Wordless Wednesday

Surprise Trip

Late Wednesday afternoon we decided to take a last minute trip to Indiana Beach. We headed up there after I got home from work at 4pm. We didn't tell the boys where we were going. Brooks didn't figure it out until after we got out of the car and started walking towards the entrance. He was pretty excited then! The boys got to ride the "beep-beep" cars, boats, kiddy whip, airplanes, and the frog hopper. Brooks loved to ride the frog hopper last year, but was terrified on it this year. I think it might have been the older kids screaming on the ride.

Ryan and I were very disappointed to see that Cornball was down for the evening. It looked like they were doing some track work on it. Indiana Beach was owned by the same family since it's existence until this year when Morgan RV group purchased it. We have always had a great time visiting IB, but this time we didn't have as much fun. Many rides were closed and they didn't have enough people staffing the rides. We really hope they get their act together, it can be such a fun place to visit.

What are these guys doing to my beloved Cornball???

Hudson looks like he's holding on for dear life, but when he got off he asked "more more".

Happy 3rd Birthday Brooks!

Wow, I can't believe Brooks is 3 today. Three years ago today our little guy was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala. We are so blessed to have him as our son and so thankful for the sacrifice his birthmom made. He is so special to everyone who knows him.

Brooks Birthday Bash

Brooks had a great time at his party on Saturday and so did all of us. The biggest hit (literally) was the Batman pinata. We took Brooks shopping for the pinata at the Mexican grocery store. We told him he could pick any pinata he wanted. Brooks picked Batman. We are not sure how he even knows who Batman is since he doesn't watch tv. We asked if he wanted Shrek or Winnie the Pooh or even a bunny, but no, he was persistent on Batman.

It was a lot harder to break than we thought it would be. I think everyone at the party got a whack at it. Eventually Ryan's Dad broke Batman in half at the waist and the candy came out. The kids started stuffing their pockets and mouths with the candy.

Wordless Wednesday

Pool Party!

Our Bible study group got together for a pool party last night at Pam #2's new apartment. We all had a great time! Brooks is such a fish in the water. Hudson loved it too, except he kept trying to squirm out of my arms. There were a few lively games of "joust" and we all enjoyed some yummy food. I've posted the pulled pork recipe below.

Brooks and his best buddy Maggie

Jon & Lora, Reuben & Amanda, Sarah & Dan fighting it out

Pam #1 (our neighbor) and Hudson enjoying some banana bread

Crockpot Pulled Pork
(recipe from Recipezaar, where else?!)

Ingredients

• 2 1/2-4 lbs boneless pork shoulder (Jen's note: I used bone in Pork Butt)

RUB

• 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons cajun seasoning
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried chipotle powder
• 1/2 tablespoon mesquite powder
• 1/2 cup frozen apple juice concentrate
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar

Directions

1. Combine the rub spices and coat the shoulder.
2. Bag the rubbed sholder overnight in the fridge.
3. Put Apple juice and vinegar in crockpot and add the shoulder and the rub that's stuck on it.
4. Start the pot on high, turn down to low after an hour and a half.
5. Cook for 12 hours total, 10 hours if your pot has no medium setting.
6. Remove the shoulder and let rest for at least half an hour.
7. Pull shoulder apart with a couple of forks.
8. Place the pork on a cheap bun or Wonder bread with your favorite BBQ sauce and some slaw if you want to be traditional.

More Dollywood

We hung out in the hotel in morning and had lunch in Townsend. We then headed out to Dollywood. It was hot, but it looked like rain was coming. When we got in the park we decided to watch Creature Adventures with the Kratt Brothers. I guess they have some show on PBS. The boys liked it, they brought out a porcupine, zebra, python, beaver, baby kangaroo, and I can't remember what else.

It still hadn't started raining yet so we took a ride on the Dollywood Express. We all enjoyed our ride and it started raining on our ride. When we got back it was still raining and the rides were closed due to lightning in the area, so we took in another show. It was based on "Hank the Cowdog" and was pretty cute. Dollywood really goes all out for it's shows. They had at least 12 different shows a day and Dolly shows up at each one! (Not in person, but on tv.)

The storm had cleared up after the show and all the rides had reopened. We took the boys over to ride the Flying Elephants. They both loved it and Hudson proclaimed "more more" after the ride was over. We headed back to Thunderhead for some rides while the kids played in the water area again. I think they would have played there all day if we let them!

We left at close and the boys fell asleep on the way back to our hotel. Hudson didn't even wake up when we put his pjs on.

We headed home the next morning. The trip home didn't seem near as long as the trip there. We really only stopped for a picnic lunch in Kentucky where the boys were happy to play at a playground.

I'm beginning to think all this ride does is go in circles...

I think this was in Kentucky...

Bears! and Dollywood

Tuesday morning we headed out early. We wanted to drive Cade's Cove before it got too busy. It was cool to see, but the other people driving it were driving us crazy. They would stop in the middle of the road to look at things, even though there were pull offs and signs posted to not stop. We did get to hike another nature trail which Brooks was happy to do. On the way out of Cade's Cove, traffic was stopped and everyone was looking into the woods. I didn't see it, but Ryan saw a black bear. He tried to get a picture of it, but missed it.

We hiked another trail and then had a picnic lunch before we headed back to our hotel for a little rest that didn't happen. Ryan put the boys down for a nap and I got a Frappe from the coffee house and headed out back to read. It was obvious that the boys weren't going to take a nap. So we headed out to Dollywood! Of course, they feel asleep on the way there and Brooks was pretty grumpy when he had to get out of the car.

Dollywood has a deal where if you enter after 3pm the next day is free, so we happily took advantage of the offer, especially since the tickets are pricey. At least the kids still get in free! We headed directly to Thunderhead. What a great ride! Nonstop fun! We walked around a bit, the boys rode the Carousel and we found some dinner. We had yummy grilled Italian sausage with peppers and onions. At Dollywood, they cook a lot of the food in huge skillets that tempt you as you walk by.

We headed back to the back of the park. They have a play area for kids with a playground and a water play area, it was conveniently located next to Thunderhead! So we took turns riding while the kids got soaked. They loved floating the floats down the water. The line for Mystery Mine cleared out so we were able to take a ride on that. It was a ride like no other we've been on. It had a 95 degree drop! Flames shooting at you! It was crazy!

The park was closing so we headed out. We thought we would take the tram back to our car, but the line was too long so we hiked it out to parking lot DE. We were really confused when we parked the car, we didn't know where the actual entrance was to the park, so we could have parked closer. Oh well, it wasn't too bad.

Smoky Mountains

We had a looong drive to get to Tennessee, but we made it there on Sunday evening. There was a paved trail that ran through the town we stayed in (Townsend) so we took a walk that evening to help the kids get some activity in. They really liked it when we crossed under the road through a tunnel.

Monday morning we headed out to North Carolina. Ryan wanted to get some mountain biking in at Tsali Recreation Area. We drove a crazy windy road there. Tons of motorcycles on it. It was pretty fun! I dropped Ryan off at the trails and the kids and I headed to Bryson City, NC. It was a nice little town. We walked around a bit and then found a park to have a picnic lunch at. Brooks befriended a little girl (she was 8). It was too cute, she was calling him "Bugs" because that's what she thought he said his name was.

We drove back to pickup Ryan, he had a great ride and thought it was one of the best places he's ever rode. We drove back through the National Park, took the drive up to Clingman's Dome, but decided not to hike up to it because there were so many tourists. We found a short nature trail to take a hike on. Ryan wore Hudson and Brooks hiked with us. He loved hiking!

To get out of the park and back to Townsend, we had to drive through Gaitlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Tourist trap central! Ick! It was so over the top, not our kind of vacation. Ok, I can't figure out why most of this post is underlined so this post is done.

Vacation Fun

We're back from vacation safe and sound. We all had a great time, let me do a recap.

Friday July 4th we met my parent's at Holiday World. It rained most of the way there, so we were a little concerned, but the weather ended up being perfect. Cloudy and not too warm. The best part was it wasn't crowded at all! We all enjoyed our time there. The boys loved the wave pool and the carousel. Brooks had his first ride on a roller coaster, the Howler, and did not like it too much. Ryan and I got in a few rides on their awesome roller coasters. The Voyage is something else, it leaves me breathless at the end.

The boys in their "hippie"shirts that they made at the Y.

Brooks ready for his first roller coaster ride!

We stopped at DQ on the way home for dinner. We discovered that Hudson loves honey mustard. He enjoyed dipping his chicken in the mustard and then just eating the mustard!

We spent the next day at my parent's house. The boys enjoyed being out in the country and Ryan was able to get a good mountain bike ride in.

The trails in Southern Illinois.

Brooks driving the Gator!

Here are some pictures from the park yesterday morning. We had some time to kill before we needed to pickup Ryan. Brooks loved pretending he was a monkey swinging from the bar above the slide. He also did a great job climbing up a climbing wall to the slide platform. It was mostly bigger kid stuff, but Hudson had a fun time too.

I spent this morning getting things ready for our vacation. Brooks really wanted to leave today. He can't stop talking about it. Hudson's been a little snotty, so we hope things clear up soon. At least we hope no one is puking all over the car like vacation last year!

We are heading to Holiday World tomorrow, where my parents are meeting us. The forecast is calling for rain :( I think we will have one really sad little boy if we can't go there tomorrow. We are then heading for the Smoky Mountains for a few days. Ryan wants to mountain bike somewhere in North Carolina and we are going to Dollywood.