Onward to the Great Smokies

After a couple of days in Knoxville, we continued on to Sevierville, in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, where we met Gramma, Grampa, and Patty (who'd driven separately), and family who'd traveled from New York and Minneapolis-- my aunt, cousin, his wife, and their kids. We all stayed in a gigantic cabin on the side of a hill with a beautiful view of the mountains.

We spent a lot of the quality time in that long weekend relaxing around the cabin and doing a lot of catching up.. but we got out and did a few things in the area as well.

We took the kids to Splash Country one day, and then Dollywood the next. Another day, a group of us went into nearby Gatlinburg and visited the local aquarium-- Aidan and Bryce got a real kick out of that! Meanwhile, another group of us did some hiking up in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Word is there was a bear siting along the path. You'll have to contact my cousin Robert to verify that.

[Just one note-- Dollywood and Splash Country are both, we think, really great theme parks. We had a group of kids ranging in age from 12 to 4 and the parks were each organized in such a way that we were able to split off and do some fun things for each of the kids and then meet back in a central place without too much difficulty. We werent' sure what to expect before we got there, but we were really impressed with both parks.]

setting up for dinner in the cabin

the kids immediately found the hottub!

generations

the boys at Dollywood with the Veggie Tales

touring around Dollywood

Bryce and Megan on the carousel

Once Bryce was sure that the giant scarecrow wouldn't eat him, he gave him a big hug!

Jennifer took the younger kids on the mini Roller Coaster

Dad and Eileen at the Aquarium

Amanda and the kids @ the aquarium

watching the Manta Rays

Want more pictures? Check out these and a few other pictures from our trip on our Flickr page. The flickr page also has the HUGE full size versions of each of these pictures.

@ the Knoxville Zoo

Today, we visited the Knoxville zoo and got to see lots of great animals right up close, including Red Pandas (which are more like foxes than Pandas) and even a black bear-- that's a lot closer to one of those than we ever want to be again, I think!

































And we thought the signs at the Zoo were pretty funny too.

"Washing Dishes"

For the first leg of our trip, we're spending a couple of days in Knoxville with our good friends, Miki and Tom and their little boy James. Today, Bryce and James had a big time washing the dishes.. which, as you can imagine, didn't really involve making many dishes any cleaner-- though the sink area got a whole lot wetter.

Saddled up..

We headed out on the road today for a week-long vacation in East Tennessee. First stop-- Knoxville, to visit with some old Vanderbilt friends and their little boy, James. Then, on Thursday, we'll be heading to a cabin in the mountains to meetup with some family and have a little weekend reunion out in the Great Smokies. And of course, we can't miss Dollywood. :)

Camping in...

This is what happens when you try to take the boys on their first backyard campout.. you come inside and watch Scooby-Doo videos..
We wound up spending last night at our friend Jack's house-- but we only spent about 15 minutes in the tent we'd setup out in the backyard.. we had a great time.. but it wasn't what you'd call "camping out"..

blur..

At our neighbor's birthday party this morning...
add a little sugar and the kids become a blur...

Go Sounds!

Courtesy of Aunt Laura's employer, we got a few tickets to a Sounds game for Friday night, so we loaded up the boys and went out for an early summer evening at the ballpark. The Nashville Sounds are the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers and have always been a pretty good team to go and watch.This was Bryce's first time to a real ballpark... he took it all in, the sights and sounds.. and especially the food! Hot Dogs, pop corn, an Icee.. he loved it!

This was Aidan's second Sounds game... Grampa and I took him to a game last season with his school.. so he was a little more comfortable with his surroundings at the park and really took an interest in what all the players were doing on the field.. and, of course, most important to Aidan these days-- who's winning.. so he was really excited when the Sounds hit a game-winning two-run homerun.

Playing Star Wars...

The boys have started watching Star Wars this summer... and that has led to the inevitable games of "Hey, I'll be Luke; you be Han"... and other variations..

Bryce in the role of Han Solo.
Aidan in the role of Luke Skywalker.
Here portraying the scene where our heros blast their way out of the Death Star laundry room..

These Boomwhackers-- ostensibly educational toys-- have really come in handy as both blasters and lightsabers..
Here's Bryce now in the role of Darth Vader.. teamed up with his friend, Maddie as "Spider Girl"..
I love Bryce's use of the firefighter mask, magician's cape, and stool to complete the Vader ensemble..

Breakfast on the Deck

Batman and Superman begin their day with a healthy waffle breakfast, dining al fresco on this pretty spring morning.

Let's wear ties!

Let's wear ties!
Originally uploaded by sleepydad

Aidan used an Out of Uniform pass at school today so he could wear his spiffy new shirt and tie. Don't ask me. I have no idea what brought this on.

Indiana Bryce...

So, in the last couple of weeks, Aidan and Bryce have been introduced to Indiana Jones and the whole swashbuckling archaeologist meme that comes with the release of the new Indy film later this month.

I mean, come on, between the Dr. Pepper cans, the Indy Lego commercials... and the fact that Aunt Laura popped the DVD in the player and showed them a few scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark the other night while she was babysitting.. I mean, apart from that, we've been doing our level best to protect them from these kinds of pop culture influences. We promise.

Okay, so say what you will, but Bryce, the newly minted 4-year old, has gone totally Indiana Jones crazy.
He's stalking around the house in his new Pre-K khakis, a button-down shirt buttoned half-way up, and a costume cowboy hat, with a coil of rope tethered to his belt loop.. we haven't captured this on camera yet, but it will only be a matter of time.

But even that's not the best part of this story.
So Bryce and his friend Maddie are in the kitchen-- Bryce in his Indy garb-- doing something when Maddie, who is completely fascinated with all things creepy-crawly notices that a small trail of ants have made it into the house near our back door. Bryce pushes his hat back on his head a bit as he looks down on the marching line of ants, then puts one hand on his hip and mutters... and I'm not making this up...

"Bugs... why'd it have to be bugs."


Next up: Star Wars. Oh yes. Star Wars.

Bryce's Birthday

Today, Bryce turns 4. It's hard to believe on a couple of levels.
1) has it really been 4 years since he arrived, that bundled little mass of squawking, chirping, squinting little (dark haired!) baby?
2) is he really only 4? sometimes he seems so much like he's older.. picking up from his older brother, no doubt.

So today's the day, anyway. So I took off early from work and picked up Aidan from school a little early (it's that time of year at school where, after lunch they're pretty much done for the day anyway) and we met Mom and Bryce at a nearby Chuck E. Cheese. This has become like a little family tradition the last year or two. And let me tell you, there's no time like mid-day on a Thursday for going to Chuck E. Cheese.. normally, on weekend afternoons, the place is a mosh-pit of whack-a-mole-crazed toddlers. But on Thursdays at 1pm.. not too bad.
Then we came home for some presents...
From us.. a Webkinz Tiger Snake..

















And from Aidan.....
oh, this is going to be good...











Iron Man!
Mask and Repulsor Gauntlet..

The kids always know the good toys...

Scenes from Mother's Day

We had a great Mother's Day celebration at our house this afternoon with Mama, Gramma and Grampa, Aunt Patty, and Aunt Laura.

We can't ever do enough to show our Mothers throughout the year just how important and special they are.. but on a day like today, it's good to take some special time to honor them for everything they do for us.

After dinner, Bryce chose to honor his Mom and Gramma with an interpretive dance as Iron Man, his new favorite superhero. Bryce is in talks with the Schermerhorn to commission "Iron Man: The Opera" based on his performance. We'll keep you posted.

Scenes from Soccer...

Soccer season for the boys is winding down. Soccer has been one of our dominant activities this Spring. Thursday practices and Saturday games for each of our boys-- so this is what being overscheduled feels like. Well, okay it's not been that bad.. in fact, we've had so much rain this Spring that it's been tough to get a game and a practice in in the same week.
Poor Aidan's team-- which I've been helping to coach a little bit-- has missed so many practices this season, we've lost count.

So here are some images from games the boys each had yesterday.. in the sunshine, no less!

Aidan grinds it out in the 4th quarter

Aidan waits for the throw-in...

Bryce kicks off

Bryce does his best Beckham impression--

Shoebox Floating..

Weekend 'homework' for our first-grader this weekend was to build a Shoebox float for the First Grade's annual Cinco De Mayo parade around school. (Show of hands: who thought Cinco De Mayo had been reduced to a cerveza marketing ploy?)

So what better time for a little payback?
All I have to say, Ms. Price, with your UT-themed Christmas ornaments and your Rocky Top-singing Spring Musical.. take that!

More Carnival

More images from today's carnival..

(our crack team of editors have assiduously removed any trace of the appearance of whining or crying from the record of the day... but those of us who were there, we remember.)

Aidan and his lady friend

This picture just says "Summer's here" to me..

Aidan took a moment from racing through the obstacle course to smile for a picture.

Scenes from Carnival... but none of the crying..

Today's Carnival at school was a more tearful experience than last year. Not enough sleep last night led to some pretty whiney boys this morning.. but hey, the pictures came out pretty well, all the same..

First, Pugil Sticks.. the boys got to strap on head gear and bash each other for a few minutes. Perhaps if we'd stuck with this event, our experience of the day might have turned out completely different.

Is it just me or does Bryce look awfully at home in the headgear?

Carnival Cake making with Bryce.. and spoon-licking.

Carnival is coming up at Aidan's school.. and for the famous "Cake Wheel" at Carnival, we were asked to make a cake... a task that Bryce was all too eager to volunteer to help with.

Now that's what I'm talking about!

Cowboy Aidan

For his spring musical at school last night, Aidan and the rest of his class dressed as cowboys and sang "Rocky Top".. Aidan's teacher is a Univ. of Tennessee grad.. but I think her allegiances have gone too far this time...

Walking around the neighborhood...

We love going for walks with our neighbors on these nice springtime evenings...