Happy 4th of July to all

This year was spend a little different. Our last 10 days have been totally devoted to our family. We needed this time. This time to think and grow and I mean 10 days out of 365 is not many to have alone as a family. It has been great. We have had so much fun. I am actually dreading Johnathon going back to work tomorrow. If we could have hit the lotto this past 10 days that would have been great.

Johnathon woke up and cooked us breakfast and then we swam all AM and he BBQ for lunch. He has been cooking so much and today the BBQ hit the spot for us. We all had a little nap and then we went shopping for a little while. We needed to get Parker's 2 year old outfit for pics. I know I can't believe he will be two!!! After our trip to BR we went to the locks in Plaquemine and let the kids play and ate dinner. I love listening to a band. That is my cup of tea-not so much Johnathon's. We had a good time and we decided that we were going to go there every year. You know make a tradition out of it. We didn't stay and watch the fireworks because well Uncle Paul has the best firework show around so we decided to go there and finish the 4th with them.

Well I am going spend a little time with my hunny since he will be gone for the rest of the week. BOOO:( Vacation should never have to end.

Tennessee Vacation 2011

Welcome to the Booksh Family Vacation 2011. I hope you enjoy the two posts of photos. I wish I could have posted many more but it took my two hours just to post the few that I did. ENJOY!


Who doesn't love some good ole Old Tyme Photos. I love those shops that take these. I think they are so much fun. Besides look how cute these kids are??? They loved dressing up too.


This was our trip to the Ripley's Aquarium. It was very nice and supposed to be one of the largest in the country. I think I am just partial to LA-But I liked ours better! They did have beautiful waterfalls and stuff in it though. The same night we went here Johnathon and Braden went up the mountain on a sky lift. They both loved it and I was very shocked that Braden went on it. Downtown Gatlinburg is so pretty. It is so overpopulated though. We were fighting all the tourists down there.


Can I say scared out of my mind! We missed our turn for Laurel falls and ended up almost to the top of the mountains. The highest point is 6000 feet and we were so close. I was scared. It was so chilly and once we stopped up there-I was ok and enjoyed the full beauty of the smokey mountains. That's what it's all about. The mountains stay smokey almost all day. I love it! This was in the Smokey Mountain National Park. It's massive. I can't even explain how big it is! Everyone needs to go here at least once.




This was our hike down to Laurel falls. It was beautiful as mostly everything in Tennessee is. At first it was very steep. It was a 2.6 mile hike and I wasn't feeling it at first. The great thing is it is a paved trail so we were able to push Parker in the stroller on it. That made life much easier. Parker isn't a big water fan so all these chilly falls and creeks were not his cup of tea.






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Tennessee Vacation 2011

This was one of our fave places. Cades Cove. It had amazing views down in the Valley. It's a loop that you drive around and you can see old houses and churches and tons of wildlife. We loved it here. To me the Valley is much prettier than the top of the moutains partially bc being so high scares me:)









Nothing like a freezing cold creek. This creek was beautiful. I love the view of creeks while driving down the road. Can LA please get some pretty creeks?? That's one of my fave things. I wanted to take cute pics here with nice clothes but the kids insisted that they put their swimsuits on. This is all I ended up with:)






These are some of the pics from Ober Gatlinburg. It was so much fun. The kids really had a blast. I didn't get many pics there but they had to ride a ski lift all the way to the top of the mountain to ride down the alpine slide. They really were not scared of anything. Me on the other hand-I was not getting on all that stuff. So glad my kiddos are not scared of it though!








These are some of our photos from our last stop in Chattanooga. We love it there. We ate at Big River and then went to an amazing children's museum. By far the best I have ever been to.

Happy 6th Birthday Braden Kyle!

Braden had a wonderful 6th Birthday and we were so happy for all who were able to make it. We really cut our list down a lot for this Birthday. It was wonderful! I totally enjoyed being able to talk to everyone and just visit. It was great. Braden still racked up on a gifts and money. How does a 6 year old get over $100 cash for their Birthday and gifts????? Like seriously-that is a ton of money! I don't even think he realizes exactly how much that is and probably won't until he grows up! LOL!

We are so thankful and so proud of our little sweetheart. My big boy is just the sweetest loving little boy ever. He has such a soft spirit which is such a blessing from God. We are so proud of our big boy. He is growing up way to fast! Not happy about that.

Happy Birthday Buddy-We Love you!

Catastrophe

I can not speak any higher of my wonderful FIL who always saves the day when Johnathon is out of town. Thank you so much DOGG your the BEST FIL I have:)


Yep, a Catastrophe is what happened. This am my sink started backing up and draining a little slower than usual. I didn't really pay it much attention for the rest of the day. Then at 1AM it became a CATEGORY 5 HURRICANE IN MY KITCHEN. The water in my sink was rising and leaking out of my dish washer. I tried everything to eliminate having to call him over at 1am. No success. After all I had been struggling with it for 3 hours. What was stuck in the drain is a totally different post. I will keep you trying to guess what it was with three little monkeys running around the house!!!

Goodnight! It's going to be a long day tomorrow. After all it is almost 2am!

Meet Buddy

Meet our newest pet "Buddy". Buddy was given to Braden this year by his teacher Ms. Brandi. Buddy was the class pet this year and Braden was the lucky boy who was able to take him home! Excited is really not the word for Braden. He has been asking for a little fish forever and I have not gotten him one-Well mostly because it would just be one more thing for me to take care of being a single mom most of the week. With that said we are enjoying Buddy very much.

Kindergarden Graduation

We are so Proud of our big boy! He is growing so fast and he has done so well and adjusted to the new school so good. We Love you Braden and are so proud of you.