Freedom Day Weekend: Smithville Edition

We interrupt this regularly scheduled Canadian program to bring you
Fourth of July Festivities

There's a tradition round here. Fourth of July means visiting small towns. And.I.Mean.Small. Almost the entire Cantrell side (that's me) lives in Smithville. My dad made his escape early and never looked back. Fourth of July=Smithville Fiddlers Jamboree. Smithville is also the home to Center Hill Lake. A gorgeous lake whose banks and mountains remain intact thanks to a "No building docks from your lake house" rule. There are those few docks that have been "grandfathered" in but, for the most part, still intact.

Friday I packed the kids up and we headed out...Josh reeeaaaally wanted to go golfing so he wasn't with us. Now I've never really sat and watched the fiddlers/cloggers/square dancers but I'm told it's purdy amazing. I like the crafts! Lots and Lots of crafts! We did the craft thing and I got an awesome glass blown ball that's different colors and when hung in a window traps negative energy (pic of ball doesn't translate it's actual beauty). Logan got a reloadable rubber band gun and B got a dolly.

*Side Note Tradition
*My Mema and Pauline we're the best of friends back in the day. They went and did everything together, lived beside each other and their kids grew up together. My dad and Doreta (Pauline's daughter) are the same age. Doreta has a girl Rachel who's my age and a boy John Michael my brothers age. Most of Pauline's clan moved to Georgia many moons ago but they'd always make the Jamboree. Rachel & I would trade spending a week with each other in the summer. Some in TN, some in GA. Although Rach hasn't made it back in a while most of the other GA clan always does. Pauline passed a way probably 10 years ago and they're still coming back. I love getting to see them and sharing the stories with Logan. I love that he's old enough to hear and understand the stories. We had a brief history lesson on the way up...Cantrell family tree & Georgia peeps...we've got a rather large family and matching up who goes with who can be difficult. I'm just now understanding how much all of these things we did when i was a child mean to me and how much I want our kids to experience that.

After the Jamboree (Jubilee as Mema affectionately calls it) we went swimming at my cousins and then to the Blue Water Grill. A little restaurant on the edge of the lake that we OWN! No, not really but my cousin Ali is the bartender, my cousins Lee & Kevin cook and now my cousin Abby is the silverware folder/gopher. So yeah, we pretty much own it. We were all enjoying some yummy yummy food on the lake and look how cute the kiddos are





Then this happened:




Little Sista is gonna have a TIME growing up! It was hilarious! I have probably 10 pics of this event and she didn't care one bit that she was sitting there with MoHawk Head. People IN the restaurant were pointing & laughing.

One More Small Town Event to Come