In the fast lane with the 5 T's

Fall Break in Maine Day 3

Monday, oh what to do? Mom thought today would be a good day to go to the beach. There is one thing I don't like about living in Tennessee its not a beach state...I love the look, sound and feel of the beach! We went to Grammie and Grandpa's house first, we would hang out here for a little and then see if they wanted to join us. The kids went on a leaf hunt. One thing is for sure the leaves here are gorgeous, much more so than at home.

Grandpa wanted to take the kids for a ride on his "tractor" which the kids were really excited about. When Grandpa opened the garage and the kids saw it, one of them said, "that's not a tractor that's a lawn mower!" But they were happy nonetheless. Grandpa let the boys drive him around Tanner did a very good job, Tyler was a little bit all over the place.

Grammie and Grandpa decided to join us on the trip to beach. We planned on going to Long Beach which is close to a lighthouse. It was so pretty...I thought it might be chilly, but it wasn't all that bad, I didn't need my jacket.

The kids didn't know if they wanted to stick their feet in the water so I kind of just drug them out there!

There were pieces of crab on the beach and so Tyler picked on up and looked at it!

You could actually see Nubble Light from Long Beach, which is where we headed to next.

Grammie and Grandpa got out of the car for a couple pictures...here we have 4 generations...it was actually not but a couple years ago that my great grandmother passed away and we had 5 generations together.

After stopping at Nubble Light we passed a playground right on the beach of Short Beach. This was a super nice/new playground and the kids enjoyed it!

After hanging out at the beach we headed to dinner...where we ended up at Billy's Crab Shack and enjoyed some New England seafood. What a great day at the beach!

Fall Break in Maine Day 1 and 2

Tapanga has never been to Maine to visit my grandparents and her great grandparents. As a matter of fact, it has been 2 years since we have seen them and so after talking to mom we planned a trip to Maine. Mom and I would take the kids up there, visit my grandparents and other family in the area.

The original plan was to drive, we would drive up there...yes 24 hours of driving so that we would have enough money to stay at a hotel while there since nobodies house was big enough to accommodate all of us. But then Aunt Patsy after other circumstances invited us to stay with her so we could use that money to buy plane tickets!

In the weeks leading up to our trip other circumstances took place and Aunt Patsy moved to Tennessee and so we couldn't stay with her, back to a hotel! In the long run the hotel will be nicer, because it will have a pool the kids could play in during down time and now we are ready for our trip to Maine.

Our flight left at about 11 am on Saturday, so no having to get up early or rush after work...which is a good thing because it was a busy week and I didn't get the chance to pack until Friday night. The kids were excited about the plane ride. The boys rode with mom and Tapanga and I were matched up. This was only Tapangas 2nd flight so she was really excited!

We flew into Manchester, New Hampshire because Soutwest doesn't fly into Portland and Southwest doesn't charge for baggage....which we had plenty of! Manchester is about 2 hours outside of where my grandparents live, but my Aunt Denise lives close by and so we were to meet up with her for dinner once we got in. She wanted to go to Ruby Tuesdays and it was located in a mall so that's where we went. After dinner we headed to a local hotel and we would head to Maine in the morning.

Friday, was my grandfathers 80th birthday and since we were coming up my mom planned a birthday party for him on Sunday. So, we had to get up and go pretty quickly so that we could get there and set up.

My grandparents live in a retirement community where they have a nice little piece of land. Scattered all about were acorns so the kids went on a discovery of acorns while mom and I visited and prepared for the cookout.

Aunt Denise took some time of work and stayed with my grandparents a few days so that she could visit with my mom. Mom and Aunt Denise were never close as youngsters because of the 8 years difference between them, but as they have gotten older they have gotten closer.

After enjoying some yummy burgers and dogs it was time for cake...its not everyday you turn 80! The kids had to help grandpa with his cake and were eyeing the toys like vultures!

Its good to see Grammie and Grandpa and the kids are enjoying visiting with them and being in Maine. Very unusual, but we haven't planned out this whole trip yet, so we will see what we end up doing during this visit.

Camping at Rock Island

I have really enjoyed camping and had been looking forward to our next camping adventure at Rock Island. We knew that we were going to get a late start, because Thomas and I both had to work on Friday and we wouldn't be able to leave until afterwards. Rock Island was about 2 and half hours away, so we knew we would be pushing darkness.

Thomas' truck was in the shop and he was suppose to have gotten it back on Wednesday, but as typical Wednesday turned into Thursday and then Friday. We didn't even know if we would have the truck in time to go on Friday, but it finally was ready and Thomas was able to get it on Friday, which put us a little further back.

After packing the truck and getting the kids we finally were able to leave Clarksville about 5 and we stopped at McDonalds for some food for the kids...we were on the road. We didn't hit much traffic and arrived at the camp around 8...pitch black! The Richards and Nelsons were already there and set up. But, by the lights of the cars we put up our tent and ate a yummy second dinner prepared by Loren, after roasting a few marshmallows for s'mores and Joy tried to make these banana things it was time to hit the sack and get some rest for our adventures tomorrow!

Melissa was the one who told us about Rock Island and she wanted to come, but due to soccer games and other things ended up not making it. After researching this location we found out that Burgess Falls which was about 30 minutes away was a great place to walk and see many wonderful waterfalls! After eating breakfast and cleaning up we headed out to Burgess Falls.

The waterfalls started right away. I was so nervous that a kid would fall in! Burgess Falls has a nice walking trail that allows you to pass many of the falls and get up close to many of them.

The views were gorgeous. The falls were great, its so nice to have beautiful places to go so close to home.

Laura and Loni weren't feeling so good, so they didn't make the trip this time. Loren went ahead and brought the older three and I think they had a good time with all the other kids.

You could walk down to the bottom of the main falls, but it was rather steep and I didn't want to take Tapanga down. So, Joy and I stayed up with the girls while the boys went down. Eric brought their camera down and was able to take a picture of Tanner and Tyler with Daddy at the bottom.

While we waited at the top Joy let her girls put their feet in the water, so by default Tapanga was able to put her feet in the water also. She didn't have a good concept on not getting her pants wet and so I took her pants off to try and keep them from getting much wetter and to let them dry out a little! So here's my daughter playing in the water with a shirt and underwear on...I know she must have been a sight! Joy got a little silly and put her feet in also. While waiting the girls dug around in the water looking for life and other gooey stuff!

I am not normally this much taller than Joy, but she has her feet in the water and I don't...I don't do "real" water that well!

Once the boys got back we ate lunch and explored around the top of the waterfall a little and the boys thought the "cut" in the rocks was pretty neat.

We let the kids play on the playground a little bit before exploring the butterfly garden and heading back. Unfortunately, it wasn't really the right time of the year for the butterfly garden but we still had a nice visit to Burgess Falls. On the way back the kids wanted a snack and Tapanga wanted a banana, which was cute because in the middle of eating her banana she fell asleep!

There were other places to explore so on the way back I had Thomas stop were the falls of Rock Island were accessible. We were able to see why it was called Rock Island! Walking along the gorge of Rock Island we were able to get a closer look at another beautiful waterfall.

After taking our detour, we joined up with Joy and Eric at the campsite were hung out and the kids played on the playground and with the Capri sun house party stuff Joy brought along. Pretty soon, it was time to prepare for dinner and enjoy the company for the evening.

Tapanga and Fiona were buddies this evening playing with each other and following each other around. Joy and I played our own version of horseshoes by ringing Tyler! Oh, what fun the kids provide us!