Time in Knoxville with Grandma T

THIS POST HAPPENED JUNE 19TH-27TH

I love it when my mom comes to visit.  It has been since Thanksgiving when we last saw her and so much happens around here in that time.  The kids grow and grow, we change and gosh I just miss her.  But I am so blessed that she came to be with us for a whole week.  She had just returned from a trip to Disneyland and brought the kids some souvenirs.  She always has something in her suitcase for the kids and they look forward to her opening it up.  They know it holds goodies for them.

Taryn looked so cute in her princess Minnie ears and to make it even more special, my mom found my old collection of My Little Pony's.  She brought them for Taryn to have, via my request.  I am so glad I kept these toys for my little princess to play with.  She loved them and hasn't stopped playing with them.

We had to take Grandma T to Dollywood and play.  So at the crack of dawn the 2nd day she was here, we drove to Sevierville and went to Dollywood.  I had her ride the Wild Eagle with Tyson, since I have already been on it, and she loved it.  Then I shoved them both onto the Tennessee Tornado.

This is them going up a loop.  I should have known better than to put them on one ride after another, but I thought they could handle it.  I was wrong.  After the Tennessee Tornado, they were both nauseated. We then walked down to the County Fair area where Taryn could ride the rides and mom and Tyson relaxed a bit.

It wasn't too long and Tyson was back on another swinging ride.  He loves the rides.

Taryn and I found a little ropes course built for little guys like her and played on it for 30 minutes, while we waited for Tyson and Grandma to ride some rides.  Look at her concentration.

She enjoyed it.

They look like they are in jail, but actually they are waiting to ride the baby roller coaster.  My mom could handled that one.

Grandma T felt better.

Grandma and Tyson rode the bumper cars and Grandma T got stuck in a corner.  It was so funny.  She couldn't get it turned in the right direction for about a full minute.

I love this picture of the four of us, even if Taryn's face is obstructed with the bar in the middle.  We had a blast at Dollywood.  We stayed there from the time it opened up at 10 am till 7 pm.  We ended the day with some yummy BBQ and a train ride around the park.  Needless to say we were pooped by the time we reached Knoxville.

Grandma T always knows how to have fun.  She and Taryn played outside with bubbles for an hour one day.

Two living DOLLS!!!  Love them.

Then Tyson had to get in on the action and it was the synchronized bubble act.  They made the bubbles and Taryn ran around the back yard popping them.  I was the camera woman.

Monday night we went to the showing of "Brave." We hardly ever go to the movies with all of us cause it is so gosh darn expensive, but since Grandma T was here we made an exception.  The movie was awesome and one we will purchase for the collections.

Tyson loved the fact that we got a .50 cent coke.  He drank most of it!

On Grandma T's last day in Knoxville we drove to Gatlinburg to the Aquarium. My kids have been one other time and they loved it then.  It was even more fun to show Grandma all the exciting animal life there was to see.

 Taryn was being a pill and wouldn't smile for the picture.  But the second I took the camera away she would giggle and laugh.  Little pistol!!!

 Grandma T and grand kids on the moving sidewalk under the shark tank.

 This guys was kinda freaky with his many, many rows of teeth.  I don't want to swim with him.

 We didn't see the turtle last time and so this was so neat to see it.  We were told he doesn't come out much.

 I love the jellies!  I think they are so beautiful.  But their sting hurts!

 I hate spiders and this spider crab rates right up there with them.  Imagine swimming in the ocean and seeing one of these things.  I would die!

 If you look closely you can see the octopus's eyes.  They look so scary!

 They had an amazing shark exhibit at the aquarium.  This showed how much force the jaws of the Great White Shark has.  Looks like "Jaws".

There was even this part of the exhibit where they had live shark sacks with baby sharks inside of them.  You could see them moving around inside the sack.  So cool!
It was so sad to see my mom go.  We had so much fun with her here.  It makes me miss home even more, but we already have a date set for her to come back and visit and that gives us all something to look forward to.  Love you momma!