Knoxville!

We went to Knoxville to visit family. It was a great end of the summer trip, and we had so much fun!

The poster Jacob made for Jon. We hung it up in the kitchen.

We rode on a Megabus there and back because it was so cheap. It was a pretty good experience...until we got in trouble for using wipe off markers on the windows...

When we first got on in Memphis

This is how high we were up on the double decker.

Life is rough...

This is on the way to Knoxville...this first bus driver apparently didn't care what her passengers did...

 

 

Truly, the best surprise of the bus. Outlets. 

 Oh the technology...

That first day on the way up we were able to spread out. It was a very pleasant trip. 

Jacob is actually lying on the floor...yes, it was gross. Did I care? No,  HE WAS LEAVING ME ALONE.

A semi is going past us. Our level was higher up than the cab of it. They thought it was cool at first...

I took this just because it was funny that when Morgan wiped off her window the wipe had her handprint on it. Now it just serves as evidence that we cleaned up after ourselves...

Morgan wrote this with the colored pencils that Aunt Debbie bought, on the notebook from Aunt Debbie. This was on the way home ;)

Before getting in trouble. Gee I'm glad we didn't mess up that top-notch cracked window....

Who wouldn't want this on their bus??? I think Megabus should just make it part of their slogan...

We were walking in Gatlinburg and saw an airbrush shop with this example in the window. It has a Halo man on it (Jacob's fave video game) and his name!! Oh the excitement.

Morgan found this shirt in a shop and had to have it. Even though the smallest one was an adult small. She tied up the side in a ponytail. It says "Rock Star." Goober.

We were going to go tubing but got rained out. As we were heading home, it stopped raining and decided to go for a helicopter ride instead!

Waiting for our turn.  The helicopter was taking off with another group. 

 

About to take off...she was so excited she couldn't look at me :)

 ditto....

In the air!

Home depot!

Hard to see but the Smoky Mountains are in the background.

Aunt Debbie and Grammy waving at us. 

Jacob was so funny because when Lily and Anderson were at Aunt Debbie's he would get quite annoyed with them for messing up whatever domino or Lego creation he was working on. But then Friday night neither one was there and he said, "I'm so sad that there are no babies here tonight..."

We are going to have to get Morgan over this shy phase she is going through...

 

Just as I was aiming to take a pic of the half moon Lily was sporting, I noticed my son's underwear sticking out of his pants. Sigh. 

Noah's birthday was this weekend and we celebrated by playing Pin The Tail On The Donkey when he wasn't even there...

But then he was there and we had cake. And brownies. And cupcakes. And ice cream. It's a shame how we deprive the children in our family.

Jacob found Uncle Vince's hats...

Lily wasted no time with Morgan.  They were having a Barbie party. 

The boys. Doing what boys do.

 

Mario balloon!

Mom got Lily a princess pig.  Yes, I said a princess pig.  She has clothes and talks. And snores, I think. As mom was opening the package and assembling the whole thing, Lily watched SO PATIENTLY AND WITH TOTAL AWE. Totally and completely opposite of how Morgan and Jacob have ever acted. I am sure Mom didn't know what to do with herself. 

Yea, I think Lily likes Morgan. 

One of my fave parts of the trip. As we were stopped at a gas station, Morgan spotted this magazine of homes for sale and grabbed it for her Daddy because he has been looking for a house to rent.  I didn't have the heart to tell her that the houses were in the Pigeon Forge area.

Morgan and I got matching hairstyles, courtesy of Aunt Debbie!

We went to a pizza place one night, and they had a game room where the kids could win tickets.  The tickets could then be traded in for crappy toys. Sort of like Chuck E Cheese.  But instead of having to wait for an employee to find the time to saunter over to the toy counter to give you your  crappy selections like at CEC, this place had an automated machine.  Awesome! No, not so much. Because when Jacob selected the yoyo, he got a plastic hippo.  When he selected a plastic rhino, he got a plastic fish. Oh well. I believe Morgan is trying to instruct us on how to do it correctly.  Note: Jacob is nowhere to be seen. This is probably because while we were stressing over trying to figure this machine out FOR HIM, his boy attention span caused him to completely lose interest.

At one point I got to ride in the back with Lily. We were in Aunt Debbie's car, sans technology, and embarking on a two hour rode trip. I actually thought to grab Jacob's DVD player and movies. I let her pick, and she said-in her COMPLETELY CUTEST SCRATCHY VOICE EVER- "I want that bug movie." (A Bug's Life).

 See, right here she is thinking, "cousin Shannon is my favorite."

Party boat at Nicole's house!!

Jacob and Noah

Jacob and Zack after Zack pushed him off the inter-tube. 

Zack, Jacob and Noah on the inter-tube.  Jacob learned quickly to go with the boys. Morgan liked it calmer...

 

 

Jacob watching Zack and Noah.

Lily took this pic (that's her little finger). I brought a disposable water camera which is set up like an old 35 mm camera. She looked at it like it was an alien specimen. After she took the pic she kept looking for it to pop up on the back :)

 Another pic by Lily! Pretty good job for a 3 year old I think!

Jacob chilling on the float.

 Morgan jumping

 Jacob jumping

Jacob and Morgan antagonizing Noah.

Jacob and Morgan jumping

Morgan jumping (I may have taken too many pics...)

Zack and Lily 

Jacob and Morgan getting ready for their first ride. Here's that famous chronological order thing...

When we first got to Nicole's, Jacob and Morgan first ran all over the house checking the inside out.  Then they ran straight outside to the dock. You know, just making themselves at home.  Love that even though they only see this part of the family a couple times a year they still feel comfortable  :)

 "Daddy I need the teys! (keys)"

Morgan decided it was best to go with Aunt Shae and have Hughes pull us slowly, and no circles. 

Jacob LOVED riding with Zack.  When I asked them what their fave part of the trip was, Jacob said, "getting thrown in the water by Zack."  (Morgan said hers was not getting stuck in the rain while tubing. Always the practical worry wart.)

Stole this from Nicole's blog because for once I was actually joining in the fun rather than just taking pics!! Nicole bought a ton of water balloons, which Zack and Amanda filled, and then we had a great fight. It was a lot of fun, and I was super thrilled about it because Jacob has been wanting to have one for a while. We haven't had one because it just isn't as much fun with 2 people...so this was perfect! Thanks Nicole!

I stole this from Melissa's blog.  The first pic is from last year. LAST YEAR. Look at how much they have all changed between then and the second pic, which is this year.

On the last day when Aunt Debbie was driving us to the bus stop to leave, we spotted a giant basketball on the Basketball Hall of Fame Museum.  Of course we had to get a pic.  So of course Aunt Debbie went out of her way to find a spot to park so we could do it.  Cuz she's awesome like that.

 And then we got to the bus stop where we realized we could see it.  So we took another pic. But one is giant and the the other is itty bitty, so both pics were absolutely necessary.

Videos!

Anderson's helicopter

Jacob and Morgan on the tube the first time

Random things overheard during the trip:

Jacob (on the drive to the bus station in Memphis): "OH! We should have gotten Aunt Debbie a purple present!'

Shannon (upon catching Jacob stuffing his face with Skittles one night around 10 p.m.):  "Jacob! Did you ask if you could have those?"
Morgan: Aunt Shae, you know he's not an asker.

Jacob (on the bus): "Morgan, wanna play Truth or Dare?"
Morgan: "We're on a bus. We can only play Truth."

Football Camp + Misc

Sigh. I had never dropped Jacob off anywhere before. Well, besides Grammy's. And school. You get the idea. I just can't believe my little boy is old enough for this. Anyway, the first day he loved football camp. The second day he got in trouble for not paying attention and had to run a lap. Not so much love that day. But the rest of the week was great. Plus, we found out that one of the boys will be on his team this fall! (This camp was not affiliated with the football league. It was just something Jon and I put him in so he would learn some basics and not feel so out of it when practices started.) His team is called the Giants. Sigh.

 Everytime I clicked the camera, either Jacob or another boy would move and get in the way. Jacob is the one standing in front of the taller guy in the back wearing the white t-shirt. You can barely see Jacob's head...

The coach is the man to the right of the pic and that tall guy is one of his teenage sons. The coach played college ball, and both sons play highschool ball. They were all really great, and the teenagers were awesome at motivating the boys. 

Skins vs. Shirts. Jacob was on the Skins team this day. Again, it was impossible to get a decent shot. He is the one in the middle with black shorts, no shirt.

A video of their chant. It's a little long...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WZSKKhK3MM&feature=plcp

I actually had a video of them doing drills but for some reason it won't load. Aggravation.

On to the MISC:

The famous trampoline stunt...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11rB7TeQqdM&feature=plcp

We met a friend at McDonald's to play, I mean to text back and forth...

We went to a park afterward.  It was a park we had never been to before, and it had a really big sand volleyball court. Jacob found 3 shells in the sand (gave one to his friend). How odd is that?? You can't even find shells this night on a beach...

Misc.

The title explains it ;)

I walked past the bathroom and saw this scene...teenage girls. I was one of those once...

Give a boy some tape...and he will attach a flashlight to a nerf gun...

We "liked" a page on FB called Little Helpers. It is a charity organization that puts together volunteer events for kids.  This was our first event.  The Memphis Food Bank provided a list of food for volunteers to buy, and some other company donated a bunch of backpacks.  The bags were going to be given to kids who qualify for school lunches but probably don't get much to eat on the weekends.   How "reality just slapped me in the face" is that? Of course that hits very close to home. Anyway, the kids grabbed a bag at the beginning of the line and went through stuffing them. Once they filled one, they could start back over, until all the bags were filled. Jacob really got into it and picked stuff HE likes :)

Summer Take 3 (It's a long one)

So far we have had a pretty calm summer. And by that I mean somewhat boring. IT IS JUST SO DANG HOT IN MEMPHIS.

The ice cream truck FINALLY came down our street. We hear it all the time but it never comes..kind of annoying. Jacob selected an "Extra Sour Tear Jerker" Popsicle. 

Found this on my garage floor one day after Morgan had left...

 As always Jacob loves a good bargain. We found this at Goodwill while shopping with Grammy and he loves it. I walked into the living room that night and he was wearing it, watching tv. It was a 100 degrees outside. But it is a pretty awesome coat: Old Navy, all snug and soft inside. AND only $2.99. Shut up.

We went to the fireworks at the park down the street from our house and some friends joined us. Their 3 year old little girl is teeny tiny (we call her little bit). Jon had packed this two wheeler with our cooler, chairs, and blankets so naturally she assumed it was meant for her to ride on on the way home :) It's blurry because we were walking.

 When Jacob switched from wanting to play affordable-includes-everything-but-the-shoes soccer to expensive-only-includes-the-jersey football, we went to Dick's to price stuff. Where upon I realized that all the stuff one needs to play 7 year old football is not much cheaper than what one needs to play high school football. So initially I actually told him no, he couldn't play.  Not to sound like a miser but I mean, really? Come on.  Two weeks into it I could be bribing the boy to go to practice. I don't want to sink that much money into anything unless it's almost a guarantee "like." But then a friend of a friend had his son's old equipment and gave it all to us for $20. So, ok, I changed my mind... The drawback to this whole thing though was that it made Morgan want to cheer for football.  And for some reason to join cheer during football season is twice as much as it is for basketball season. So Michael is less than thrilled...Football. What a racket.

Movies with friends. BECAUSE IT IS AIR CONDITIONED.

 We love the Diary movies

At some point one day Jacob actually expressed interest in golf. Why, oh why couldn't he have done this in, say, April or October?? So away to the putting range (is that what it's called?) we went...He actually did really well.

We are all over us some Goodwill this summer. Mom found these Razor Scooters for $3.99. They are normally $40! Craziness. Anyway, we went to our church parking lot and rode them.

We took Dad to the Rendevous for his annual Father's Day dinner.  This is what Jacob and Morgan were up to in the back seat. GET YOUR CHILD A USED IPOD. GOLD.

 Love these glimpses into their sense of humor.

 CRAZY LOVE this one.

 These were the only 2 who would let me take their picture. Party poopers.

Give a boy a blanket that is unraveling...and he will make a tripwire out of it.

What seems to be becoming our annual trip to Mud Island. But this time, I was prepared.  Swimsuits, extra clothes, water bottles and snacks!

Jacob kept freaking out, "Diamonds!"

Anytime we go anywhere where there are paddle boats they want to do them. But since that is usually in a big lake type setting I never let them because if we get miles away and then get tired of peddling, it is going to be hell for me.  But at Mud Island, the area is closed in, AND the swans only allow 2 people, which meant I couldn't go if they really wanted to get a swan rather than the plain one...darn...

 Another group of kids. They played bumper boats and were having so much fun. UNTIL the other kids' mom made them stop. Please. First of all, when the boats bumped, they barely swayed. Second, the kids are deep inside the boat, not, like, on top of it like a canoe or something. Third, if for some odd reason they did fall out, the water was only 3 feet deep. I know I can't be the only person who just wants their kids to be entertained and leave me alone for a few minutes, am I???

They were really nervous when they first got in the boat. They kept looking at me like, "Are you really not coming?" But as you can see, their confidence grew quickly.

Hard to see but in between them is a scale model of a dam. I told them to pretend to step on it like Godzilla. Then they said, "like what?" and I felt old. 

 On the monorail going across. The only part that costs money ($4) but totally worth it.

 Order placement runs in the family. I love the pyramid and the monorail in the background.  I think Mud Island should make this their new advertisement poster...

So pumped up about getting a new book from the library he had to start in the car. LOVE

Doesn't everyone sit in recliners like this??

 Playing legos with a friend in this one and video games in the last.