Trip to Tennessee

LaDonna's mom moved to Tennessee a few months ago from the North Carolina mountains. It's only about an hour and a half west from where they lived before. We hadn't been out to see them or the new house, so we took a road trip this last weekend and drove out. It took 7.5 hours to get there with one stop for dinner where we let the kids get out and stretch. It took us just over 7 hours to get home because we tried a different route. We ran into one accident and stopped three times. One stop for a meal and two for potty breaks. We still have one more route to try to see if we can cut off some more time from the trip.

It was a good trip and the kids had fun playing with their cousins there and seeing family. They live within walking distance to the lake where the fishing is supposed to be great. The kids got to do some fishing, but we didn’t have time to do some real fishing. Below is some little fish that the kids reeled in. Brian had already hooked one for each of them and they got to reel it in. LaDonna has a sister named Patience that lives really close to her mom and she has two kids, Seth and Westin, that were there. Lonna and Bryce were pretty excited about the boat ride and fishing. When we pulled the fish out of the water, Bryce wanted to touch it again and again. Then the fish would move and he’d jump and laugh and want to do it again. Lonna was excited as well and watch me take the hooks out and put them in a bucket. We kept the little fish for bait fish and later that night put the little fish on the hook to try and catch some big fish. We didn’t catch anything, but the bait kept getting eaten, so we know there were fish there.

I’ve included some pictures of the lake from the house and also of the kids fishing.

My birthday present

I wanted a steering wheel for the XBOX 360. So I found one on Craigslist and got it last night. While I was shopping for it, Lonna had been looking at it and asked if she could play with it. She's always wanting to play my games and I won't let her. So I told her that she could play with it as soon as I bought it. Last night before she went to bed I told her I was going to get it and this morning when she got up she remembered and it was the first thing she asked about when I saw her. "Did you get the wheel?" I told her "yes", her next question was "Can I play with it?" So, we went downstairs and hooked it up. It comes with the steering wheel and pedals for the gas and brake. I let her play PGR3 and her and Bryce loved it. I'm waiting for PGR4 to come in the mail today and then it looks like I'm going to have to share my toy during the day. That's not something I'm used to doing.

Grandma came down this morning and tried it too, but I didn't get a picture of her playing. She was weaving back and forth and started to get a sick feeling. I was very impressed that she was even willing to try it!!!