More Ghost Town Pictures

We took a tubing trip down the river in Cherokee, NC. The water was cool, the day was hot, and it was a lot of fun.

Ben, Alek and Gary at the campfire area.

An Elk sleeping the day away in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Pap, Ben, Alek, Gary on the footbridge in the Great Smoky Mountains while we were on an Elk hunt.

Alek, Marna, Ben, Gary at Ghost Town in the Sky ... there was a beautiful view behind us, looks like we missed it in the picture, but this is one of the few we got with all four of us in it.

Ben and Alek and the Cherokee Indian dancers.

Alek petting the Red Wolf.

At the shooting gallery at Ghost Town in the Sky ... it shot back WATER!

Alek watching the Ghost Town bank robber show.

Alek, Ben, and Gary with the dancing girls from the saloon at Ghost Town.

Alek's First Jam Session

Today the music studio where Alek takes lessons held a JAM session. Here's a video of Alek's first performance! We are so proud of him for being brave and having the confidence to get up on stage and play in front of an audience!

Maggie Valley NC

At Nashville, Ben and Alek went home with my Mom and Dad for the rest of the week, then we met up again the following Friday in Maggie Valley, NC, nestled in the Great Smoky Mountains. Alek, Ben, Gary at the top of the mountain at Ghost Town in the Sky.

Alek, Marna, Ben at Ghost Town in the Sky.

Ben and Mommy riding the chair lift up to Ghost Town in the Sky.

The view of the main floor of our cabin, from the top of the staircase on the second floor. What a lovely, relaxing cabin in the woods.

If you look out the center window, you can see the campfire area. We enjoyed fires at night and making s'mores.

More Nashville Vacation 2009

We finally found the cord to download the pictures off the other camera ... so here are more pictures! Gary carrying the watermelon from the Nashville Farmer's Market into the hotel.

Mom and Dad in front of the Parthenon in Nashville.

Dad and the huge marble globe. It floats on an 1/8 inch of water, and you can move it in any direction symbolizing that any one person can change the world.

Marna and Gary in the Opryland Hotel garden.

Ben, Gary, Alek, Mom and Dad under the waterfall at the Opryland Hotel.

Papa and Ben at the Santa Fe Cattle Company. (note the bucket of peanuts in front of them!)

Gary, Ben, Marna and Alek in front of the Duck Boat.

Papa, Ben and Alek in front of historic market street. On this side of the buildings, the ships coming down river would unload and the merchants would sell their produce out the other side of the building on the street.

Marna, Ben, Papa, Mema at the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Nashville.

The big guitar!

Nashville Vacation 2009

Just returned from a fun long weekend in Nashville with Mom & Dad. They met us there to pick up the boys for a week. Here's a picture of mom and I in front of the Parthenon (a replica) in Centennial Park: Ben and Alek in a self-pushing swing in Centennial Park:

Mom and Dad riding on the Duck Boat Tour. A Duck Boat is an old military vehicle that can drive on the road and float like a boat. We toured Nashville and then went for a ride in the Cumberland River:

Ben and Alek in front of the Parthenon in Centennial Park:

Alek and snowcone:

Ben and snowcone:

Dad, Mom, Alek, Gary, Ben at Santa Fe Cattle Company for dinner - all the free peanuts you can hold!

Alek, Ben, Gary dipping peanuts out of the big barrel:

Ben driving the Duck Boat:

Alek driving the Duck Boat:

Gary and Alek riding in the Duck Boat:

Ben riding in the Duck Boat:

We stayed in downtown Nashville at the Homewood Suites. The building is on the National Registry of Historic Places, built in 1906. It was lovely, and right downtown. We walked to all the downtown attractions:

Alek and Ben all snuggly in bed at the hotel:

These pictures were taken on my cell phone, then uploaded to facebook, then downloaded to my laptop, then uploaded to blogspot. I can't figure out how to post directly to blogspot from my blackberry ... there's gotta be an app for that!

9 years ago tomorrow ...

Tomorrow is Ben & Alek's 9th birthday. Wow, can't believe we've made it this far! That first year, I don't think I could believe we would survive. But here we are, and we had a great party Friday night ... blogger always uploads the pictures in reverse order, so we'll start at the end and go backwards ...

Ben and Alek each invited two friends to their party, have dinner / cake, go skating at DreamSports, and spend the night. The big gift this year was rollerblades, above is Ben with his. He used them Friday night at DreamSports, and then again today (Sunday) when I took them both to JellyBeans Skate Center for the afternoon.

Alek and his blades! Behind him from the left are Nick, Evan, Ben and LB.

LB and Alek looking at Madden Football '09 for PS3.

Evan, Kyle, Ben and Nick opening Pokeman Platnum for Nintendo DS.

Ben and Pokemon cards from Kyle.

Alek opening a catch game from Kyle.

Nick and LB locked themselved in Chase's crate ... Chloe got confused by it ....

Pizza and watermelon for dinner! Nick, Alek, Kyle, Ben, LB.

Mommy made the cakes ... they were amazing. Chocolate cake with whipped cream layers covered by cooked chocolate icing! Then decorated with canned, pre-made blue icing from Betty Crocker! But, it was easy and looked fun.

Next week they are off to Dream Sports for camp again. They are excited to go again because they have their own skates now!

Love you boys ...

Peaches!

Peaches are our favorite fruit. We ordered the 1/2 bushel from The Produce Box last Wednesday, and today most of them were PERFECT. I say 'most' because several got eaten from Weds through today, and about 8 are left to be perfect tomorrow and Tuesday. The boys helped, and we quartered, peeled and sliced FIVE containers full. The only rule: go slow and don't cut yourself. We probably ate another 8 peaches during the fun! For Christmas, we're having PEACH PIE this year!!