Freedom Day Weekend: Dunlap Edition

A new tradition that's starting to take shape is a trip to Dunlap, TN for more

Fourth of July Festivities

Where is Dunlap you ask? Well it's about 30 minutes from Chattanooga in the Heart of the Sequatchie Valley. Hang-gliding capital of the US

My old college roomie and one of my best friends, Emily, has lots & lots of family in Dunlap. Her Dunlap is my Smithville. Emily and her family

(hubby B-Ri, 5 going on 15 daughter Gabriella and

2 almost 3 yr. old Mr. Owen...Brynn's future hubby)

moved to FL a few years back and I miss her sorely! She always makes the trip to Dunlap for the annual parade and the family gathering at her parents home. How could I let her get that close to me and not see her and those beautiful babies!!?? Well I can't so we make the trip to see them.

It's an hour and a half drive through the COUNTRY! And it's GORGEOUS! I'm really really diggin the TN backroads these days. We could take I-24 but who'd wanna do that!? We miss the parade but make it to the gathering. Let me just tell you. To get to her parents home you drive up a windy one lane road to the very last house on the left. They have a huge yard full of shade trees.

Josh & B-Ri enjoyin the day

There was a bounce house and it was B's first time.

Logan made a crazy face

Me, B & ever-lasting friend Emily

Porchiness

"Cousins ;)" gabi, b, maddy, owen & logan

Left Dunlap and headed to The Parkers for a bit and the to the hizzouse. The people around our neighborhood spend bookoos of $$ on fireworks that there's really no need in leaving! It's always quite a show from every direction.

This is how B felt about the explosions...a face only a mamas kiss can calm

Logan Helping

HAPPY 4TH!!

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

Christmas Pics

So I'm finally getting around to postin some holiday pics and, well, there were just too many to choose from! So I decided to make some collages to showcase our Holidays. If you click on the pics it'll make them bigger so you can actually see all our shenanigans.

This is our X-mas at home. You will notice the letter writing,

the display for Santa and some of their fave toys.

Here we have the Decker family X-mas which consists of immediate family gathering

as well as extended family gathering.
And finally we have the Cantrell X-mas. Half are from my
dad's house and the other from my Mema's

I told you our Holidays were wrapped in a box of Crazy!!

soooo long sucka!

2009's got to be betta right? Well I'm doin' whatever I can to make it so. Including eating some nasty black eyed peas! Then I'm gonna knock on some wood, throw some salt over my shoulder, wear my clothes inside out and make sure I have a horseshoe, rabbits foot and four leaf clover in my pocket and garlic around my neck. Take that 2008!

Of course Little Sista did come out of the year 2008 so that was purdy awesome but, other than that...not our best year. Oh and it was the Year of the Rat so there's that too.

Christmas Came and Went.

It was so stinkin fast! Our holiday was fun-filled, happy, meaningful all wrapped up in a nice bag of CRAZY! Seriously though, 4 Christmas's in 1 day is just outta hand! I keep thinkin, "How the heck can I do this better? How can we still see all our families for the holidays but spread it out?"

See now, this is no easy task seein as how both our families are in the area. We obviously have our Christmas when the kiddos get up then we head to my dads for breakfast and gift exchanging. Well then we Have to go to Smithville for lunch at Mema's and there's no changing that one. It's been lunch at Mema's on the holiday for as long as I can remember and if you can't make it then you can't make it. There is no movin that one around. Then we come back and do the extended Decker family for dinner. Oh and did I mention that Christmas Eve is with the immediate Decker family?

Now don't get me wrong, I love my family. I'm just tryin to reduce the craziness! So far I have no solutions so any opinions are welcome. I'll post some pics later today.
TTYL

What the heck have we been doin?

We had a blast at Thanksgiving in Smithville and the Decker's. So good to be with family. This is my sis and cousins:

Then we headed up to Chattanooga to visit the Richmonds. They live in FL now and we miss you guys so much! Owen, Gabi, Logan and BrynnWent to the arrival of Santa and lightning of the tree on the square. It was

fffffrrreeezing but Big Brother loved it. Doesn't Lil Sister look like Ralphy?


This has to be the best Santa pic eva! Big Brother and Santa are soooo over it.

And here's our tree:The End