Vacation with the Royalty's

Drew, Trent, Paige & Hailey

Once again the Royalties came for vacation!!! We were so excited to see them. It had been 6 months since our last visit together when we made our surprise trip to them back in January.

We had been planning and making plans on what we were going to do for the time they were here.

They got in on Friday afternoon and we all had some lunch.  Then Jackie & I with Paige & Hailey ran out to a couple of stores to get some things for the week.  Friday early evening Brian went with Jamie to get a load of hay and during chore time everyone helped out then we just hung around and relaxed since Jackie and Brian were up most of the night before traveling.

Saturday Jackie & I took the girls food shopping and the boys went with Jamie & Brian. They went to help out with a fundraiser for Drew's football.  They helped wrapped up smoked BBQ ribs, Boston Butts and Drunken Chickens that were preordered and were being picked up that day.  Later in the afternoon we went over to the lake for a little swimming.  It was REALLY hot here this week of vacation, hitting the 100's easy every day.

Lots of time was taken up with cooking, eating and then picking up from cooking and eating.  We had some really delicious meals.

Sunday was a day of rest mostly.  I believe it was 106 degrees on Sunday so we stayed inside most of the day, except for getting the morning and evening chores done.  We also decided to go to dinner Sunday night and have a break from cooking.

Monday was our first full day.  This is the day we rented the boat on Dale Hollow Lake.  This year we got a Pontoon boat but it had a big enough engine to pull a tube so we could also go tubing.  We packed a cooler of some sandwiches and snacks we made and another cooler full of water and Gatorade's, as it was suppose to be in the 100's again for the day.

We tubed a bunch of times and beached the boat so we could swim and skip rocks and look for shells.

It was a wonderful, relaxing day.  Thankfully this was the one day Jackie & I got pictures.  The rest of the week we were just too busy to remember to take pictures while we were doing things.

Hailey & Paige ready for tubing

Drew, Trent, Hailey & Paige skipping rocks

All four kids tubing

Brian taking a turn driving the boat

Jackie & I tubing

Our boat this year

Drew, Trent & Hailey swimming

Our tube

Paige & Hailey, so cute!!

Drew & Trent ready for tubing

Me & Hailey, I love this picture Jackie took of us :)

Paige & Jackie

Drew, Me & Trent

Trent & Jackie 

Jamie & me

Jamie & Silly Drew

Hailey, Jackie & Paige

Paige, me & Hailey

Trent & Drew skipping rocks

Paige & Hailey looking for shells

All the kids having a breathing contest

Drew & Trent doing tricks while tubing

Beautiful Hailey, Jackie took this picture

Brian

Jamie tubing, it wasn't fast enough for him LOL

Paige & Brian tubing and having fun!!

We had a great time on the lake and since it was such a long day we decided to stop and have dinner out.  I'm sure we will get a boat again next year.  We have done it every year now and haven't been disappointed yet.

Tuesday was a recoup day. Some of us got a little sunburned and the kids were really tired.  So we just hung around for the day.  Caught up on some cleaning and some laundry.  The boys played xbox and the girls did crafts and us adults chatted, played some cards and just relaxed.

Wednesday, 4th of July was a nice day too.  We had been invited to our friend's house for a 4th of July party.  Most of the morning was spent making up some food and getting some coolers and bags of goodies ready for the party.  We got to the party around 3pm and ending up staying till about 10pm.  Jackie was a love and came with me around 7pm to do the chores while the kids and Jamie & Brian stayed at the party.  The kids had a great time having a squirt gun fight and also doing old fashioned games, like sack races and the three legged race.  There was LOTS of kids there to play with so we basically didn't see them the whole time unless we went looking for them to check on them.  We all had a great time.

Thursday was another big day for us.  We had reservations to go White Water rafting on Pigeon River.  Jamie & I had to get up at 5am to get the chores done while Jackie and Brian got all the kids up and got them breakfast so we could leave at 6:15am to be there on time.  It was a little bit difficult because the rafting place was in Eastern time while we are in Central time so we lost an hour once we crossed the timeline.  We had to best time though.  We ended up having to go into two separate boats.  Jackie, Brian & Trent were the first ones to fall out, thankfully nobody got hurt.  Jamie was next to fall out of our boat and then Drew fell out.  Victory goes to Paige, Hailey & I, we stayed in our boats the whole time!!!  It was lots of fun, I just wish we all could have been in the same boat together.  It may be something we will try again next year. Hopefully we can find somewhere closer and somewhere that has a boat for all of us together.

Once we were finished rafting we headed over to the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg tourist area.  We took a drive on the strip with all the stores and museums which took us forever since there is so much traffic there.  We were able to stop at one of the stores and Jackie and Brian got some t-shirts.  We then went to get some lunch at a terrific place called KT's Bar & Grill. Everyone was able to get something they liked and it tasted great!!

We were then going to bring the kids go-carting but a storm blew in out of no where and it was a severe storm.  Raining, high winds and all of the electricity was knocked out. So we decided to head on home and finally got home around 7:30pm. We got the chores done and just had a few snacks in the evening whenever anyone was hungry.

Friday was an off day again for us.  We got everything all caught up again and just hung around the house.

Saturday was a down day too.  We just enjoyed spending our last day together.

The Royalty's heading home to MA early Sunday morning at 2am.  We were so sad to see them go.  We all really enjoyed our time together for vacation.  I can say enough how much we appreciate them taking the time and LLLOONNNGGG drive here to us in TN. 

It's now our turn to go to MA.  We hopefully will be going sometime in December or January.  We are in the process of figuring out the breeding schedule for the goats so we can plan for the trip without the issues of births and milking.

Our Little Vacation to Florida

Hailey, Gramma (Vi), Drew & Papa (Paul)

We finally were able to take a long weekend vacation to Florida to visit Jamie's parents.

We had a great time.  They live in Fort Myers and it was beautiful.  Their house is in a gated community with more amenities and activities than anyone could possible want.

We left Thursday afternoon after we did the chores and drove straight through.  It took us about 12 hours, with us getting there around 6am.  Jamie went to bed while the kids and I visited with his parents.  Once it was late enough we took the kids for a walk and Jamie's mom, Vi showed us around.  We also took the kids swimming a couple of times and went for a few more walks throughout the day.  It was so nice to be out enjoying the beautiful weather.  It was around 80 degrees Friday and Saturday.

Besides swimming and taking walks, we played cards.  We also had a yummy roast beef dinner.  The kids were so tired from all of their activities that they actually went and laid down at 6pm and took and hour nap on their own.  We woke them both up for dinner and then Hailey went back to bed after she finished eating and Drew stayed up for a bit longer before going back to bed.

Saturday was beautiful again and we took the kids swimming several times.  This is the view of one of the ponds from the swimming pool.

Pond in Florida

While checking out this view, Jamie noticed an alligator sunning himself.  Jamie's parents told us that there are 3 alligators in the area that go back and forth between the 3 ponds there.

Alligator sunning in Florida

The kid were super excited to see the alligator.  The alligator was pretty big too, not that you can tell from the above picture.  He was about 7 feet long.

We also went on a few more walks.  We also took the kids to the Shell Factory and a big outdoors Farmers Market where we bought some fresh fruit and veggies.  We also got a few bags of oranges and grapefruits to bring home. We also just relaxed spending time with each other too.  Then Saturday afternoon we went to the dog race track.  They had a delicious prime rib buffet which we all enjoyed.  We also did some betting on the races.  Thankfully we really didn't lose any money.  We just like going for fun, not big gambling.  We also let the kids pick some races and placed the bets for them.  They did a great job.

Sunday we got up and had some breakfast and got the car packed up to head home.  The kids had school on Monday so we needed to come home.  Hopefully our next trip will be longer.  We all had such a great time and can't wait to go back.

Here are some pictures from our trip to Florida

Drew & Hailey on the Llama bench

Drew & Hailey swimming

Drew

Drew, Hailey & Jamie

Drew, Papa (Paul) & Hailey

Papa (Paul), Jamie, Gramma (Vi), Hailey & Drew

Hailey & Gramma (Vi)

Hailey with a orange tree

Jamie & I



Grand Ole Opry

Last week the kids had their first break from school.  We always try to do a few things with them for vacation and was great because Jamie had taken the whole week off too.

We decided to take the kids to the Grand Ole Opry.

Outside of the Grand Ole Opry House

The line-up for the evening was impossible to turn down.  We got to see Sara Evans, Scotty McCreery, Trace Adkins, Montgomery Gentry, Dierks Bentley, Chris Young, Eric Church and LeAnn Rimes.

Each artist sang about 3 songs each.  They all were wonderful to listen to and watch perform.

We all had a great time.  I'm sure we will be going back again sometime soon.

All of us at the Grand Ole Opry

Drew & Hailey outside the Opry

We took lots of pictures and they all can been seen under the October 2011 album on my facebook page.



Vacation

Sorry I have been missing on my postings but we were on vacation.  My best friend, Jackie, her husband Brian and their kids, Paige & Trent drove all the way from Massachusetts to visit with us for a week.  We had such a great time.  My kids are best friends with her kids Trent & Paige.  Drew & Hailey were so happy to see them and get to hang out with them again.  We hung around alot because of the heat and because it was vacation but we did do some fun things.  One day we rented a boat and went swimming and tubing for the day on Dale Hollow Lake.  We also brought the kids to Fall Creek Falls State Park and they got to go hiking and swimming in natural waterfalls and cascades. We also set off our own fireworks as buying fireworks is legal in TN unlike MA. We went to the local pool for swimming and us girls went blueberry picking and of course we went out to eat a few times all the mean while getting our everyday chores done of taking care of the goats, chickens and dogs. The Royalty family also got to experience the farm life we live here.  Every one of them got up one day or another and helped us with the chores of taking care of the animals. Trent, Paige & Jackie also learned how to milk Priscilla and what to do with the milk.  They also got to help us butcher some of our meat chickens.  Brian was great at plucking and even Jackie tried.  We also had to tend to the garden every day and everyone helped pick veggies as it is producing alot. Below are some pictures of our week together.

Paige & Hailey ready for tubing

Drew & Trent ready for tubing

Brian enjoying the boat ride

Trent, Hailey, Paige & Drew on the boat

Jackie & I swimming in the lake

All of us swimming in the lake

Jamie driving the boat

Kids ready to watch the fireworks

Paige & I

Me & Jackie

Hailey, Paige, Trent & Drew hiking

Hailey, Paige, Drew & Trent at the Cascades

Paige & Hailey at the pool

Drew & Trent at the pool

Hailey, Paige & Jackie blueberry picking

I can't express how grateful I am that the Royalty's drove 16 hours to come see us.  It was a wonderful week but it went by so fast but I know that Jackie & I will always be best friends no matter how far we live away from each other.