Catching Up

I have not been very good at posting lately, but since we just got back from a trip I figured now would be a good time to catch you all up on what we have been doing this summer.

Swim Team

Trevor and Alexa at Swim Team

Trevor and Alexa finished up swim team at the end of July. Alexa was able to swim in the last three meets of the year. The last meet of the year was the last Saturday in July. It was Divisionals, which means they have three teams competing instead of just two. We ended up in second place. It came down to the last couple of races though. Trevor and Alexa both had their best times of the year in freestyle. Trevor also had his best time of the year in back stroke. He took 10 - 15 seconds off of both his strokes this year. We have also signed him up for a fall and winter swim team.

Summer Fun

To help keep summer interesting this year, Sarah & the kids came up with five lists of things to do:

1. Oh the places we will go
2. Oh the service we will do
3. Oh the activities we will do
4. Oh the crafts we will do
5. Oh the food we will eat

Each week one of the kids took a turn picking one thing from each list to do during that week. They have been to magic shows and jugglers, painted with ice cubes, made cards for kids in the hospital, and lots of other fun things, including these two:

Sunny Smores - Smores made in a pizza box solar oven

Crepe paper obstacle course for the kids to weave through.

Sarah may have done too good of a job making summer fun and avoiding boredom. This is the first time Trevor has not been looking forward to school starting.

Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Great Smoky Mountain National Park

This past week we took a family trip to Gatlinburg Tennessee, the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We were there with Sarah's parents and her Sister's family. We spent the first couple of days in the park, driving scenic loops, going on short hikes, admiring the sights, and looking for wildlife. Disappointingly, all we saw was squirrels and a few turkeys. Sarah's parents saw a wild boar on a scenic drive before we got there, and we missed seeing a bear by about 5 minutes. The scenery was still really good though:

Trevor, Alexa, Ryan & Russell at an overlook

Our family beside one of the cascading waterfalls

the kids at a waterfall we hiked to

Alexa, Eric & Trevor at a working mill from the 1800's

White Water Rafting

We also went white water rafting while we were down there. Sarah and the kids went on a trip that was mainly level 1 and 2 rapids, with a couple of 3's. They had a really good time.

Their boat was full, so I went on the more adventurous trip with Sarah's parents that was mainly 3's and a couple of 4's. After going through one of the larger rapids we paddled back up stream and "surfed" the rapid. This is when you stick the nose of the boat into the rapid, and then it holds you there in place for a while. The video lets you see how much water we had pouring over us at the front:

Dollywood

Dollywood, an amusement park owned by Dolly Parton, is also in the area. It has some unique rides and attractions. Their new coaster for the year is Wild Eagle. It is America's first winged coaster, which means you have no track above or below you as you ride. They also have a cool eagle sculpture in front of it.

They also have ropes course that you can do as part of the park. You get put on a harness and they hook your lanyard into a lattice of over head metal tracks and then you go exploring through the towers, trying different routes based on how daring you are.

Aquarium

We spent our last day there in Gatlinburg itself, going to the aquarium and walking around town. The aquarium had a really cool shark tank with a tunnel to walk under. The saw fish liked to lay on the tunnel. They also had a fun penguin exhibit, and they let you touch some crabs.