Somethings missing this summer..............

WE MISS YOU GRACE!! (and Uncle Joe & Aunti Amy too)

Happy 17th Birthday Kiefer!

I REMEMBER THE DAY YOU WERE BORN LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY. YOU ARE JUST AS PRECIOUS NOW, AS YOU WERE THEN!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR KIEFER ;
WE LOVE YOU AND WE MISS YOU.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Wilderness at the Smokies

This is how exciting traveling on car rides with two 16 year olds is................................

Finding time to get away has been a little difficult this summer. Between visits with family/friends, sports camps and High School sports, the summer stays busy. This past weekend we decided we would go try a new Hotel/Water park that opened in Sevierville, TN. Both KK & Chelsea were allowed to bring a friend. We hit the road early on Friday morning and upon arrival were a little disappointed. Now, don't get me wrong, when it is all said and done it will be one of the best places around, but for now it's a little "little". The water park they brag so much about is really not much of a water park, but a pool, a kiddie area with lots of fun water squirters and 2 water slides all jammed into this teeny-weeny tiny area. It is open from 10-7, and with only about 50 chaise lounges around the area, seats are hard to find. If you are not there at 10:00, you can forget about having a seat for the whole day. And, even if you brought your own, there is no place to set it up, or lay out a towel for that matter. Still, day 1 was fun as it was all new, but I did think, "Oh no, what will we do for the rest of the weekend?"



We went out that night, ate dinner at Olive Garden and headed for the strip of Pigeon Forge. KK & Kristen went on the SLEDGEHAMMER (below) it's of those rides that goes WAY UP HIGH and rocks back and forth. It was moving so fast this was the best picture I could get. Then Tay wanted to go on the basic same thing but the one that spins and goes all the way around, its about a mile high! OK, that may be an exaggeration, but you know what I mean. Chelsea and I didn't think her own head could handle it, and everyone else was frightened, so I volunteered myself to go. Lucky for me at the last minute Katrina said she would accompany Ta- on the ride. She had so much fun, she wanted to go again, but at $30 a ride, that dream was squished.

The next day, was pretty much the same thing. Pool all day, and then on to the Nascar Park for putt putt golf & go carts. Its hard to entertain 16 year olds, that is all I can say.

The final morning we got up, went to Gatlinburg and gave the girls choices. Chelsea, Tay & Kris all wanted to go the aquarium, and KK wanted to walk the strip. So we split up; they went to the Ripleys Aquarium and we walked. Chels took some good pictures there.

Good bye Kiefer

After lots of good times with Kiefer, our sweet visit had come to an end on Tuesday! We took him to the airport where some....how do I say this nicely?.................WACKO (strange man staring at us and getting closer and closer and closer, til he was nearly standing on Kiefer) caused enough uneasiness that Kiefer opted to go through security and wait for his plane far far away from "WACKO". We will miss him a bunch!!

I think I can......catch the water

Chelsea & Lexi having some fun with the water hose....................

This is my dog that despises bathtime! She played for 30 minutes with Chelsea like this, and when Chelsea was done, Lexi proceeded to sit in front of the hose and stare. It was so sad, she was just waiting for some more water.

Another Furry child

Stripes the Cat has lived in our neighborhood for roughly seven years. He is the sweetest & friendliest cat you will ever meet. About 18 months ago, he started coming to our house and hanging out. At first we weren't sure who he belonged to, but then we asked around and found out he belonged to neighbors about 8 houses away. They would come get him and bring him home and he would instantly come back to our house. After several tries, they gave up.

When it was evident he didn't want to live at his house anymore, we started feeding him and I decided I didn't like the name Stripes and I renamed him Francesco. Then winter came. We already have 4 house cats, so the last thing we needed was another. Our garage is insulated so we gave him a nice bed in the garage and made sure he was in their each night for a warm kitty sleep.

Then it happened, it was too hard to look at him sitting at the glass door or on the window sill staring at us so we would invite him in and our cats loved him too. He didn't stay in for long periods of time, he would just take a quick nap and be on his way back outside.

Here he is napping with Sandie.

Around Christmas John spoke with Francesco's family and they informed him that the were going to be moving to CA and would be taking him with them. I had my doubts........

A month ago they put their house up for sale, and this past week there was a SOLD sign on it. Last night they called and asked if we wanted "Stripes", if not they would bring him to the shelter. Of course we said YES! He has pretty much been our cat anyway, I don't think he has been back to their house for at least a year.

Now what makes a cat that has lived happily with someone for 6 or 7 years want to move out and adopt a new family?????? TWO EVIL CHIHUAHUAS!

KK's First Concert

Katrina received a call on Saturday afternoon July 3 from a friend asking her to go the the Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney concert that night at LP Field(home of the Titans). She was jumping at the chance and Chelsea was raging with anger! After all she is 16 years old and had been the one talking about going for months, but it had been sold out for a while.

After a superquick shower, I drove her to meet them and off they went. They missed the first few acts as the concert started at 3:30 and they didn't get there until 6:00.
She called me later with this text picture, and was so excited she could hardly get the words out. "MOM, I TOUCHED KEITH URBAN! I touched his arm, his guitar and I held onto his guitar". I could tell by the pictures they were as close to the stage as one could get. The only thing between them and Keith Urban was security.

Then I started thinking, was she a crazed fan that security had to pull off him........was she escorted from the stadium.......and did the poor man lose any hair? Didn't see her on the news that night, and haven't received any warrants, so I guess we are ok!

Anyway, she had the time of her life, and her sister is still fuming over the thought of her 11 year old sister attending the concert of the year !

Kiefers Visit

My nephew Kiefer has been visiting us from Massachusetts since last Tuesday. We have done a lot of nothing; fishing, fireworks, swimming, movies and of course Sonic!

Here is the big catfish catch of the day last Saturday!

Yesterday we went on an adventure to Beech Bend Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky. None of us had been before so we went not knowing what to expect. The website/commercials say they are an amusement park/water park.
Think County Fair times 5, only much much cleaner and less less people! The water park consisted of a pool and 3 water slides, but that was enough to cool them down on this 95 degree day.
It ended up being quite fun! Here they are on the MOBY DICK! Savannah, Katrina, Kiefer,Nick (chelsea's boytoy), Chelsea & Talor.

OH NO!! KK's Driving!

AWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!

No longer "the Foster puppy"

If you check to the right, you will notice that Lexi's description no longer has "the foster puppy" in it. That is because we have taken the leap and adopted her into our family forever! We had been thinking for the last couple of weeks that it had been too long and that it would make her sad if we gave her away. Would she be thinking "what did I do wrong?" or "why didn't you want me?" Well, this weekend she had a serious inquiry to adopt her, and it was then and there that we decided that we could no longer let her go.

Really, I would have been ok in the first couple of months, but we are going on 3 months and it has been too long. Chelsea (in tears) had threatened to never speak to me again if I let Lexi go, which at first sounds sad, but anyone with a 16 year old knows that that threat actually sounds tempting! John was really the pro-adopter in all this, he was the one that pushed for it. As much as I wanted to adopt her, I felt like I was failing as a foster mom if I did.
Well........ call me a failure, because I have already moved on: