Getting Our Tennessee On

At the beginning of August we enjoyed a wonderful trip to Tennessee to visit with some of Nates family.  We never thought we would get there (we left after Nate got home from work), but let me tell you it was well worth the drive!  His cousin Andy and his family live near Gatlinburg and surrounding tourist areas.  We decided this was one of our all time favorite trips ever!!!  Not only was there lots to do, but we had fun doing all of it with Andy, Carol, Corky (as Leland named him), and Colston!!  Our first day we enjoyed some time at a local state park where the kids got to play in a creek and then we did some swimming in the pool there.  The kids wrapped up the evening by riding some go-karts they have.  Sutton was the only one who things did not end well for.  He ended up racing down a hill and crashing into their chain link fence, good thing for helmets!!  Thankfully he was more scared than hurt.  Saturday morning started out with a huge surprise for the kids.  All the Kapnick kids are fans of Turtleman.  His show airs on Animal Planet, he catches critters with his bare hands!!  Well it just so happened that he was going to be at a nearby knife store which is in itself a tourist attraction.  Nate and Andy went early to see if they might be able to get tickets for the kids to get a picture taken with him, but when they got there it was clear that wasn't going to happen.  So they decided to go inside and just check things out.  No one was even inside yet so they had a front row view.  Turtleman decided to come out early and stood there and talked to Nate and Andy for a bit and Carol and I had not yet arrived with the kids, we were bumming!!  By the time we got there with the kids the place was totally packed!!  So we made our way to the front as best we could and watched everyone else get a picture with Turtleman.  I then had an idea and said to Nate, go ask someone near the beginning of the line if they would let our kids come with them for a picture for $100.  Nate looked at me like I was crazy!!  He then says he has a better idea.  A motorcycle was being raffled off for a daughter of Turtleman who has diabetes.  Nate approached a lady selling tickets and asked how many tickets do I have to buy to have my kids get a picture with Turtleman, $100 worth.  She reluctantly agreed, we were in!!!  The boys could not have been any happier, this sure made Lelands day!!!  After our excitement with Turtleman and all the crew we did lots of go kart riding at the Nascar park.  Sunday we spent the day in Gatlinburg.  We spent some time playing in the creeks in the Smokey Mountains called the "Chimneys".  Boy was the water cold, but the scenery beautiful!!  We then visited the aquarium, had a delicious Mexican dinner, and ice cream for dessert.  Monday ended up being a slow day after all the running we had done Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Andy offered to watch the boys so Nate and I headed back into town to do a little shopping.  We were going to end our evening by heading to feed the carp, but the gate was locked to get to the end of the dock.  The ducks decided they should be fed instead!!  Tuesday we packed up and sadly headed home.  One of the funniest things we remember from the trip was that Sutton picked up the southern accent by the first full day we were there.  We still catch him using it every now and then!  Andy, Carol, and boys thanks for all the laughs and hospitality.  Looking forward to seeing you all again soon!!