Gatlinburg

We took the boys to Gatlinburg for Labor Day weekend to celebrate Luke and Carter's 5th birthday (another post on that to come...).  We all had a blast and enjoyed being together after everyone getting back to school.  Here are LOTS of pics:

 At Dollywood

 On the Shooting Star

 River Rampage

 A little break for Dippin Dots

 Lumberjack Lifts

 Checking out the Demolition Derby

 Cartoon time

 We took a little hike in the Smoky Mountains

 Practicing up on their American Ninja Warrior skills

 We hit up the streets of Gatlinburg

 A little circus golf

The Mirror Maze

 We stopped at the Nascar Speedway in Pigeon Forge on our way home

 Carter LOVED the Majestic 300 :)

 Of course, they hit the jackpot and won 1000 tickets AGAIN!!

Luke "bought" these teeth with his tickets ... very fitting :)

1st Days of School

The boys started school this week ... all 3 are at St. Paul this year :)  Praying for a great new school year for all!!

 Graham was ready to go Monday a.m!!

 My big 1st grader :)

 Luke and Carter were excited to wear their uniform!!

 L&C are in the same JK classroom ... here is Luke with Mrs. Herb

 Carter doesn't look so sure ;)

It was just a half day, so Kevin and I picked them up and took them to lunch and then to Sugar Dive ... can't believe all my boys are now in full-time school!!!!!!

Pickwick

Margie and I took the kiddos to Pickwick for a quick last-minute trip to the lake before school started.  We got there on Thursday - it was so nice and quiet that we felt like we owned the whole lake.  My parents came in on Friday, and then we got to hang out with Wilson's family for a bit on Saturday a.m. before we left.  It was short and sweet, but we definitely had a BLAST!!!

 Jumping from the dock

 Tubing behind the wave runner

 The crew

 Big kids watching the little kids

Big kids turn

And they're off

 Jake skiing

 Bet Bet taking the little ones for a ride

War!!!

Kiawah/Charleston

We celebrated our 11th anniversary with a trip to Kiawah Island and Charleston, SC - it was FABULOUS!!!!!  Our dear friends from college, Jodie and Jeff, joined us and we had a blast being together.  We spent 2 nights in Kiawah and enjoyed golf, spa, pool, beach, and then all went to Charleston together for 1 night and then Kevin and I stayed another night just the 2 of us.  It really was an AWESOME vacation and was a little tough to come home ... thankfully, we had 3 pretty cute reasons to return :)

 At the Ocean Course

 The 4 of us

The golfers

 I surprised Jodie with some Satco queso :)

 Our balcony at The Sanctuary

 And then on to Charleston - Husk bar

 Market Pavillion bar

 Exploring the city

 Drinks at Cypress

 Dinner at McCrady's - it did rain a lot but didn't spoil our fun

 Biking over the Ravenel bridge

LOVE having some kid-free time with my man ... the boys were in Memphis/Nashville dispersed among 4 grandparents, 6 aunts/uncles, and 10 cousins.  They had a ball and towards the end of the trip, my mom told me that they were having so much fun that she didn't think they missed us ... I told her that the feeling was mutual ;)