From Merlot to Masterpiece

I was invited to paint with some sweet friends from church. It is a three hour class and the instructor shows you step by step how to paint a masterpiece. This one was called "The Funky Tree" and it was so much fun. We brought snacks and drinks and had a great time painting. It is amazing to me that all of them not only turned out great, but were so incredibly different! I can't wait to go again! 

Days 4 and 5

After our very long day 3, we got up on day 4 and went to another Civil War Battleground....Chickamauga in Georgia. While battlefields are not the most interesting thing to me, my boys LOVE them! This one was HUGE....reminded me a little bit of Calloden in Scotland, but even bigger! There was a great cell phone audio tour so we spend most of the time driving around to the different sites and listening to the information. Every once in awhile we got out and looked around. We didn't take too many pictures since it all pretty much just looked like a big green field! :) 

After spending the morning at Chickamauga, we headed up to Knoxville where we would stay for the last two days of vacation. On the way there, we stopped at the Mayfield Dairy. Mayfield is Tennessee's equivalent to Bluebell. Their milk comes in a bright yellow jug! In college, my roommate always said that Mayfield made the best milk. At the time, Nashville did not carry Mayfield's milk so every time her parents came to visit from Maryville (outside of Knoxville), they brought 2 big jugs for us in a cooler! We were too late to take a tour, but we did enjoy some ice cream and the boys "milked" a cow! 

The next day, we got up and met the McKennas at Ober Gatlinburg. They have family in Knoxville, so they came at the same time we were there. :) Ober Gatlinburg is a ski resort in the winter and a mini amusement park in the summer. You take a sky gondola thing up to it. It is about a 15 minute trip with such a beautiful view up into the valley. When you get there, there is so much to do. The favorite is an alpine slide. You ride the ski lift up to the ride and then slide down racing each other. There were also some fun water rides and swings. We took the ski lift to the very top of the mountain peak which was beautiful. It was great because the kids could pretty much do the rides over and over and when the adults got tired, they could just sit and watch. 

Finally on the last day before we left to drive home, we all went horseback riding. When Steve and I were in Knoxville for the DI competition in May, we were told of the Walden Creek Stables and absolutely loved them! We knew that when we brought the boys, we would take them horseback riding there. This time around we went on the hour and a half tour which took us even further up into the mountains. It was a fun way to end our trip. Ana was in heaven!

 Steve's  horse, Atta Boy, was really onery. He kept spitting out his bit and then would try and nip Steve in the leg every time he went to put it back in! 

We can't wait to go back to Tennessee! 

Day 3

So, I didn't quite get our trip finished last week like I planned to. The Olympics are definitely taking up a lot of my freetime! :) 

Day 3 of our trip was a VERY BUSY day! We did the Lookout Mountain tour! We met up with our good friends the McKennas who were in Chattanooga for the week visiting family. So fun to hang out with friends on vacation....we started up at the top of the mountain at Rock City. This is a super fun place to walk around. The highlight is standing out and looking at 7 states from the lover's leap lookout point. Ana's favorite part was the Fairyland Gardens because "it meant that was the end of Rock City." Not her very favorite place. :) 

 On the fun suspension bridge

 Standing at the place where you can see 7 states. 

 Taking a shower in the misters! 

 Can you find the three little birds???

 Nolan was off jumping in puddles with Olivia....

 A 1,000 ton rock perfectly balanced. Aren't my boys strong??

After leaving Rock City, we went to the bottom of the mountain to check out Ruby Falls. Ruby Falls is the world's largest underground waterfall. It is 140 feet and beautiful. In order to see it, you must first walk about a half a mile through really cool underground caverns. 

After checking out Ruby Falls, we ate a little lunch and then the kids all did a ropes course that included a zipline. Braden, Olivia, Ana, and Nolan all had to do the smaller course because of their age and height. Logan got to do the adult course. 

 Having a blast

 In order to watch them zipline, we all had to wear hard hats. Aren't we so cute? :) 

 Ana was hilarious....she had no fear and her favorite thing to do was jump up and down on the rope while Nolan was going across. Look at that sly smile on her face!

 Braden desperately wanted to do the adult course, but he just couldn't reach the clips. 

Logan had fun. So much fun because he got to do TWO ropes course. We watched him zipline the first time and waited and waited for him to join us so that we could go on the incline railway. However, he never showed up. When we asked our guide, he told us there were two courses. So, we had four little ones waiting for an hour....to pass the time, they climbed trees, rested, collected rocks, had a date, etc. 

These two were inseparable! 

Finally, we were able to ride the inclined railway. There is a slanted train that you can ride straight up and down the side of Lookout Mountain.....a 72 degree slant. I have always been scared to try it because it is soooooo steep. However, I got talked into it this time. I am so glad I did. It was one of my favorite things! The train moves very slowly so it wasn't really that scary. The view was spectacular. The train car is actually slanted as well. We rode up to the top of the mountain first, and then walked to Point Park, a civil war battleground and monument....memorializing "the battle of Lookout Mountain." Then we rode the train back down to the bottom of the mountain where our car was. 

 The train car

 Taking pictures on top of one of the many cannons at Point Park

 Steve pointing out all of the important places in Chattanooga 

 Looking down the mountain

And if we weren't exhausted yet. we then headed to downtown Chattanooga where we ate at Mellow Mushroom, played in the fountains, and walked across the bridge twice! It was such a fun day!