Tennessee Saturday Night

Last weekend we made a very quick trip up to Knoxville.  We arrived late Saturday afternoon and spent some great family time with Michael's aunts and cousins and their kids - and CC and Papa Steve of course.  We had a great dinner and the kids spent the entire evening playing outside, blowing bubbles and catching lightening bugs.  A perfect summer evening.

This was the closest we got to a group kid shot

Glow Sticks and a Mason Jar - what more does a kid need on a Southern summer evening?

Once the kids started to slow down (past bedtime), Michael and I slipped out to attend Andy's 40th birthday party (Michael's childhood friend).  This marks CC and Papa Steve's first time ever putting the kids to bed without us there and thankfully the kids were exhausted and basically asked to go to bed!


On Sunday morning, we played a little more and started our journey back home.  

Behind the Scenes

Dad was launching a pop rocket...Matthew kept saying "Do again, higher!"

But, since this seems to be the summer of exploration and visiting roadside attractions unplanned, we decided to make a detour.  If you have ever driven north on 75 in to TN you have undoubtedly seen the signs for "The Lost Sea"...I have always been a little curious about it what it was so we decided to spend the afternoon there.  I thought it might be a little rundown, outdated attraction but turns out it was pretty crowded and actually pretty cool.

It is the 2nd largest underground lake in the world and, if we are to believe our young tour guide, has a pretty extensive history.  Nate thought going underground was pretty cool...Matthew wanted to be carried the entire time.  So, we made our way through the cave, checking out all of the "rooms" and ended up down inside the cave at a large lake...where we boarded a glass bottom boat and toured the waters.  It was pretty fascinating...they don't really know how large it is because divers have never been able to find and end. Clearly I was intrigued!  Too bad the darkness didn't really lend to it being a good photo opp...you will just have to go see it for yourselves!

Getting ready to embark on our adventure - the Vikings were not part of the cave's history, not really sure why that is their logo!

Touching the "lucky" stalagmite

Matthew was quite squirmy by the time we got to the boat docks...and a little delirious.  We are inside a dark, quiet cave and everyone is quietly waiting to board the boats and he starts saying LOUDLY "don't touch the butt!" repeatedly.  (Thanks Finding Nemo)  He found another opportunity to entertain the group while we were at a "resting spot" climbing back up...everyone is, again, quietly waiting to move on and Matthew starts singing "I wike to moob it moob it, I wike to moob it moob it, i wike to MOOB IT!"  (Thanks Madagascar)  He got some chuckles from those around us but I think he needs to be on movie restriction for a while.