away we go!

so... now to the travel part of this whole catch-up. we left bright and early sunday morning- pulled out of the driveway at 3.45! i'd figured that if we packed the van the night before and in the morning just stuck the kids in their carseats and left, they'd fall back asleep before long.

i mean, it IS early, right?

so they SHOULD fall back asleep.

right?

ha!!!!

apparently, OUR children don't do that.

nope!

it wasn't until they'd polished off an entire package of graham crackers, a bottle of apple juice (divided and watered down, of course)....

... and we'd gone through chicago

(mid-morning on a sunday is the best time to go; traffic is significantly easy!)....

.... over the cool bridge and into indiana that madison finally lost the battle with her eyelids. she conked out for awhile, but cole kept right on jabbering and watching out the window.

he eventually dozed for a short time, and then promptly went back to occupying himself.

we have a barf bucket handy (just in case), which makes a great "ice cream hat".

the kids did amazingly- we pulled in to our motel in loudon a little before 6 pm (5 pm central time)... it was a long trip and we survived without any issues.

i'm so proud of our littles- they really did great.

somewhere in kentucky just before the tennessee border: i thought the sunspot on the rock wall looked kinda neat.

self-explanatory :)

the late-afternoon weather in knoxville

(too bad you couldn't see the humidity!)

we settled in to what will be our home for the next two weeks, and the kids slept reasonably well sunday night. cole thinks it's cool to sleep in a grown-up bed, and madison's happy with the familiar confines of her pack-n-play. unfortunately, she's teething some more, so the last few nights have involved less-than-adequate sleep for mommy, but this too shall pass. we're just happy to all be together!

*

tuesday afternoon we took the kids into downtown loudon. it's not a very big place, but it's got a few diners, an ice-cream shop, a town square with a fountain, a cute old courthouse...

... and the kids love riding in the new stroller.

seriously- cole thinks it's THE coolest thing ever.

we like it too- handles so smooth!

there was this cool old water tower that i was itching to take a few photos of.

too bad it's not a tad smaller and right on the ground- it would be a great vintage photo prop.

the tennessee river

we had supper at mark's diner (the store in the middle, with the green and white striped awning). they had a really good taco salad- a little meat with lots of beans. kelvin thought it sounded yummy so he had one too, not seeing the "bean" part in the menu description.

oops.

the fountain in the square is so cute- and peaceful.

a mischievious little boy eyeing up the unsuspecting fountain...

the iron park benches are nice- the midwest (aka home) might be safer, but the little towns here are more kept up. i think they really take some pride in what their communities look like. the courthouse, the little shops, the square... it's all so manicured and maintained, even though everything's old. perfect backdrop for photos!

a little boy's curiosity: satisfied.

two sets of sweet little toes cooling off in the water.

cole's shorts were soaked by the time we pried them away from the fountain to go get ice cream. he was devastated that we had to leave and made it known... but settled down once he realized where we were going. the ice cream shop next door to mark's diner is called 'tic-toc's', and they offer home-made ice cream.

best

stuff

ever.

seriously.

the kids had plain vanilla- it was creamy, smooth, and flecks of ground vanilla bean were visible in it. absolutely awesome!!

and to end this long post: a photo of the view from the hotel. if only it was in 3-D... this shot doesn't do the scene justice. hey- they have 3-D tv's and almost every new movie is offered in 3-D these days; maybe sometime in the near future, they'll make 3-D dslr cameras!

now THAT would rock...