Thursday (June 21, 2012) - Finally, after ALL the fun we'd been having, it was time to head to the actual Forman Family Reunion in Fall Creek Falls, TN. We headed out Thursday morning from Chattanooga and made a stop at Wal-Mart (so I could get ingredients to bring "loaded baked potato dip" to the cocktail hour Thursday night.
The kids were pretty good again in the car, and we got there within just a few hours. Once we got in, we settled into the room and then remembered we were at a State Park...which means you really need to have your own food. They have a restaurant on the grounds, but it's a state park, so we couldn't rely on it...so, we headed back out to find a grocery store. FYI - when you travel anywhere from the mountains, there are LOTS of twists and turns, FYI. So, it made the 10 mile trip MUCH longer. We finally found a "Sav-A-Lot" and stocked up on some snacks and sandwich stuff.
Then, we got back to our room (which was right by the pool), dropped off the food, and then headed to the pool. Mike and the kids swam for a bit, then we all headed back to the room to get ready for the cocktail hour.
The cocktail hour was at a cabin that one of the families in our group rented, and it was right on the lake. The walk from our room to their cabin was a pretty walk, and it was a nice night (hot, but nice). So, we got in, ate some food, drank some wine (or some whatever, I think I might have been the only one actually drinking wine) and hung out. It had been three years since we've talked to most of the people - I stay in touch with some of them on Facebook, but it was nice to just be together and hear about everyone's lives.
A few of us took the kids to the park for a little while, and it was fun watching them play in the dark, and I got some good pictures (I took
LOTS of pictures on this trip - luckily for you, I'm only posting a small percentage of the almost 500 (no lie!) pictures). ;-)
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| Rylie and Arden |
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| Zoe |
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| All (er, most) of the kids... |
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| Josh, playing in the dark |
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| Cooper |
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| Passed out after another long day :) |
Friday (June 22, 2012) - The next day, a bunch of the guys went to play golf (Mike didn't). Josh went with Uncle Tom, Honey, Aunt Jackie and Cooper to the waterfalls - he told me later that he swam in freezing cold water! He also left our room to meet them in ... FLIP FLOPS. Thankfully, Honey saved the day and had some tennis shoes that worked and he wore those. Mike took Rylie to breakfast, and I stayed in the room with Zoe.
After we (and by we I mean me, or I) got up and moving, Mike and I took the girls to explore the park grounds. We found some waterfalls, some hiking trails, and a suspended bridge to walk across. It was a fun, low-key morning and it was nice. I was so mad at the stupid bridge though - when I was little, I was scared of roller-coasters, but not really heights (that I can remember). I grew out of that, and even though I don't go to amusement parks much, I have enjoyed my fair share of roller-coasters (and would even be happy to jump on one now!). But, as I get older, my fear of heights is inexplicably growing. I HATE that...I don't want to be incapacitated by this fear...so, I did what the stubborn little girl in me has always done - I said "to you-know-what with that...I'm walking on this bridge". So, I was a little shaky, and I had to stop walking to take pictures (who could take pictures while walking on one of those rickety bridges anyway?!) but I walked across and then back. And enjoyed it. So there, fear!!
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Driving to go sight-seeing (I did not get her to cross her
legs like this; such a big girl all on her own!) |
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| Tired...and it's early! |
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Waterfall...very pretty, but Mike said it was MUCH less
water than the last time he was here (circa early 1990's, I think) |
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| Mike and I and the girls |
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Zoe, walking across a bridge...
this is NOT the suspension bridge |
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| My sweet Rylie |
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Beautiful view, right on the edge of one of the mountain sides
(I got as close to the edge as I could handle) |
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| Gorgeous scenery |
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| Zoe, hanging out while Mommy takes pictures |
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THIS was the suspension bridge...and there are
three of my favorite people walking across |
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| This is shot is from the middle, looking down (gulp) |
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| This is looking ahead (over the side) from the middle |
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Rylie, OWNING that bridge as she fearlessly
walks across (LOVE that girl) |
After the morning adventure, we headed back to the room and fed the girls some lunch. Then, we went to the pool and met up with Josh and some others. We hung out there for the afternoon, and I worked really hard with Zoe to get her comfortable jumping into the water. Rylie turned out to be a GREAT swimmer - when she would swim to me, I'd back up a few steps and make her swim farther (shhhh...). Finally, we headed back to the room for some down time before the family dinner. The plan was to head over to a cluster of rooms where Mike's parents, sister and Granma were before dinner for some drinks, then head to dinner. Of course. Zoe fell asleep about 5 minutes before we needed to leave, but who could wake THIS up?
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| She was awake one minute, then I turned around to this... |
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Nothin' sweeter than a baby sleeping
(ok, I know she's not a baby, but doesn't she look so little here?) |
I let her sleep for awhile, and Mike and the big kids went on. Finally, I woke her up and we got ready and headed over too. After hanging out for awhile, we went to the main hall, and after some rallying, took a group shot (can't wait to see how that turned out!). Then, we went in to dinner and ate/drank/talked some more.
All in all, it was a good time! We headed back to the room and settled in for the night - our plan was to leave as early as we could manage in the morning...it was (according to Mike) up in the air whether we'd drive all the way through or stop somewhere in between for the night (I knew better; I was confident once he got started driving he wouldn't stop).
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| Ready to go after our nap! |
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| Zoe, Josh, Rylie, Cooper, Arden |
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| The girls...love this! |
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| The girls...love those genuine giggly faces! |
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| Josh and Cooper, such handsome boys |
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| Jackie and her kids, Cooper and Arden |
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| Mom with Zoe, Arden and Rylie |
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| Mom/Honey with all her grandkids |
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| Mom/Honey and Dad/Pops with the grandkids |
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| Mike and Jackie |
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| Uncle Tom, Josh and John |
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| And Susie and Aunt Jackie, walking to dinner |
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| Beautiful early evening shot :) |
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| Rylie and Cooper |
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| Granma |
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Alex, getting the pig (family "prize", gets passed around for
each BIG family event -
Alex got married and had a son since the last one) |
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| Zoe and Arden |
Saturday (June 23rd) - And...I was right. We literally did not stop except to go to the bathroom, get gas, or go through a drive thru on Saturday. I have never felt so fat in my life (that's not really true...) - we had Burger King for breakfast, Wendy's for lunch, and Whataburger for dinner. Ugh. But it was good (should I admit that??), and it got us home about 9pm that night.
So, that's our trip in a (GIGANTIC) nutshell. Thanks for letting me share. :)
