Memorial Day Picnic

Here are some pictures from our Memorial Day picnic and Laura Walker State Park. After eating their lunch, the kids had a great time playing on the playground equipment and watching the skiiers and jetskiiers in the lake. We even got to see some wildlife (note the picture of the big snake that I nearly stepped on). We stayed at the park for about two hours, and even then, the kids did not want to leave. Everyone had a great time, and it was a fun way to kick-off summer.

Gators

I went to Wild Adventures with the Junior class on Thrusday. I haven't been there in about two years. There were quite a few changes. When you enter the park now, there are animals at the front gate to greet you. Look what little cutie I made friends with. I think I'm going to frame this picture and put it in the classroom of my new school next year (their mascot is a gator).

If you haven't heard by now, my beloved school- Ware Magnet- is closing. I feel so fortunate to have taught there for nine and a half years. Although I am sad about my school shutting down, I am happy that I was able to be placed at another school in the system and that I still have a job. Teaching at a large high school will probably be a lot different than my small, K-12 school, but I am looking forward to the challenge.

May Flowers

The flowers are in bloom at the field down the road from the house. I was so happy with the way last year's flower pictures turned out, that I took more this year. Here are some of my favorites.

Grad Bash 2010

I was able to chaperone the Senior trip to Grad Bash at Universal Studios again this year. I love going on this trip because there are a lot of perks. First of all, I get to visit both parks (Universal and Islands of Adventure) for free. As a chaperone, I get to use the express entrance for all rides, so I don't have to wait in line for anything. The park also provides chaperones with a free hot breakfast, snacks, and unlimited coke products all night. I wanted to take a lot of pictures this year since it is probably my last year going (the fate of my school is still unknown), but I found out once I got inside the park that my camera is on its last leg (I dropped it last week). Since my camera kept messing up, I was only able to get a few pictures. Even though I don't have the pictures to prove it, I really had a great time. My co-workers and I were able to ride everything that we wanted- including the new Rip Ride Rocket rollercoaster (behind us in the picture). I loved this coaster because there are speakers on each car, and individual riders gets to pick what song they listen to while they ride the coaster. I picked "You Can't Touch This" by M.C. Hammer. Being able to listen to music while riding added a whole new dimension to the coaster-riding experience. I think that I want every new coaster to have this feature. Riding rides wasn't the only thing I did, though. I also got to hear Sean Kingston sing (he's a reggae singer). The new Harry Potter World is opening this summer, and I climbed on top of some type of structure and peaked over the fence at it. It looked awesome! Hogwarts castle is HUGE, and the town is cute. I really wish that it would have been open for Grad Bash. I guess Universal felt bad that Harry Potter wasn't open becasue they are giving everyone who went to Grad Bash a free ticket to come back before December so that they can see it. I plan to use my ticket, so you all may be seeing a "Sanders Family goes to Universal" post sometime in September.

Hiking in the Smokies

On day six of our Smoky Mountain vacation, we woke up and prepared to go home. Before beginning our long journey back home, there was one thing that we still wanted to do: hike the Laurel Falls Trail in the national park. We had been enjoying the beautiful mountain scenery all week long, but we had not spent much time in the park itself. The reason for this is that three of the more popular driving tours were closed (they were repaving the roads before the high season began), and that was about all that we could do with the kids in tow. I wanted to hike at least one trail, but seeing as how most of the trails were long and uphill, I had a hard time finding one that the kids could do. Finally, I found a great website that provided lots of information about the trails in the park, and I found a trail that I thought we could do. It was a 1.3 mile trail called Laurel Falls Trail. As the name implies, there was a waterfall at the end of the trail. So, after leaving the cabin on Saturday, we headed to the Laurel Falls trailhead.

The path was narrow and steep in some places, so we really had to watch Olivia to make sure that she stayed safe. Owen was in the stroller the whole time- we weren't even going to chance letting him walk up on his own. The trail toward the falls was all uphill, so I had to push Owen in that stroller uphill for 1.3 miles. I never realized what a chunck he was until I had to do this. At least the path was sort-of paved. I say "sort-of" because it looked like it had been paved many years ago and had not been re-paved since. It was bumpy. I got off easy, though. Brian was in charge of Olivia, and she decided that she was too tired to walk about halfway up the trail so Brian had to carry her part of the way.

Olivia did manage to walk all the way back down the mountain by herself on the return trip, though.

The payoff for our hiking efforts was a beautiful waterfall. You can see part of it in this picture, but it was actually much larger. Seeing the falls definitely made the hike worthwhile.
The kids didn't get to get down and play around the falls because there were still lots of steep drops in the area. Olivia did get down once because she wanted to "touch" the falls, and so Brian took her close enough so that she could. After spending some time at the falls, we hiked back to the car and drove home. All in all, we had a great time in the mountains, and we look forward to returning someday.

Pigeon Forge

We spent our last full day in the Smokies exploring the town of Pigeon Forge. Pigeon Forge is a lot like Gatlinburg in that there are lots of activities to do, but things are more spread out so you have to drive to each attraction instead of parking and walking. We had driven down the "strip" the day before, so we kind of knew what activities that we had to choose from. Olivia was really taken by the WonderWorks building because it was upside down. We decided to visit. Wonderworks is a cross between a children's museum, a science center, and a Ripley's believe it or not. There were all kind of really neat things to do in there for all ages. Some of the things that the kids liked the best were the sections where you could make really big bubbles, the piano you could walk on, and exhibits that videoed you and then changed your image (making you really tall, really short, or switching your head with someone elses body).

After visiting Wonderworks, we went back to the cabin for a nap. That evening, we attended Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. This is one of those dinner shows where you sit in an arena and watch a show involving horses as you eat. We arrived in time for the pre-show which consisted of a bluegrass band playing all of the bluegrass favorites (Dixieland Delight, Rocky Top, Dueling Banjos, etc...) Owen really liked the music and clapped along with the music (see video). Once the pre-show was over, we went into the arena for the main event- which was really cute. The arena was divided into two teams- the North and the South. We were on the South team (of course). There were all kinds of events- like barrel racing, chicken chasing, pig racing, and a lumberjack relay- that had the two teams compete against each other. Audience members were pulled from each side to compete. In the end, there was a tie. I think that the competition was rigged because everyone knows that the South can't be beat. The show was really entertaining, and the kids actually paid attention to it the whole time. It also didn't hurt that they kept bringing us food throughout the show. Once the show was over, the audience members got to walk down to the arena to meet the horses and riders. Both of our kids got to pet a horse named "Joker". Olivia said that this was her favorite part.

Zorbing

One of my favorite television shows is The Amazing Race. I have watched every show since season 1 (2001). If you're not familiar with this show, it is a reality competition that has teams of players race around the world completing various tasks. One memorable episode that aired in 2004 had players roll down a hill in a big plastic ball. It was called "zorbing". Brian and I had never seen anything like it and immediatley decided that we wanted to give zorbing a try. After doing some research, I learned that New Zealand was the only place in the world where you could do this (and that's where they did it on the TV show). Although we wanted to try zorbing, we weren't about to go to New Zealand to do it. Since 2004, the Zorb company has opened one other location in the world. As luck would have it, it's in the U.S.- and it's in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (apparently, though, there are knock-off companies in other locations and the Zorb people are not happy about it).

So, here's what I've learned about zorbing. There are two ways that it can be done- wet or dry. If you zorb dry, then you are strapped into the ball by your hands and feet (think blonde girl in King Kong) and you roll head-over-heels down the slope. If you do the wet ride, then you can chose either a straight track or a zig-zag track. In the wet ride, you climb into the ball and they put a tiny bit of water in it. I'm guessing the water is there to make things nice and slippery. You are not strapped down at all, so as the ball rolls down the hill, you are rolling around in the ball. Everyone at the Zorb place said that the wet ride was way better and that 90% of riders chose the wet ride. Brian and I both decided that the wet ride was the one for us, and we both picked the curvy track.

How was the ride? FUN. It was like a waterslide on speed. If any of my siblings or cousins on the Buie side are reading this, then you may understand the following analogy: Remeber when we use to go to the waterslides at the beach and we would make a "train" of about seven or eight people and go down the slide. It was so much fun because it was really fast and out of control. That's what the Zorb is like except you're not worried that someone is going to go over the side of the waterslide or get their foot or head smashed against the side of it. Brian and I really enjoyed zorbing, and I am happy that I have another thing checked off of my "bucket list".