Tweetsie

If you only have one vacation day without rain, this is definitely where you should spend it.

It’s full of history.

It’s got a real, operational steam engine train.

Don’t forget the horse rides.

Or the happy family.

But watch what you do. The law is serious ‘round these parts.

**Cough, cough, hack, hack*** It’s great!

If you’re too lazy to climb to the top, there’s a chair lift for you.

Do not miss the Tweetsie Twister. It’s a smashing good time. Literally.

There’s lots of animals to feed.

If you’re a good mother, you’ll point out all the rules.

Then let your children break them…

Eeewwww! Deer slobber.

Do goats really require a porch swing?

Hey!

What is Bug doing?

Well, every little girl needs a fairy mask, doesn’t she?

Or at least a dragon…

Don’t forget to mine for precious gems.

Whatcha got there Zman?

Oh, the rides. If you’re afraid of heights, maybe you should just take some photos of your children, who do not appear to have the slightest worry about where they are.

Do not let your underage children drive.

But in case you forget, your whiplash will remind you the next morning.

Most importantly catch a ride on the Tweetsie Railroad. The sheriff and his posse will keep you safe.

You can’t outsmart the sheriff.

And we’re off!

Yikes!

There’s trouble a brewin’

It’s alright, the Marshall has things under control.

Oh no!

And we arrive back at Main Street, safe and sound.

I let my baby go on this ride.

She’s height-legal by a hair.

Hey! What’s it doing?

Aaahhh! Stop that!

Why are my babies smiling?

This one doesn’t look too bad.

Um, hello? Where’s the ground?

Yay! We made it!

 

 

 

 

 

Fadre – why don’t you take the next one?

 

You mustn’t miss this!

It was the perfect ending to a perfect day!

It’s Not Me, So it Must be You

Bean: I can’t float as good today. They must’ve gotten new water for the pool.

Yes, that must be it.

Fashion Foul

This is what you look like after you sit in the hammock after a rain.

And for our next trick…

Bean: Mom, can you move your computer off the kitchen table?

Me: Why?

Bean: I’ve taught Dash a new trick and I want to show you.

Me: What trick?

Bean: I’ve taught him how to jump on things and I want to show you how I’ve taught him to jump on the kitchen table.

Um, no.

No, I cannot move my computer.

Sorry.

Blowing Rock

My boss has a house in the mountains.  It is beautiful.  He offered us the house for Spring Break 2006.   My children thought it was the best vacation we’ve ever had.

When he offered the house to us again this year, we jumped at the chance. 

My first morning looked like this from the back deck.  The sun made its entrance around 6:30 in the morning.

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The perfect view to go with my cup of coffee.

And how’s this for company?  She just showed up out of nowhere.

It didn’t take long for the girls to find their favorite spot!

    

We spent most of our afternoon playing games.

First, LCR…

   

Then Zman read us the rules for Scrabble Apple.

   

It was some quick and easy spaghetti for dinner.

 

We had a nice dinner out on the back deck.  For two reasons:

1. We had beautiful weather.
2. My boss has white carpet in his house and his children are full grown.  Not a good combination - red spaghetti sauce plus small children…..

 

We moved on to the puzzle after dinner.

 

In a mere 1,450 more pieces, it should look something like this….

We might need another week of vacation to finish it.

Vacation!!!

We left Thursday morning for our summer family vacation.  Our goal was to leave about 7 a.m.  True to form, we didn’t leave until 10 a.m.  Oh well, vacation is vacation no matter what time you leave. 

Packing was a little different this time around.  Fadre packed up his motorcycle for a special event later this week.

The girls were excited to be heading out. 

Fadre found a killer hotel for us to stay at.

Those are WATER SLIDES!  At the hotel.  And a lazy river!

It started off being a working vacation for me.  Well, vacation for the family.  Work for me.  While I was out in the field all day Friday, the kids enjoyed the hotel.

Bean

Zman

 

Bug

Things that go bump in the night

Not long after Fadre and I moved into together, he woke me up in the middle of the night.  I mean, he nudged me awake in the wee hours of the morning and said:

“Do you see all the kittens?”  He was quite alarmed and I shot up straight in the bed to look around.  I couldn’t see them so I asked where.

Fadre:  They’re everywhere!

Me:  I don’t see them!

And Fadre look me dead in the eye and says, “No, you can’t have one”.

(You see, I wanted a kitten at the time.) 

I was, to say the least, a bit perplexed.  I did not ask for one at that moment.  The more I asked Fadre about the kittens, the more evasive he got, until he finally said, “Just forget it”.  And he rolled back over and WENT TO SLEEP!  After I took a last look around to look for the kittens (which were nowhere to be found), I finally went back to sleep. 

It was that night I learned that Fadre has some severe nightmares.  (Do people really have nightmares about kittens?)

We have been through many similar situations over the years.  His most recurring nightmare involves spiders/bugs.  Sometimes they run across the bed, sometimes they come from behind the pictures on the wall.

When it happens, I talk to Fadre and tell him there is no spider/bug on the bed.  I argue with him a couple of times about yes there is/no there isn’t!  Eventually he wakes up, gets embarrassed, rolls over, and goes back to sleep.

One time he woke me up for the spider discussion.  He made me lift my head off the pillow and look for it.  The VERY NEXT NIGHT he had the same dream, but this time he got up and turned on the light to look for it. 

FOR THE THIRD NIGHT IN  A ROW!!!!! he woke me up, turned on the light, made me get out of the bed so he could move it and look for that spider.  UUUGGGHHH!!!!  You know, frankly after someone has told you they saw a spider running across your pillow, it’s a little hard to fall back asleep because what if this time they were right?

Saturday night it happened.  Fadre bolted out of the bed like it was on fire!  He ran to the end of the bed and then to the bathroom doorway.  He was just about to turn on the light when I asked what he was doing. 

At that moment he woke up. 

He said, “I am NOT waking you up to look for a spider” and he crawled back in bed without another word.

When I asked him about it on Sunday he said I have conditioned him to not wake me up.  Apparently at this point, he’s only concerned about himself and will happily sacrifice me to the spider!