Furlough days, here we come!

At the last minute, we decided to have one last hoorah (?) before school started back. Since PreacherMan had gotten a day off (otherwise known as a furlough day, otherwise known as one less day of pay, but, believe me we are not complaining because we are glad he has a job), we thought why not make the most of it and take an "end of summer mini-vacation" to what my kids lovingly refer to as "The Mountain Home". First, let me explain about "The Mountain Home"....it is not really our home in the mountains. It is a time share type thing that my parents own and that we use occasionally but that my kids seem to think it is "Our mountain home". They also think we have a "Beach House" but it is really just a condo that our really good friends let us use. One day, our kids will realize we have only one home and it is the one we live in and that all of these other nice places belong to other people!

Anyway, we drove to our mountain home on Thursday night after Open House so we arrived fairly late. By this time, the kids were asleep, but now awake upon arrival and so it took awhile to settle back down to go to sleep. But, that was ok, because I knew what awaited in the morning...the highlight of our visit to the mountains....breakfast at The Pancake Pantry. I always order the same thing...these crepes with berries, ricotta cheese, and whipped cream/butter. I am telling you it is a piece of heaven on earth. We like it so much that PreacherMan and I both order the same thing because we don't want to share. Then, when we can't eat another bite and still have almost half left, we always say we should have shared. Tate had the dainty silver dollar pancakes and Ben and Cora shared M&M pancakes with peanut butter syrup. Need I say more? It was scrumptious. If I really had this blog thing down, I would have taken pictures. I wish I would have but you'll just have to use your imagination.

Our next stop was DollyWood. I do have pictures of this to share. We rode in old cars. We played all kinds of carnival games and won prizes that will be forgotten in a few short weeks and will take up valuable space in my house. But, that's okay because the kids had fun winning them. We saw old churches, and wagons, and learned about the American eagle. Cora hugged trashcans and told them she loved them. I wish I had a picture of that but I don't. I really need to get better at this capturing moments thing. We rode wet rides at the end and we were soaked. I am glad I don't have pictures of that because when I got to the car and saw what I looked like, I remembered why I don't usually do wet rides.

I almost forgot the best part...we rode a train around DollyWood. Cora didn't really like the loud noise so she put her fingers in her ears and voila! she fell asleep, with the roaring and whistling of the train and the soot falling all over us. She was oblivious to it all. Ahhh, to be a kid, with the ability to fall asleep anywhere in any position at anytime.

The next day we settled for breakfast courtesy of Krispy Kreme which was really not settling at all but a real treat. Not much can beat a Krispy Kreme donut warmed up for about 10 seconds in the microwave. I can only think of one thing that can beat it...two or three Krispy Kremes warmed up in the microwave for breakfast. And, I wonder why my shorts felt tight on the way home...

We then packed up, checked out, and took the kids to Cade's Cove to look for deer and bear and whatever wildlife we might find. It was a really nice, sunny day and we did see turkey and a few deer but no bear. Maybe next time we will see more. Maybe next time, I will actually get pictures of what we see. My little camera just didn't do the trick this time. Maybe next time, I will have convinced PreacherMan to buy a nice big camera so we can take pictures of the deer and bear and other treasures at Cade's Cove. Maybe next time, I will actually remember to take the pictures so that I can share them with you. I just hope with a few more furlough days around the corner that there is a next time.

Lolly