Rocky Top Reunion

Last Thursday the kiddos and I loaded up with my parents and Mema and headed up the road to East Tennessee for a family reunion.  I had forgotten how long of a trip 11 hours in the car with two little kids can feel.  My was it a long day, but I have to say that the kids did well.  They didn't complain until we hit town in Lenoir City and it was 10 p.m. and they were exhausted. 
Our first day there we decided to go to the Children's Museum in Oak Ridge.  I didn't really know what to expect, having never been there before, but it was a great museum. 

Prince learned about the kinds of chore children used to do.

Princess pretended to be a bee keeper.

Prince and his cuz play in the rainforest.

All Aboard the Choo-Choo Train!  Here are the cuzins.

Grandma and Grandaddy pretend to ride the train.  My parents have this tradition that whenever we go anywhere and they have their picture made together, they also do a kissy picture.  In keeping with tradition, here it is:

They don't seem to know that there is a gigantic polar bear behind them.

That was pretty much our Friday. 

Saturday morning we went to the little museum in Lenoir City, which we'd never been to before.  It was neat to see some things that belonged to our relatives.  My Mema and her brothers and sisters grew up in that town.  I found high school yearbooks from my Mema's years.  Here is a picture of her senior picture:

Isn't she cute?!

Later in the day we met at Aunt Helen's house for the reunion.  It was a great day!  The kids all swam in the lake with their extended cousins, some of them meeting for the first time.

This is the same lake that I swam in when I was little and my mom swam in it when she was a kid.

Princess tried to learn how to skip rocks.

Prince and Princess both went tubing for the first time.  Prince was fearless and kept signaling with a thumbs up to go faster.  Princess was not convinced she wanted to do this once she got in the tube.  She barely got going before giving the thumbs down slow down signal.  She's my little scaredy cat and takes after her mom.  I think she did end up OK with it, but she said that she really didn't want to do it again until she is older.   

Cousin Rob went above and beyond to make sure everyone got a ride on the boat.  Isn't this beautiful?  So relaxing...

Here are the brothers and sisters.  My Mema is in the middle. 

My great-aunt Edna has gone to be with Jesus.  It doesn't seem right that she wasn't there.  She was the oldest sister and would have been sitting on the far right (they are sitting in age order).

Here is the whole group ~ at least those that could make it.  We counted 55 people there in all!

It was a great trip and I enjoyed getting to see everyone.  Hubby didn't get to go because he had to work so while I was glad we got to go, I was so glad to get home to Hubby.  I have gone on trips 3 consecutive weeks each lasting 4-5 days.  I am glad to be home for a bit, catch up on things and get back to a more normal routine.