The trip that did all of our hearts good!

**Disclaimer - this will be a very long post with a lot of pictures.

Hitchcock - Hayes reunion!!!  

It had been entirely too long since we had seen the Hitchcocks.  I know I'm like a broken record with how blessed we are to have an amazing (AMAZING) Army family but seriously, we are blessed.  This family was one of the first families we met when we moved to Ft. Campbell.  Kemper and Joey hit it off at our very first FRG meeting where Casey was my FRG leader.  They became fast friends and inseparable.  Casey and I practically did, too.  We LOVE this family and are so thankful that even though they PCSed that we are able to keep in touch. 

Our home for the weekend...AMAZING!

 Casey and I mentioned back in the summer that it would be nice to meet up in Gatlinburg for a long weekend in the fall.  As fall got closer, it was brought up again and we decided Veterans Day weekend was the perfect time.  They found an awesome cabin and we kept it a surprise from the big kids.  Kemper knew we were going on vacation and we told him where we were going but not that when we got there, his Joey would be waiting for him. 

Breakfast together before a big day of exploring Wonderworks

When we pulled up, he was slowly starting to realize that something was up when Mr. Zach walked out on the porch.  He ran up the steps and Mrs. Casey stepped outside and he got it.  Inside, Casey called Joey up from downstairs and when she topped the stairs, she cried "KEMPER!" and they were both just so excited!  This momma may have shed a tear.  These two were thick as thieves for 2 years.  They looked out for each other, played together practically daily and the day that they moved was a sad day in our house.  We've been able to get together a few times since they moved and every time, Joey and Kemper fall right back into their routine.  It does my heart good that they love each other like they do.  

Arms full of adorable babies.  

Hudson and Cooper had met once before but Cooper was tiny and Hudson was only 6 months old.  We were interested to see how they did around one another.  It went pretty well...Hudson was only a bully a few times that weekend. 

Getting acquainted...and Hudson may have been warning Cooper not to mess with his Buzz rocketship.

Our cabin was awesome....4 bedrooms which gave us plenty of space for everyone to sleep comfortably.  The big kids had a room with bunk beds and they were stoked although they insisted on sleeping together (didn't last long, Joey was a bed hog according to Kemper).  James and I had a room right next to Hudson's room and Casey and Zach were upstairs with Cooper.  There was a pool table, and quite possibly the best part of the house, the singing deer head.  

Notice the kid in the background trying to climb the railing.  Maniac.

From the moment we got there, the big kids were off entertaining themselves.  It was so nice.  They've always played so well together and I think they both needed a weekend to recharge with each other.  

Listening to the signing buck.  He was hilarious.  Everyone loved him.

We had quite the weekend planned...checking out Wonderworks, hiking, indoor waterpark and exploring Gatlinburg.  

Hudson made a new friend.  

Kemper asked me if Cooper and Hudson would be best friends like he and Joey were.  <3  I think if these two lived closer, they would give Kemper and Joey a run for their money.  

Kemper's always pointed out the upside down building when we've visited Myrtle Beach.  I had no clue what it was like inside but once we started investigating, we decided it was definitely somewhere that the kids would enjoy.  The adults ended up enjoying it, too!

Hudson loves Mr. Zach

Checking out the pulleys.  We also did an earthquake simulator in this display.  It was neat but definitely as close as I would like to get to experiencing an earthquake.  

Hudson taking Cooper for a ride.  

Kemper checking out the astronaut suit.

Joey was so excited about the ropes course.  She and Zach tried it out right away!

James and Kemper gave it a go...Kemper flew through it so I thought he must have loved it.  James said it was more of a "I don't enjoy this so the quicker I do it, the quicker I can get down" type of experience.

This huge light-bright was so much fun!  Hudson could have played with it all day.  We probably spent 30 minutes just playing with it!

Kemper had fun with the light-bright, too!

Oversized piano...should have gotten a video of them running back and forth.  

Not sure which "kid" enjoyed this more...a life-size bed of nail toy.  

The bubble room was a lot of fun!  Hudson especially had a good time while I was taking pictures.  He soaked his shirt up to his elbow in bubble solution!

Playing with the air harp...notice the shirt sleeve.  And that bubble solution did not smell good.

James and Casey playing Mind Ball.  Relaxing their mind to use their brain waves to move the ball across the table to the opposing side using EEG technology.  I tried this...I was not very good at relaxing my mind.  James and Casey came to a stalemate.  

Bed of Nails...James was the only one to try this out.  Supposedly it's not supposed to hurt when the pressure of nails is spread out over 3500 of them slowly rising under your body.  James calls bull on that after experiencing it.

Kemper loved the space zone.  The Mercury Capsule was his favorite.  He flipped every switch in there at least 5 times.  

Another visit to the light-bright with Daddy.

After exploring Wonderworks, we grabbed a quick lunch at 5 Guys and then walked around a little shopping center.  We decided to have an old timey picture taken of all of us as a nice keepsake from the weekend.  What a hilarious experience!  

After naps (for just about everyone), we headed down into Gatlinburg to eat and walk around.  It had gotten a bit chilly but the kids did great.  I think they were just excited to be with one another.  The babies did great, too!  It was our first attempt at carrying Hudson in the Ergo since he was much smaller and I was afraid he would freak out but he seemed to love it.  

The next morning, we got up early and headed deeper into the mountains.  We got to the top where Tennessee and North Carolina meet.  It was COLD.  But, it was a beautiful day and Kemper thought it was cool to be on top of a mountain.  

I think we were all a little scared that the little daredevil would try to launch himself over the side of the mountain.  He kept us on our toes!

The kids in their respective states!

Kemper wasn't happy that the sign was facing the sun.  

They called this Pride Rock like on the Lion King.

Appalachian Trail.  The park rangers said that they were seeing a few stragglers still hiking but that it was slowing down due to the weather.

After a trip to a pancake house (and not the Pancake Pantry because waiting in that line with 4 kids would be just asking for it), we were off to the indoor water park!

(All of these pictures have a green tint due to the ceiling...I've been meaning to try to photoshop them but haven't gotten around to it yet.)

Not loving the splash area as much as we thought he would.

He loved to climb the stairs to the slide, then go back down the stairs.  Up and down, all day long.

A little hot tub time.

And we're climbing the slide again!

Hudson pestering Cooper...there were 20 little water spouts in the splash area but Hudson just had to play with the one Cooper was playing with.

He LOVED jumping off the side of the pool!  Over and over until our arms were tired.  Daddy would let him go under and it didn't phase him one but but Mommy was too much of a wuss to try that with him.

We spent 2 hours playing and then decided to head back to our cabin to let the little ones nap.  It was an all day admission type place so our plan was to head back after naps and dinner.  The big kids were happy with that plan.  They had a blast playing in the pool and the lazy river.  

Playing around in the pool...thank goodness I brought his goggles.  They seem to be his courage in the water.  A big thank you to the YMCA and Ms. Kioni who teaches his swim lessons.  He was much more confidant in the water and never asked for his puddle jumpers!

Again, messing with Cooper's water spout.  

We probably spent a good 2 hours swimming that night before we decided to call it a day and head home.  We were all facing a drive the next day to head back home so we needed to pack up.  The lure of ice cream was enough to satisfy Kemper and Joey who weren't terribly excited that we had to leave.

Enjoying their ice cream after a long day!

Cooper playing on the hearth.  He loved those logs!  

After all of the kids were asleep, James and I stayed up just catching up with Casey and Zach until way later than we should have.  They were planning to head out early the next morning but James and I decided we weren't going to be in a hurry the next morning.  Thank goodness because we definitely lost track of time.

The view of the living room.  Such a cozy little cabin for our weekend getaway!

It was a sad morning when Kemper and Joey had to say goodbye.  Once Joey left, the charm of the weekend had worn off and Kemper was ready to pack up and leave right away.  We all agreed that more weekends like this needed to be in our future.  Luckily when we move we'll still be close enough that we can make it happen!  

Thank you Hitchcock family for a wonderful weekend!  

Halloween festivities!

Donatello and a fire breathing dragon.  

Our first Halloween event this year was at Kemper's school.  They hosted a trick or treat event through the halls of the schools and also had stories and dinner following the trick or treating.  James was planning on meeting us there but got caught up at work so it was just me and the boys.  

What an adventure this was.  I wasn't sure how Hudson was going to do when I put him in his costume or actually trick or treating.  We waited in a very long line just to get into the school and then, all it took was one sucker dropped in Hudson's bucket and he was done.  Sat down in the middle of the floor, thrust his arm into that bucket and grabbed the sucker to begin tearing the paper off.  He wouldn't stand up, wouldn't move or hold his bucket.  He wasn't interested in getting anymore candy...he had his sucker and was in heaven.  I carried him the rest of the way.  Sucker juice dripping down his hand, not caring who was talking to him or whether candy was going into his bucket.  He was one with the sucker.  By the end, my left arm fell like it was going to fall off and we were both sweaty and covered in sucker juice.  Fun times.  

We had to carve pumpkins one night after James got home from work simply because we procrastinated and were running out of time.  This meant Hudson got to witness about 5 minutes of carving before it was bedtime but that was enough for him.  He wasn't interested in feeling pumpkin guts after he got an initial touch.  Kemper loved the pumpkin guts and happily cleaned out 3 pumpkins (with a little help from Daddy to make sure they were good and clean).  

Kemper designed his own pumpkin...diamond shaped eyes and a "scary" mouth...but no nose.  Daddy decided to "shave" Hudson's pumpkin into Muno from Yo Gabba Gabba.  I decided to try drilling holes into mine.  Next year I will use a bigger drill bit.  I wasted an hour of my life for holes that you couldn't even see.  Hooray!

He was so mad that we wouldn't let him take the seeds and plant them in the backyard.  He didn't care that we wouldn't be in this house next year to see them grow, he just wanted to plant pumpkins.  

All of our pumpkins...we had quite the collection of baby pumpkins thanks to various trips to the pumpkin patch.  Also, thank goodness for flameless candles and pumpkin glow sticks.  

Hudson's little nursery school had a Halloween party during class one day.  They were welcome to wear costumes but they had to be diaper friendly.  His dragon costume was not diaper friendly so we had to improvise.  A quick raid of the dress up box and his closet and we had Cowboy Hudson!

It was the cutest thing to see his little class march in from the playroom and take a seat at the tables.  I expected him to run over when he saw me there but he just smiled and took his seat.  Of course, it helped that there was a plate of food ready and waiting for him and he promptly demolished that plate of food.  

Hudson and his best gal pal Harper.  Or as he calls her, Harpy.  He sure is going to miss his Harpy on Tuesday...it will be his first day in class without her as her family PCSed this week!  

Halloween night we were under a tornado watch so the Schmidts came over for dinner and we had an impromptu indoor trick or treat through the house.  No costumes or treat buckets...we decorated bags and James, Lynse and I sat in different rooms and handed out candy.  The boys LOVED it and had the best time.  

Trick or treat in Hudson's room!

Checking out their loot.  Not hyped up on sugar at all!

Even this little guy got to sample some smarties!

Walking up to his first house with big brother.

The following night, we headed onto post and trick or treated in a friend's neighborhood.  We had stocked up on candy since we are usually bombarded so we just dropped that off at a friends house so we were contributing to the neighborhood. Hudson wasn't as into it as we thought he would be.  He spent most of the night being carried by Daddy or Mrs. Lynse (he loves his Lynse) and munching on candy.  I guess he did enjoy it, just not in the way we imagined.

He seemed to have a stand off with this nice man.  He wouldn't hold his bucket out or move closer.  We finally had to take the candy and put it in the bucket for him.  

Again, wouldn't hold his bucket out at all.  He's lucky he's cute. :)

Kemper had a blast, as usual!  He was loving being with his buddies and being dressed up as Donatello!  He found this manhole cover and happily declared, "Look, it's a door to my house!" (since Ninja Turtles live in the sewer).  

Ninja Turtle Donatello, Optimus Prime and a ninja!

We were out for about an hour and decided to call it a night.  This little dragon was fading fast and the big boys had PLENTY of candy in their buckets.  One thing I have loved about Halloween's in Tennessee is that we have always been blessed to spend them trick or treating with amazing friends.  The Hitchcocks, Liesens and Schmidts have been a routine part of our Halloweens over the last 4 years.  This was the beginning of a bittersweet holiday season since next year we'll be celebrating in Alabama.