Living, Loving, Learning

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

So, it is like a month past our vacation and I am still blogging about it, but I am determined to get it all posted. After we left Jimmy in Atlanta, we drove about 4 hours to the Jack Daniels distillery. What a fantastic place! It was free, organized, educational and family friendly...I cannot say enough good things about the tour (especially compared to our next destination which is Graceland.) The tour is about an hour long and covers all the stages of the making of the whiskey along with some of the historical interest on the property. The distillery is located in the middle of the "hollers" and the location is beautiful. Our tour guide was a really witty, sweet lady who gave everyone the feeling of family. I guess with all that whiskey about, there is not much to be unhappy about. She even told us that all the workers at Jack Daniels receive a pint of whiskey with their paychecks on the first Friday of every month -- it is usually a perfect attendance day! We toured the o

Here is our little artist at our most recent playgroup. And here is his famous " ALEXIS " smile. Anyone who has taken an unwelcome picture of my little sister has seen this smile before.

Friends, old and new, made the fourth part of this trip EXTRA extra special. After we came home from the mountains, Bruce and I gussied up, kissed are boy goodbye (not that he noticed as he was enthralled with Grandpa's army men at the time) and took off for our anniversary celebration. And, what a way to celebrate, by making new friends. We met up with Kyle, Sarah and Calliope at a little restaurant in the college area of Knoxville. This family are friends/family of our family...family, family, family...there is a theme here somewhere. Anyways, although we had met briefly a few years before, it still had the feeling of a blind date. Until we sat at the table and started discussing the virtues of dark beer, then we felt like we had been friends for a long time. And their little girl...this magical little creature!! She is so precious, one only has to glimpse her and know that she has many magical powers, wears clothes made of flower petals, drinks her juice out of buttercups and su

One of the most incredible things about Knoxville is it's proximity to the Smokey Mountains. Many areas just outside the city provide you with breathtaking mountain views. We were so excited to spend a day in the mountains and we decided to make the trek on our Aniversary (yeah, 4 years of living, loving and learning together!). We headed up to the Smokey Mountains National Park and decided to explore a part of the park called Cades Cove. From the Park's website : "Cades Cove is a lush valley surrounded by mountains and one of the most popular destinations in the Great Smokies. Deer are almost always sighted in the fields, and observations of other wildlife, including bear, Wild Turkey, and fox are possible." "A wide array of historic buildings dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries is scattered through-out the cove. These include a grist mill, a variety of barns, three churches, and a marvelous collection of log homes and outbuildings." This

This was the view from our bedroom window yesterday morning and today.

October in Michigan...ain't nothin' prettier. Create Your Own!

"Papa, Papa, peepee in potty" "Do you have to go peepee in the potty?" "without you Papa" "You want to go without me?" "No" "C'mon, let's go in the bathroom and I will help you get started" Silence. Bruce walks into the bathroom and finds that Griff had already used the potty -- by himself!! YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's working!

What can I say? I love the fungi. Create Your Own!

After we got through Indiana, we were excited to be on the road. Griffin had settled into his carseat and had his daily feast of goldfish, beef jerky ("more meat, Mama!!") and Pirate's Booty. He played his two puzzles for an hour at a time, read books, and sorted through the huge bag of little distractions I bought for the trip. During all his waking hours though, there was one constant occurrence every 5 mins. or so. " Doin' Mama, doooiiinnnnn'???" This is a very loosely used phrase for Griffin. It could mean "I am bored, please entertain me", "I have a poopy diaper and it is about to get stinky in here", "If you tell me one more time to 'keep my eyes open' for interesting trucks I am going to freakin' loose my mind" ...you get the picture. This is my child's version of the overused, wasn't that cool to begin with, " Waz uuupppp?" But through it all, we trucked on, and really enjoyed the count

Well, Griff has chicken pox! It is not as bad as it could be because he is having a relatively mild reaction but we still are not getting a lot of sleep or smiles in the Gast house. In light of this, I decided to just try to start getting our vaca out in little managable pieces....Part I. We started our trip late one Friday night after I worked till close at the restaurant. We drove the 4 1/2 hours that it takes to get to Bruce's folks, Steve and Lee's, house. We arrived there at about 4:30 and were feeling tired but pretty good nontheless. We put Griff to bed (they are so sweet - they always have a crib made up and ready for Griffin!), let the dogs out (our Sunshine plus their 2 dogs, Dusky and Max) and started unloading the car. About this time Bruce realized that Max is gone. Uh oh!!! Oh by the way, Steve and Lee are still in Canada on their vacation at this point. So there we are running around the neighborhood at 5 a.m. screaming "Max" - I am sure the neighbors l