Monday, July 27, 2009

Tennessee Vacation 2009

I LOVE VACATION!
June 29th - July 3rd, 2009
Dave and I traveled to Smithville, Tn for 4 days and 5 nights. We stayed in a "hotel suite". The room had a kitchenette and a king size bed. That's about all it had. The room was tiny, but it suited the two of us well for a few days! The view from the room was of beautiful Center Hill Lake. The lake was created when the Army Core of Engineers decided to build a damn. The water levels rise and fall throughout the year. So there really are no beaches around the entire lake. If you don't have a boat you don't get in the lake. We don't have a boat, but the hotel had a pool and we were the only people to use it while we were vacationing. It was like our own private spot! Sorry I don't have any pictures of the pool. I should have taken pictures of Dave trying to float though. I was quite humorous!

Dave and I spent most of our time at the pool. We had great tans! We took the cooler with us, packed food and "drinks" and didn't leave all day. Tuesday morning we thought we better go check out some of the local scenery. So we went hiking to check out a few of the areas waterfalls. Up an down, round and round, 3/4 of a mile there and back. Check out our pictures from the scenic drive and hike!

A view from a scenic outlook along the way. Dave set up the camera on the edge where we had parked the Trailblazer. We actually got the camera timer to work and we smiled at the exact right time. Say Cheese!
I promise I'm down at the bottom of these steps. We were finally on our way back to where we parked the car! Remember, up and down and round and round 1.5 miles. Just to see waterfalls. What were we thinking!
This was the little water fall.

The middle of the hike!

Dave looks so cute! FYI, The hike had just begun!


This was the prize at the end of the 3/4 mile. It was about a 50 foot water fall. The sun was shining! Can you see the rainbow in the waterfall? Believe it or not there was another set of steps to the bottom of the waterfall. Although I'm pretty sure I could have made it down and back up. The trip back would have been very, very difficult. Pregnant, out of shape, women should not hike in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains!

Dave and I spent our evenings in the nearest form of civilization. About 15 miles from our hotel was the town of Cookeville. And that is excatly what happened there. COOKING! We ate at a different resturant each night. For our 2nd anniversary we ate at the Olive Garden and then went to see the Transformers movie.

Fun with the Gerken's



July 25th and 26th, 2009

Brian and Anabelle came home for the weekend. It was Gracyn's 3rd Birthday. Happy Birthday Gracyn! Barry and his new wife Courntey were home too. Welcome to the family Courtney! I forgot to take my camera to the birthday party so I don't have any pictures of Gracyn. Let me tell you, she is beautiful!

The rest of the weekend revolved around Hayden and Anabelle. Hayden loves Anabelle so much. He would do anything for her. He loves to give her hugs and I do not think I have ever seen him share "his toys" so well. On Sunday afternoon the sun came out for a few minutes and allowed the kids to get in the pool. Their giggles were proof enough -- they loved the pool! At some point Hayden decided he had horns.

Anabelle is in love with animals. It doesn't matter what animal, although I think she has a soft spot for dogs. She loves to throw the ball for Samsen and Kendall Jade. Tucker just runs after them. She gets such a kick out of it. She also loves to climb all over them. Check out the video. Several times over the weekend she ended up at Aunt Bear's and Uncle Dave's house looking for "the kitty". She found him a few times but he's good at hiding.


Nana belives she can be a kid again. Sunday morning after church she and Anabelle were running around the yard. Anabelle decided Uncle Dave would be a good protector. Watch out Anniebee, Nana might kiss you to death.

After running around the yard it was time for a little break and some BUBBLES. Which ended up all over the garage floor. AKA Anabelle just dumped them all over. Something Nana called accidently on purpose.