Tennessee Smokies

No, I'm not talking about the mountains. I'm talking about our baseball team! We went to see a minor league game last Saturday night with some friends of ours.

Luke was getting restless so they took a walk around the park.

Tim and Jennifer...

Dusty, Andrea, Charlotte, Greg and Clay...

Luke loves Mr. Tim...

Luke and Clay sharing a seat...

My Future Marine Biologist

It's Shark Week on the Discovery Channel!

Last night, I was just flipping channels and didn't even notice it when I passed by, but I hear Luke say "Mommy - go back - I saw a shark!"

We sat and watched an hour-long show about sharks (specifically the Great Whites off the coast of South Africa). He loved it! It really was fascinating. And there's more every night this week! You should check it out!

"It's a Shark! Oh My Gosh!

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. We had nothing planned for Saturday and I wanted to get out of the house and do something fun. And since Luke has been obsessed with sharks lately, we headed up to Gatlinburg to go to the Aquarium. The traffic was pretty bad getting up there. Where it would usually take less than an hour, it took us a little over an hour and a half. But once we were there, we were happy we came.

I couldn't pass up the photo opp in front of the pretty flowers.

Another photo opp...

That catfish was bigger than Luke...

You know, it was kind of an expensive little trip -

Tickets to the Aquarium - $50

Gas there and back - $25

Souvenirs and food - $20

Hearing your 3-year old yell "It's a shark - OH MY GOSH!!" - Priceless!!

What I love about Ripley's Aquarium is the tunnel - where the sharks can swim right over your head. Greg tried to lift him up so he could see it better, but he didn't like that too much.

I kept humming the Jaws theme every time one went over our heads ...

Check out the teeth on that shark!!! Vewy Scawy!

Luke liked the sting rays. And so, of course, we talk about Nemo's teacher Mr. Ray ...

(We made many many references to 'Finding Nemo' throughout the day.)

These sting rays crack me up ... looks like Casper the friendly ghost...

Check out that huge Spider Crab... said they can live up to 100 years!

That's an eel ... isn't he scary looking??

The picture really doesn't do this turtle justice ... he was HUGE!!!

"Ooohhh.... Barracuda" Couldn't help singing the Pat Benatar song when I saw them ....

And since they make you leave via the gift shop, he had to have a shark!

Oohh... A ferrari! (Yeah, It's not real).

I have no idea what this little pose is...

Just like a kid in the candy store ... ha!

Of course I had to let him get some gummy sharks, fish and turtles... and he had to get them out himself.

And here we are on the main strip. You can't tell from this picture but it was crazy busy. Tons of people and cars. Oh, and it was 95 degrees outside!! You can probably tell the little guy is hot - his face is really red.

He did awesome. He didn't get crabby til the very end and it was understandable - we had been walking all afternoon. I knew he was tired and hungry. But overall, he had a great day!!!

And we've had our fill of Gatlinburg for another year. Maybe next summer we'll ride the sky lift.

Rainy Day Activities...

We had to get creative on a rainy day. So we parked my car in the driveway so that Luke could play in the garage.

He saw Daddy with his tools and he wanted to "fix" his trike...

All fixed!

Then we thought it would be fun to make homemade pretzels...

This is a picture of them before they went in the oven ... I didn't take a picture of 'after' because well, we ate them all as soon as they came out of the oven. They were yummy!!!


Now, let's take a trip on memory lane for a minute ... remember this picture?

(almost doesn't even look like him)

Well, I had Luke pose with the very same duck to see how big he's gotten in 3 years!

Wow - these 3 years have just flown by!!

The Turtle Needs a Name...

(just kidding ... we're not keeping the turtle)..

Look what was in the driveway when we got home yesterday....



A box turtle.


Luke was very excited. But I told him that he couldn't touch it - he could only look at it.




We put him in a box til Greg got home.

And then they released him back into "the wild" (aka - the woods behind our house). I wasn't about to have a turtle as a pet. Plus, as we told Luke, his mommy and daddy were probably looking for him! :)

All-American Weekend

The boys got home from their Braves game on Saturday morning. After Luke took a 4-hour nap (!), we had a little cookout on the deck. (I think he was a little worn out!)

What could be better than a watermelon on a hot summer day??



Luke wanted the whole thing to himself...


Too cute...


This is his new 'mad' face ... all scrunched up.


Then, we grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs, and sat out on the deck til the sun went down.


Luke doesn't eat a hot dog like a normal person ...


Check out that face ... he has ketchup everywhere...


Then, on Sunday after nap, we got milkshakes and went to the pool! Luke wanted chocolate, of course, while Greg and I got strawberry.
(We tried the new Wendy's Frosty Shakes ... I wasn't too crazy about them).



And then we had corn on the cob for dinner! YUM!! (my favorite)!!



So it was a real 'American' weekend, complete with a baseball game, a cookout with watermelon, swimming at the pool, and eating corn on the cob!! The only thing missing was the apple pie. But that's ok - I baked oatmeal cookies instead. :)