Road Trip Day 29

Day 29
We had a late night last night. The kids stayed up very late watching a movie on the Disney Channel with their cousins. So today they were VERY slow getting started.

I did some more laundry today so that I am taking clean clothes home except the ones we are wearing today. Hopefully this will help tomorrow when we get home!!

In each location that we have stopped on this trip, we have been buying a sticker for our car top carrier, a magnet for our fridge, a Christmas ornament, and a mini sticker for my water bottle. When we went to the Smoky Mountains before, we didn't get an ornament or a mini sticker. So we went out to the Sugarlands Visitor center and picked those up today.

Then we went to one of our favorite places to eat with Aaron's Dad,  and his brother's family at Carver's Apple Orchard in Cosby. It is so delicious and the views are amazing!

 We heard that their cousin works at the Orchard but we couldn't find him there. So we decided to drive up to see their cousins. It was a lot of fun to see them and show our kids where Aaron and Ron spent their weekends and summers with their cousins and Mamaw and Papaw.

Then we came home and began the packing. It will be the last time we have to repack the van before we are finally home. I can't believe that tomorrow is the last day of our trip and I will be sleeping in my own bed tomorrow night!

This trip has been nothing short of Amazing! We are planning to do a blog post later in the week of our thoughts and feelings about the trip now that it is over.

But for tonight, we are enjoying being together and watching movies again. Until tomorrow!

~Juli

Road Trip Day 28

Day 28
With the kids having their National Park passports and Lucy having the "every Kid in a Park" pass, we have been busy looking up places to visit that are close by to us.

We are finishing out the end of our trip where we began, in White Pine, TN. But that doesn't mean that our trip is over! While looking in their passports, we saw that Andrew Johnson's home in Greenville, TN is a National Historic Site. We decided to head over there this morning and have a visit. There is a museum, his tailor shop, original house he grew up in, and then you can take a tour of the house he returned to when he returned to Greenville, after his presidency.

It was a very interesting day! I highly recommend visiting it if you are ever in the area. I lived here for many years and we have visited here lots over the last 20 years and I have never been there before. I hope this experience this summer will encourage us to be on the lookout for historic locations all around us and won't miss things in our backyard.

After our visit, we came back to Papaw's house to hang out. It has been super hot here (as I believe it has been everywhere) so Aaron took the kids over to the splash pad to play and cool off.

We ended the evening back at Papaw's house for pizza and watching movies!

~ Juli

Road Trip Day 27

Day 27
We made it to Tennessee pretty late last night. Because we got off to a late start AND a big accident in Nashville, we made it in just before 11:00 last night. We all crashed and slept well last night!!! We slept in some, had breakfast, and a very relaxing day. 1st thing up was a much needed oil change in the car. No surprise there after all of the miles we've put on it! Then, more importantly in my opinion, a MUCH needed haircut for Eli! While the boys were out taking care of errands, the girls and I worked on laundry and watching The Princess Bride! We visited with Aaron's parents, Mamaw and Papaw today as well.

Later in the evening, we made some dinner and ate with Aaron's brother Ron and his family.

The kids have been busy running and playing and we are finishing the night cheering on the US men's soccer team. It was a beautiful and restful day and we loved every minute of it! I thought I didn't take many pictures in South Dakota but nothing in comparison to today! It just wasn't on my radar. I did manage to snap one picture. These two have been inseparable today. To say that we missed our dear Seeger would be an understatement for all of us (except Aaron!)

~ Juli