Our Trip - Part Three....The End!

Before we left on our trip to Tennessee, I packed a backpack full of things to do for each of the kids. I must say, this was a lifesaver for us! It was 12 hours in the car, each way! I packed coloring books with a new small pack of crayons, an age appropriate puzzle/activity book, tissues, bottle of water, crackers, a dry erase board (similar to these), stamps/pad/paper and an iCarly toy. We also had a portable DVD player borrowed from my nephew as well as Nathan's Gameboy. Can I just tell you right now, the big hit was the dry erase boards and the iCarly toys!! The best part was that I got it all at the DOLLAR STORE!

I kept a notebook of our week and here are some of the things I kept track of.....

What We Did in the Car
Listened to The 39 Clues, Book #3 on CD
Colored
Gameboy
iCarly, Sam & Freddie dolls
Drew on dry erase boards
Had breakfast at McDonald's outside Savannah
Looked for state license plates
Stamp pads & paper

DVDs watched
Land Before Time I & II
The Secret of Nim
H.P. & the Prisoner of Azkaban

Plants & Nature (that we saw)
Lots of pine trees (tall & skinny, big & fat)
Beautiful low-lying mist/fog
Cotton fields ready to be picked
Crape Myrtle Trees
1000's of pine cones
Georgia red clay/dirt
Tallulah Gorge/Falls
Smokey Mountains National Park
Mountain streams running along Highway 441
Cades Cove
Red Maple Trees
Sweet gum Trees
Tons & tons of flowers
Lightning/thunder
rain

Places We Visited
Atlanta (very special visit w/Aunt MaryJo)
Gatlinburg
Pigeon Forge
Townsend
Cades Cove
Holy Cross Catholic Church
The Dinosaur Walk Museum
Hollywood Wax Museum
Corky's BBQ
Go-Cart Track
The Old Mill
Cracker Barrel
The Pancake House
The Food Shop (grocery store)
Lots of gas stations & rest stops

Animals/Insects
Raccoons
Huge steer
Cows
Hummingbirds
Butterflies
Ducks/Geese
Deer
Black Bear (yes, we really saw one!)
Spiders
Katydids
Bees/Wasps
Centipede
Mosquitoes
Grasshoppers
Crickets
Beetles (it was dead)

State License Plates
Florida
Georgia
North Carolina
Tennessee
Kentucky
Louisiana
Missouri
Maryland
Texas
Virginia
Arizona

Phew! I'd say that was a lot in one week! We have fully recovered from our trip and are back to the old routine and schedule. Starting school again was hard. I have a new found respect for teachers on the days following a long weekend or spring/winter breaks! I think all of us (including myself) have had a hard time refocusing on things like timetables, handwriting and the respiratory system. But we're getting there.

Here are the last few photos of our trip:

Cades Cove (I wish my kitchen window had this view!)

Cades Cove - Butterflies drinking up the minerals in the dirt

A baby landed on my foot!

Cades Cove - Nathan

My reasons for living!

Deer

Nathan's first time driving a Go-Cart!