summer.

unpacking.

I think unpacking is worse than packing. There's less pressure to get it done because there isn't a move date looming, but you get sick of living in disarray. I think it will be weeks before we are truly settled.

We met our neighbors - the ones who so kindly brought us cookies - and we loved them. Kalli loved playing with their three year old son. He plays like a boy though, and she's not used to that!

I think we will have a nice life here. I have not met one person that wasn't super friendly. Everywhere you go people talk to you. I guess it's that southern hospitality :) I miss my family terribly, but we will have to make lots of visits to make up for the distance :)

I have had Kalli in full time daycare for the past 8 months and now that she is home I had forgotten how much I loved spending so much time with her. She's absolutely the sweetest, kindest, most generous little person I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. I'm so lucky she's mine. And Parker -- oh, my little beautiful Parker. He's just blossoming right before my eyes and I find myself tearing up over how fast it's going and over how much I just have pure love for him. He is always bright and happy and just so enjoyable ... most of the time :D

just happy.

I wish that we could all find such happiness in simple things. It would be a much nicer world to live in. I love my little girl, with her bright eyes and smiling face. She reminds me to slow down and smell the rain :)

paint.

As you can imagine, it's a bit messy when a little person wants to help you paint. I think she got more of it in her hair! I didn't take a pic but the back had quite a bit of "watery" colored paint in it!

a big ham.

Parker loves to smile. If you just look at him he will smile at you :) He's such a happy little dude. This was taken in the empty bonus room of our new house while we were there painting this weekend. I was just testing the fabulous light in that room, so excuse all the toys scattered in the background. But, hey, this is real life and in real life there's ALWAYS toys scattered everywhere!

tornado day.

Sort of like a snow day...but with no snow. We stayed in the day after "the storms" so we had to find some fun things to do. Kalli is super obsessed with stickers and gluing. She just wants to glue. And glue. And glue. Haha. She also likes to cut things with scissors, but mommy isn't always a fan of that. She leaves a trail of confetti everywhere she goes.

Anyway, she had a great time doing this. Thanks, Grandma Sue, for the butterflies.

mountain traffic.

So, let me start by saying that our trip was really great. We enjoyed it thoroughly - the mountains were magnificent, everything was green and fresh from the spring rain. Little creeks and streams seemed to line all the roads and everywhere you looked there were 360 degree views of the Smoky Mountains.

BUT...we were there for the Spring Grand Rod Run. There was no real order to things - just hundreds of cars parked up and down both sides of the strip. Bumper to bumper traffic stopped us from doing a lot of things, but we did make it to Gatlinburg one day to visit the Aquarium. We had a fantastic time and got back to our cars just as some rain was about to blow in.

We had just left Gatlinburg and were on the way back to the cabin (in Pigeon Forge) about a 30 mile drive from our spot in the mountains, when we came to a complete stop. We sat there, in a traffic jam, for about 45 mins. We were lucky to move a few feet every 10-20 minutes. We could not figure out what was going on. Finally, after moving about a quarter of a mile, we saw some Park Rangers who told us that the back up was caused by the car show, it happens every year, and that it would take 3-4 HOURS to go 1-2 MILES! We had 30 miles to go! Parker was screaming, Kalli was whining, and we absolutely could not sit in that traffic. We looked around. A stream to our left, a mountain to our right and nowhere to go.

So, my trusty husband pulled out his iPhone and looked at the map. Apparently, there was a road coming up that we could take that would wind us up, down and around a mountain to get us back "home".

So, we go. And so do Libby, Cindi and Jerry (following us) and three cars behind them! And let me just tell you that I have never seen roads like these! Skinny, SKINNY, one lane roads with a mountain on the left and a steep drop off on the right. The curves were so windy you almost had to come to a complete stop to turn. We saw shacks and houses that you would have thought were on movie sets - they did not seem real! That was true hillbilly living right there. I was TERRIFIED! The roads were so scary and Joe was going way too fast as usual. My body temperature literally rose, my face was red, I was sweating, my heart was about to thump out of my chest. It was terrifying! It was a total Dave and Sue adventure, anyone who knows my parents knows what that means!!

Anyway, finally, finally we got to a more normal road and when we reached a place that had lines on the road I breathed a big sigh of relief. WHEW! We made it. It only took about 30 minutes, too. So, even though it scared the crap outta me it was much better than sitting in that traffic for hours on end with a hungry, screaming baby and grumpy toddler.

Who knew a mountain retreat would have traffic jams that rival major cities!! And who knew, that my husband, who's sense of direction is better than mine (not saying much, haha) would have been able to navigate us through that hillbilly heaven and get us back to our vacation home. I was beaming with wife pride! And, I was very, very thankful! :)

I did not have a picture of the actual traffic jam. But a pic of the road going there and just another pic of the general traffic :)