The Tennessee DeBrys

 Ah, Kingsport was so much fun!  The second day, we were able to sleep in and get some laundry and blogging done before we met arilyn and the kids at the YMCA for a day of swimming.  I love this picture of Freestone and me on the rope crossing.  He bet me a dollar that I couldn't cross it, and I would have won, but I started laughing when I was almost to the end, and I had to fall in the water.  Do you like Freestone in the background, waiting to collect his money?

 David and Marilyn were so good to us.  They fed us and spent time talking and visiting with us.  They are excellent examples to me, with the kind way they treat their children and each other.  They are so good, and so fun to be with!  I was pitiful at taking pictures, and I regret it!  All the kids are so precious, I wish I had pictures of each sweet little face, but we were too busy having fun, darnit.  You wouldn't believe the plush accommodations the DeBrys had ready for us.  Thanks to Parker and Michael, we were able to take over the boys' suite, which is semi-attached to the house.  It was beyond perfect, so thanks for sleeping on the couch, boys!  The kids slept like babies, even the baby.

Speaking of babies, there were 13 kids between our two families, and every single one of them was fun to be with.  Ptolemy had a meltdown the night before we left, saying, "We have to stay in Tennessee longer!  You have to stay here with me!  We all have to stay here!"  I hear ya, buddy!

I think all the kids really enjoyed Tennessee on the whole.  Driving through the Smoky Mountains, Freestone said he wanted to start saving up for a trip.  I asked him where he wanted to go, and he said, "Here."  Kid, we're already here!  But he wants to come back and do Dollywood, and have more time to explore.  Ari asked if we could move to Kingsport.  No, but it sure is fun to be there and to strengthen our connection to family.  One of my favorite things, besides talking to Marilyn all afternoon, was when David loaded a bunch of us in their 15-passenger van and took us on a tour of Eastman, where he works.  It sounds like an exciting place, really progressive, environmentally friendly and supportive of the community.  I was so proud of my cousin for having such a great job and such a great family.  It was just neat to see it all in action.  I commented that Opa must see David going to work at Eastman, and all of us going about our diverse lives, and be very proud of his descendants.  It's pretty incredible how far and wide our generation has spread.

 Even though we wanted to stay in Tennessee forever, we hit the road early.  Our plan was to go through the Shenandoah Valley, but David suggested Charlottesville instead, where Monticello and UVA are.  Ari is a bit of a Jefferson buff, so I changed our hotel reservation last night and rerouted the GPS this morning as we took to the road.  We were peacefully cruising through the breathtaking beauty of Virginia when Ari started screaming.  I looked over and a GIANT ant was lost on her thigh, probably thinking it was somewhere else entirely.  Panic clouded my vision, and I couldn't tell if it was a hornet or what.  Thankfully, there was a rest stop right there, and we veered off, jumping out of the car screaming.  Now that I think about it, I can't believe there was a rest stop.  RIGHT THERE!  A gorgeous one, too.  Here is Ptolemy, demonstrating how big the ant was.  It was BIG!  We were all spooked for an hour afterward, jumping at the least little thing.

 A trip like this, we can stop wherever we want.  If a kid wants to stop, we do.  There was a place called Natural Arch, which was a bit of a tourist trap.  They had a wax museum that the kids wanted to go to, but I'm sorry, I'm not paying a hundred bucks to shuffle 5 kids through a depression-era building full of dusty wax statues.  I will, however, stop at a roadside candle store and let them pick out any candle they want.  They chose a fishbowl full of seashells and gel wax.  The scent was called "Sex on the Beach."  Ewww, but I'm the one who said "any candle."

Other scents included "Baby's Butt" and "Squirrel Farts," so our options were limited to the imagination of the hillbilly who ran the store.   Scary!  He was a good guy, though.  He let the kids pet his dog, and we're Facebook friends now.  I know, right?  He was just so enthusiastic about his new Facebook page...

 Our next unscheduled stop was Southern Virginia University.  David and Marilyn had mentioned this school, and I'm embarrassed and perplexed to admit that I had not heard of it!  It is a small university that is 95% Latter-day Saint.  Helloo?!  How could I not have heard of this?  MY cute kids are so patient.  They didn't whine or anything when I took a detour to see what this school was all about.  It is in a splendid setting, hilly and green, in a quaint, tiny town.  We went to the main building, which was quite magnificent.  I would love to know the story of this building, because it has to have been built long before such large, stately buildings were commonplace.  An old plantation, maybe?  I spoke to some students, one of whom got a little verklempt telling me how much he loves this school.  My kids will definitely have to look into this!

 Charlottesville is a gem of a town.  The campus of the University of Virginia is over-the-top picturesque.  Every single building is built of the red brick that screams higher learning.  It really is ridiculously beautiful.  Walking through town, there are buildings everywhere that predate anything my kids have ever seen in Utah...not including this gelato shop, which looked pretty darn new.

 At first, I was concerned that we wouldn't find anything kid-friendly to do.  I hadn't done any investigating on Charlottesville.  We followed the signs to Old Town, parked and went to the visitors' center.  There, I told the guy my parameters and got instructions on exactly what to do.  We would have loved to see Monticello, but realistically, with kids this young, it wouldn't be worth the steep admissions price.  As an alternative, we rode the free trolley to the rotunda, a building similar in style to the Jefferson Memorial, which Thomas Jefferson designed.  Ari followed a tour and listened to all the fun facts about the building, while the rest of us rested on the lawn.

  We then took the trolley back to Old Town.  By then, we were fading fast from hunger and ducked into the first pizza place we saw.  Decadent, delicious pizza by the slice.  I had mozzarella, basil and tomato and Tizzy had pesto tomato, which I "shared" with her.  We also gulped down about a gallon of lemonade!

Revived, we visited some shops and admired the quaint architecture, then went for gelato.  Being with these five can get intense at times.  NONE of them ever stop talking!  I have a trick that has helped me stay relaxed, and it's not Lortab, although I was SUCH a good parent when I took those after having Tizzy.  Anyway, at the beginning of the day, I hand out imaginary "Unlimited Free Passes for Fun" to each person, including myself.  The kids are funny;  they actually hold out their hands and I actually pretend to hand them a pass.  Throughout the day, I remind myself that the kids are fine being kids.  They have their Unlimited Free Passes for Fun, so let them have fun.  I also remind myself that I have one too, so I am allowed to have fun and not be uptight about little things.  I can't decide if that's pathetic or great, but it had worked.  Tonight, it worked in the pool.  My theory is that if I keep the kids up late, there will be no problem with bedtime, and boy am I correct on that one.  They are only too grateful to crawl into a nice, cool bed when I'm finished dragging them around!  So that's why we went to the pool late.  I started out shushing them, worried about the other hotel guests.  Them I remembered my Unlimited Free Pass for Fun, and even though I had left it back in the room, I decided to have fun.  I ended up teaching them about the Nestea Plunge, and we ended up practicing it repeatedly, without even bothering any other hotel guests.  I felt delinquent as a parent for not introducing them to the Nestea Plunge sooner!  What is wrong with me?  I guess I didn't have my UFPFF until now.

Tomorrow, we pick up Golda and Ruby in D. C.  The next day, Scott arrives.  Although I am terribly excited and anxious to see all of them, I am sad that my little "D. C. Group," as I've been calling them all summer, is about to be invaded by outside forces.  It's been an incredible experience having just the five littles all to myself.  We have had such fun!  Of course, we all miss Daddy.  We were sitting next to a woman and her two children at the pizza place tonight, and their dad walked up.  The kids said, "Daddy's here!"  And the mom repeated, "Daddy's here!"  Tziporah, in a tiny, questioning voice, said, "Daddy?...Daddy?..."  She kept looking at the dad, but he just wasn't the guy.

I miss the guy!  So...on to the next adventure!

Great Smoky Mountain National Park

 Didn't go there. :(

 "After changes upon changes, we are more or less the same"...30 years later. :)

 Look! A dead bug!

Family Home Evening with the Tennessee DeBrys

We left Pigeon Forge with plenty of time to spare before we were scheduled to meet our friend, Christian and his kids in Asheville for lunch.  I thought three hours was enough time to make a one-hour drive, but it wasn't.  The national park was magnificent, and there were huge swaths that we didn't even get to see.  I think you would need a few days here to see it all.  One part we missed was Cade's Cove, which has remnants of a town where people refused to move away when the government co-opted the land for the national park.  We did see miles of splendid vistas, with range after range of mountains, fading into shades of purple and blue.  It's apparent why they're called the Smoky Mountains, with the humidity making it look somewhat foggy.

Once we got through the park, we went right into the Cherokee reservation.  It about killed us not to stop at all the roadside stands, but we didn't want to keep Chris waiting, as he had driven 2 and a half hours to see us.  Once we were out of the reservation, we began to see the poverty and decay that has long plagued this part of the country.  I can see how it would be easy in such an aggressively verdant place, where you're surrounded by trees, to feel isolated, and to imagine that there is nothing important beyond the next hill.  I think you could lose perspective here, and maybe generations do.  Nevertheless, it is beautiful country.

When we arrived in Asheville, Christian and his daughter Lauren were waiting for us at a kitschy restaurant called the Mellow Mushroom.  (Jacob was at scout camp.) They had ordered us a pizza, so we were spoiled by having our food brought as soon as we arrived.  Christian is a friend of ours who Scott and I have known since 7th grade.  I was the "best man" at his wedding.  He has been a die-hard friend for over 30 years.  He is the kind of guy that would take the day off and drive 2.5 hours to meet a friend for lunch.  If you think about the past 30 years, it's easy to see why we had a lot to reminisce about as we strolled around town with all the kids.  Asheville is a large-scale hippy artist retreat.  Everywhere, there are divey little shops and restaurants.  Christian gave me a bumper sticker that said, "Asheville...where normal is weird."  Yep.  I got lots and lots of compliments on my hair color, even though it was hardly out of the ordinary in Asheville.  With dreadlocks, I would have fit in better, though.

From Asheville, it was a short, sweet drive to David and Marilyn's house in Kingsport, Tennessee.  They were all waiting for us when we arrived, all 8 kids except for Eliza, whom we spoke to on her way up the street to band practice.  They had dinner ready for us, and the kids took off right away, playing as though they were old friends, and not just cousins who see each other every couple of years.  The DeBrys have a beautiful home on a lovely street with an expansive back yard.  We love being here!  It is so good to see David and Marilyn.  As I did laundry and added pictures to my blog, we talked and had a Family Home Evening lesson.  The kids were out by 9:30.  Another successful day of Preposterous Plan 2013!

Louisville to Pigeon Forge

This morning we left our nice, comfy hotel in Louisville for a short drive to Lexington.  We were thinking about going to the Kentucky Horse Park, but it's pretty pricey for a group of people who are far more allergic to than they are interested in horses.  Fortuitously, we spotted the Old Friends Horse Retirement Farm, where thoroughbreds and other horses are sent as an alternative to the slaughterhouse, and it was free!  The setting was what you would see if you closed your eyes and visualized a Kentucky equestrian landscape.  Just perfectly beautiful, with separate pastures for each horse, since a lot of them are stallions.  We got in on a tour, walking around with a leisurely group, listening to a woman tell each horse's story, feeding each one carrots and starlight mints (!) out of our hands.  I didn't even know horses liked mints!

 Everyone running into the barn.  The injured horses that were in there were not happy and were making a lot of "Hey!  Lemme go outside!" noises.

 One of the horse's names.

 You know how some people are really in tune with animals' personalities, and sometimes you think those people are nuts?  Well, these horses had just BLATANT personalities, there was no denying it.  Some were highly affected, some were a little cranky, some were prima donnas, but all of them were obviously highly intelligent and very, very interactive.  If you're an alien looking for intelligent life on this planet, you might want to start at the Old Friends farm, with the four-legged athletes.  I'm convinced their forms of communication are more sophisticated than ours, and they are far more graceful than we are, too.

Everyone's favorite horse was a tiny, shaggy thing that looked to me like a very short, stout Shetland pony, but the woman said it wasn't a pony, it was a mini horse.  She said the farm owner liked to take the mini to town on a leash and sit with it at a cafe, where it - the horse - would enjoy a glass of Chardonnay.  This same mini horse would watch the Kentucky Derby on TV, inside the house!

Our day was full of delightful coincidences, the next one being that we saw the original Kentucky Fried Chicken restarant and museum at just the right time to dodge off the freeway.  Xanthe cried because she didn't know if she would like the food, until I realized that they didn't know what KFC stands for!  They were excited to see that "Kentucky Fried Chicken" looked very familiar.  The place was great, and I was happy to see that it wasn't a touristy ripoff.  Good prices, understated atmosphere.

In other words, the opposite of the Gatlinburg area of Tennessee.  But, I'm ahead of myself.  Our last stop of the day was the Museum of Appalachia, featuring various log cabins, farm structures, goats, sheep and a gift shop.  We didn't pay for the tour, which was like $8 a person, because we saw plenty with just petting the goats and walking around the grounds and gift shop, where the kids bought hard tack candy.  I have never been to Tennessee, so it was a thrill to drive up and down those deeply wooded hills.  How beautiful!  We're out of the Midwest, the rolling corn fields and well-kept farms.  Now it's lush, green, forested hills.  The verdure is almost overwhelming.  Strangely, I felt a bit claustrophobic with every inch being covered with green growth that seemed to be unstoppable.  I guess there is desert in my soul.  I had the strange sensation of wanting to see what was under all that vegetation.  Rocks?  Dirt?  What are you hiding, Tennessee?  Why all the trees?

 I loved this Appalachian art.  I wish I had bought this guy.

I told the kids to look exhausted and poor for this picture, taken at the Museum of Appalachia.  I think they did a good job!  It makes me laugh.


So, Gatlinburg.  Actually, we're in Pigeon Forge.  We got to our hotel and were excited to see that the pool had a slide!  I would have been all for staying in and relaxing, but this is the world's capital of DOING stuff.  There are all these huge monuments to fun, from mini golf, lazer tag and go karts to dinner theater and magic shows.  It's like Las Vegas had an illegitimate Appalachian child and it turned out to be Gatlinburg. 

We went out and got ice cream and were getting caught up in the fever of doing, doing, doing, when I decided to dial it back.  We didn't need to see a giant aquarium or a 10-acre ropes course, or go up in a hot air balloon.  We needed to go to our hotel and swim in the lovely pool and bring pizza to our room, so that's what we did.  It was perfect, although now we'll probably never get to play indoor black-light mini golf.  Tziporah convinced me to take her down the waterslide, and once she did it, she was hooked.  She never minded going under water at the bottom, and she learned a new word:  "'gain!"

Speaking of new words, whenever Tizzy sees food, she starts saying, "A-donawds!  A-doawlds!"  We figured out she is saying McDonald's!  So funny to see her pointing to the eggs at breakfast and saying longingly, "A-donawds!"

And the new word that has had me cracking up for two days:  When we were wandering through Nashville, Indiana, I saw Ptolemy going toward the road, so I called out to him, "Tamale!  Wait!"

Yes, I called my son tamale.  Whenever I think about it, I have to stop and cross my legs because it cracks me up every time.  Tamale!  Wait!  I can't believe my kids don't think it's funny like I do.

These posts are long, but like someone famous said, "I will write a long letter because I don't have time to write a short one."  No time to edit, it's late in Tennessee, and I think I'll go see the moon before I sleep.  To know it's the same moon shining on Scott, Golda and Ruby is a comfort.  We all miss them, but we're having so. much. fun!