The Crazy Crowfoots: fourth of july

our friends from law school invited us for the holiday weekend.

we were so excited to hang out with them again, and this time in tennessee.

with the help of pinterest and all our past road trip experiences, we prepped and packed.

i think this trip has been the most organized ever.

our drive was great. the kids had games and movies to watch while sam and i listened to an audio book. if you are looking for a good audio book, "pride and prejudice, and zombies" is surprisingly hilarious!

we even laughed through chicago's infamous traffic jams - and we were only on the outskirts. ugh, chicago.

sam and i are pretty big fans of "diners, drive-ins, and dives." so, when we found out that there was a diner in purdue, indiana that was featured on the show, we made a pit stop.

their burgers were scrumptious and their homemade root beer, divine.

most of all, it was great just to stretch our legs.

we continued on through kentucky and finally through to tennessee.

the kids were wonderful, and hardly let out a peep. i think they're just used to being on the road.

in any case, they were amazing road warriors...

until we woke them up at our final destination at 11:40pm.

i guess i'd be grumpy if somebody had interrupted my sweet slumber, too.

nothing screams fourth of july like a homemade breakfast and a mini tour of the nascar stadium.

so, this is bristol...

and it's famous because it is the only place that holds night races - if i remember correctly.

and then, the real fun began.

our friends bought this boat several weeks ago...in attempts to lure us down to tennessee.

it worked.

the lake was gorgeous, and surprisingly warm. we drove out to a nice and quiet spot...

mimzy helped.

and then sam got on the tube with isaiah and makayah.

they all did a great job and it was such a blast.

i, however, could not keep the tube from going under. every time i was at the wrong angle, and the tube's front would start to sink before we even got going.

actually, i think it was because we were going too slow...i am such a chicken about things like that. haha, we had so much fun.

yep, even mosiah after he got used to his life jacket.

he hated that thing!

we came home, showered up, and went out to eat.

i made a bold and somewhat impractical decision involving white pants. as i put them on, i actually wondered how long it would take to get something on it.

not long, not long at all.

we drove to the restaurant, and apparently, the kids had chocolate or some such goo on their seats and my white pants just happened to grab it all up like a magnet. luckily, it wasn't too bad. i wiped it off, and had to rely on my big purse to do some major hiding...the lowlight in the restaurant helped, too.

since we were in the south, we had to try the oyster po boy and the shrimp and grits platters. sam wasn't crazy about the po boy, but the shrimp and grits was lip-smacking good.

and you can't properly celebrate the fourth without some fire-fly catching and fireworks.

the rest of our tennessee trip consisted of golfing, isaiah learning to drive a golf cart all by himself,

lots of fishing, lots of girl talk, bbq's, lots of relaxing,

lots of puppy love, eating pool table chalk,

more firework danger...

okay, so here's the firework story...

sam and james splurged on fireworks, like, crazy fireworks.

we all gathered outside their house in the driveway to watch these "illegal-in-most-states" explosives.

several had exploded in bright colors, sprinkling all around for us to oogle at.

then, they lit the next one.

a stream shot up. then out to the right, then out to the left.

what the heck?!

it took us a couple of seconds to realize that we were being shot at by this stupid firework.

we yelled out, "run!" and made it safely behind the double garage doors.

i think we all had mini heart-attacks.

so, i don't know if the firework malfunctioned or the southerners just like their fireworks a little on the dangerous side, but man - we called it quits that night.

and afterwards, all fireworks were lit and pointed to explode across the lake.

on our last day we went out to the lake again.

it was a bright, sunshiney day that had to be taken advantage of.

today, the lake was so busy.

we rode around trying to find a good spot to swim.

mosiah hates swimming, hates being splashed, he just plain hates getting wet - unless it's bath time.

go figure.

so, sam and i had to take turns holding him in the boat...but it was nice just to relax, listen to music, and take pictures.

we loved feeling the wind on our faces, it was great.

the kids, sam and emily were the only ones brave enough to go tubing today.

i think sam's arms felt like noodles when it was all over.

at one point, he asked makayah, "are you okay? can you hold on?" and then after making sure she could, he let go. he was exhausted after tubing with both makayah and isaiah. ;)

we were starving after all the water play and skipped the border over to virginia for a quick bbq lunch of pork sandwiches (sam), and turkey legs for the kids and i. i felt like i was at a state fair with my huge turkey leg.

it was a quaint little place right out of 1930-something. the kids played with all the toys there and because it was so hot, we all got ice cream cones.

we hopped the border once more, this time to pack up and get ready for the journey home. we had decided to split up the drive so we wouldn't get home too late the next night.

we had such an incredible time with our amazing friends.

emily and i even had time to sneak out of the house while the guys watched the kids so we could grab a movie and shakes. it was so good to talk and laugh with my friend again.

we drove away, reluctantly.

after 30 minutes of getting lost we finally headed in the right direction and made it as far as kentucky.

the next day we drove through cincinnati, ohio. i had read a book describing this character's drive into cincinnati, and for some unexplained reason, i really wanted to live that part. driving into the city was just as she described. ;)

one of the best parts about road tripping is being with sam. it's like this long, drawn-out date.

the kids are restrained and occupied in the back half of the mini-van, and we have this private oasis in front. we reminisced about the last 10 years. we laughed about the crazy things our kids do. we talked about hypothetical situations, our dreams, hopes, food we'd like to try, the next place we'd like to go - all in our english accents in tribute to elizabeth bennett and mr. darcy - zombie killers.

and good ol' indiana gave us even more to talk/scoff about.

the kids, although gems, did need a break.

we got out in milan, indiana after finding the hoosiers museum.

we should've known, museums aren't made for mimzy's. i think she was just rearing to go, and when she saw those basketballs, she just couldn't resist flinging the glass door open, and dribbling a few of them. the ladies there were so sweet and understanding. i didn't want to wear out our welcome and i know sam really, really wanted to soak this place in, so i took the babies to a playground to get their wiggles out.