Fun at Aunt Joy's House

We spent the weekend with Greg's sister, Joy, at her home in NC. It was such a peaceful, relaxing weekend. (Well, as peaceful and relaxing as it gets with a 3-year old). The weather was perfect. It was so much cooler up in the mountains - a welcome change from the 90's we've experienced here in East Tennessee.

We left town on Friday at 3pm. We picked Luke up after school nap, which in hindsight was not the smart thing to do. The kid was well rested and did not want to sit in a car seat for 2-1/2 hours. And boy, did we hear about it! He whined and whined - "are we there yet?" Then about 90 minutes into the car ride, he says "I don't want to go to Aunt Joy's house. I want to go home." Oh good grief. I was working on a major headache. So we stopped and got kid some animal crackers and me a Starbucks Double Shot (yum)!





Finally! We are there! Luke was giving us the tour ... even though he's never been there before.






We made some really yummy dinners... and then enjoyed them outside under the tree...





Joy made a homemade Blueberry Buckle, which went perfectly with vanilla bean ice cream! So here's Luke eating his ice cream at 9:30pm ... also, in hindsight, not the best idea ... he was wired!



Luke slept on Aunt Joy's couch, which was the perfect size for him.




Luke playing with Joy's dog, Amber ...





On Saturday, we went for a hike up Roan Mtn.







He insisted on climbing every rock he saw. He is definitely all boy!!

When we took a walk up Joy's dead end street, we found the horses in the field.

Here's Luke caught in mid-run. He had so much energy. He was running circles around the rest of us. In fact, he ran so much that those crocs gave him a big blister on his foot!!

He loved chasing Amber...

He did not want his picture made here... oh well - I took it anyway!!

Aunt Joy gave us a lesson on how to throw pottery!

Then she let us each try our hand at the wheel...

Here are our creations...

Luke loved playing with the clay...

We each had our favorite parts of the weekend. Greg's favorite part was hiking Roan Mtn. (With a close second being the yummy dinners we fixed). My favorite part was throwing pottery with Joy. And when we asked Luke what his favorite part was, he said "Joy's dog." Good grief. Are we gonna have to get the kid a dog??

I took many more pictures this weekend. They weren't all of Luke. If you want to see the 'artsy' pics, visit my other blog here.

"That's 'cause why!"

Don't ask what it means. It's just the new favorite saying. He'll ramble on for 4 or 5 sentences and then follow it up with "that's 'cause why." Whatever. I'm sure it makes sense in Luke's world.

Here are just some random pictures from the weekend...

We were drawing on the driveway. And what does Luke want me to draw? A shark, of course.

Then Luke and I went to the pool on Saturday and ate our lunch down there.

There was another family there and they had this HUGE beach ball. Well, it bounced out of the pool so Luke went to hit it back to her. But then she hit it back to him. And they went back and forth like that for a while. He was having a blast!!!

And I couldn't resist the photo opp here... It was late in the afternoon and the hot sun was coming through the window. All three cats were laid out in the sun.

This is Pogo.

Pumpkin ... isn't she gorgeous?

And I like this shot - I was playing with a setting on the camera.

Luke loves Pumpkin. And she does really well to put up with him most of the time.

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.