First Day of School 2014

Because of our cabin trip, the kids missed the first two days of school (who starts school the second week of August????).  #WorstParentsEver.

 

Avery celebrated his first day of Kindergarten at Londonderry Christian Montessori School.

Kayla enjoyed her first day of pre-school at Londonderry.  She had been out of school for over 6 months, so this was a pretty big deal (and transition).  She survived her first day and enjoys school so much now that she is not a happy camper when I pick her up early on my days off.  I guess that's a good thing.

 

Sattelmeyer Trip to the Mountains

Last year as my Dad's retirement gift, the kids decided to give him a week long vacation with the entire family in a cabin in the Smoky Mountains.  It took a year to coordinate and make room in everybody's schedules but we finally celebrated during the first week of August this summer.  My parents, Jon and Luz, and the Jean Team spent the first 3 days by ourselves; we were joined mid-week by David, Jon, Athena, and Little David.

 

The offices for the cabin realty company were really cute and helped us transition into mountain life.

 

This was the cabin we rented in Wears Valley.  It was on the valley floor so we didn't have to worry about kids sneaking out of the cabin and falling off of the side of the mountain.  I was  worried that we wouldn't have a good view being so low in the valley.  However, we ended up in a great location with a clear shot of the mountains in front of us, as well as a small park and pond in front of us too.  This made it easy to get out with the kids let them run around without worrying about them disappearing off of a cliff.

 

 

The first morning we were there, we enjoyed a nice breakfast at a local restaurant/café in Wears Valley.

While the girls went grocery shopping for the week's food, the boys took the kids to a park at the base of the mountains.

On another morning, we enjoyed breakfast again and then visited a store dedicated to the Christmas Holiday.  It was pretty fitting, considering my parents keep their Christmas tree up year round.

The Jean Team wanted to go on a hike as a family.  Unfortunately, we chose nap time as the time to do so.  Not sure what we were thinking.

 

 

Needless to say, Kayla and I did not get very far (I was NOT going to carry a forty pound preschooler for two and a half miles).  We had fun playing and napping in the car.

While Kayla and I were chilling in the car, Phil and Avery hustled all the way to the Laurel Falls.  They even spotted a Mama Black Bear with a couple of her bear cubs.

 

 

On another day, we went to the top of the mountain to enjoy the beautiful view.

 

We have several pics of the kids at various ages by this sign.

 

Jon and Luz took their first family portrait in the mountains with their new (brewing) baby!!

I'm not sure why we deemed it safe to place our kids on a ledge just for a picture.  #WorstParentsEver.  (Note: it looks more dangerous than it was; and Big Daddy was just an arm's length away).

 

We did a little bit of "hiking" at the top of the mountains.  I spent the time freaking out that my kids were going to fall off of a cliff (I grew up in a city; give me a break).

 

Here I am making up some BS about nature.  I rue the day when my kids will be smarter than me and will be able to call my bluff (it will be soon).

 

 

We had a nice picnic lunch at the base of the mountain.  Luckily, there were no bear sightings on this day.

We spent a lot of time as a family playing on the cabin's wrap around porch.  We enjoyed playing cornhole....

....drinking.....

....drinking and grilling......

 

....snuggling.....

 

....napping....

....and hanging out laughing before bedtime.

Mid-week, David and his family arrived at the cabin.  The cousins enjoyed their reunion and exploring the cabin together.

 

 

We enjoyed many family dinners together at this table.

I just realized that the in-laws secluded themselves at the bar to eat.  Subconciously trying to separate themselves from the crazy Sattelmeyer's????  It's too late.....you're one of us!!!!

Snuggles with Cousin Jon.

A Marilyn Monroe moment.

Game time with PawPaw.

 

Bedtime snuggles with Aunt Luz.

A "cooking" activity.

Enjoying the outdoors of our cabin.

 

A visit to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum.  Believe it or not, I declined to visit this overstimulating tourist trap and went shopping with Jon and Luz instead.  :)

 

A visit to a racetrack and Kiddie amusement park.  Where we found a brown recluse spider crawling on Little David.  Welcome to the mountains.

I enjoy finding good locations for photo ops of my kids.  I think this is the perfect summer photo.

 

I took a picture of Kayla putting her babydoll in her t-shirt.  Perfectly timed with wearing her "My Mom's in Rehab" shirt.  Classic Kayla....the girl is hilarious even before she knows what it all means.

A Sattelmeyer Family Photo.