask other ladies to come with me but in the end decided I needed some alone time to just ponder and think and feel without distraction or interruption. It was a longer drive alone but I very much enjoyed my time in the temple. Serving and being in such a sacred place heals my soul and makes me feel loved and helps me maintain an eternal perspective of life and I needed all of it. I got home around 3pm and the kids were all happy and had done their jobs and practiced the piano and had hardly missed me.
Friday we spent getting ready to go. I cut the grass, took the car to get the oil changed, did laundry and packed. Josh did a grocery pick up and it was funny that since his mom asked him to make pizza, he kind of took over the food for the trip. It was super nice not to have to worry about it but it was kind of weird how we switched roles on this trip. We went and picked Lily up from the Rays at 8:30 pm and then took her and her stinkiness home to get cleaned up and packed to leave the next morning.
Saturday we drove to Tennessee and it was an easy drive. We got there around 6pm and got groceries and headed to the house. It was a huge, beautiful house way up the mountain and we had the most gorgeous view. Unfortunately, there was a water pump issue that was extremely frustrating and kind of messed up the first few days of our trip. We had no running water until Monday afternoon so that was tough with the bathrooms and showers and dishes. But we survived and made the best of it. Josh's mom had subs for us Saturday night and it was good to see everyone. Sunday we just hung out and talked and played games and didn't do much since we were waiting for the plumber all day. At one point we did go to another house the company managed just to shower and then our family went to the Apple Barn which had delicious cider and doughnuts and fried apple pies.
Monday we went with Josh's brother and his family to do what we thought was a one mile hike to some waterfalls but it turned out to be .1 mile so then they decided to go to the highest point in TN called Clingman's Dome but we decided to do the waterfall hike we had planned to do Sunday but then didn't. It was so beautiful and we had a great time. It was the perfect length for our kids and the water and falls were so fun to play in. We were really hoping to see some bears and we looked all week but never did. Everyone we talked to saw bears though and a lady in Dollywood on the train even showed me video of the bears that came up to their rental house but we saw nothing! The hike was beautiful though and I'm glad we did it. Then we met Josh's parents at the Old Mill for some ice cream and a little shopping before we went back to shower and get clean, which was nice. The kids were so sweet to their little cousins all week and it was cute to watch. I've got good kids and I'm so grateful.
Tuesday we went to Dollywood and it was a great day. The park never felt crowded and we got to do a lot of rides and I just loved the feel of it. It is shaded and there are flowers and trees everywhere and cute shops and art work and the ride designs are all well done. There were lots of rides for my more intrepid riders and Curtis and Josh could do roller coasters pretty quickly and then meet up with us no problem. We got to the park before it opened and they rode the Fire Chaser once and the Eagle one twice with absolutely no wait. Emma and Brandon started off with a junior coaster and then we tried what I thought was a mini drop tower but turned out we had to pull ourselves up and then very gently fell back down. Brandon liked it though. Then we did some more kid rides and just in time the boys met up with us for the new roller coaster, Big Bear Mountain. I absolutely loved it! It was fast and fun without any big drops or being too intense; just fun. We did the Dragonfliers and Emma and Brandon loved Black Bear Trail (which was seriously cute) and then we walked around the park and saw the eagles and the boys road the tornado coaster and then we had the most amazing BBQ lunch with cinnamon bread for dessert. Seriously good food. We went on the rapids ride and drove the cute 50s cars and rode the Dollywood express and listened to a blue grass band while drinking slushies. The kids did bumper cars and then we went back to Big Bear Mountain. I had hoped to stay for the fireworks but my kids were all pretty tired and done by 8:30 and they didn't start until 9:40 so we got more cinnamon bread (we ended up eating four loaves!) and headed back. We hadn't eaten dinner yet so we got back to the house around 9pm and they had sandwiches and then Emma and Brandon fell into their beds. It was a really fun and beautiful family day and I'm glad we went even though none of Josh's family wanted to come with us.
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