Spring Break: Pigeon Forge and camping

The kids and I joined Nana and Grandpa for a few days in Pigeon Forge, TN. There is sooooo much to do there! We didn't even scratch the surface and look forward to returning again to explore more. 

We went to a fun museum with many exhibits you could interact with. There was quite a crowd there so we stuck with exhibits without a line and still had fun. 

The had iPads that you could choose and design a farm animal, then it would show up on a large screen in motion along with other kids' creations. I guess Owen wants you to subscribe to his cow??

Too bad I'm not cool enough to know who Willow's celebrity lookalike is!

There were a handful of teen boys talking smack before laser tag. Guess who Player 15 was??? Yours truly! Ha!

We went to a dinner show that was fun. The food was good too!

We went to DollyWood's theme park the next day. The kids aren't in to roller coasters so we mostly checked out the shows. 

It was Nana and Grandpa's 48th anniversary!

Willow and I joined a short-looking line for a ride but ended up in line f o r e v e r! Poor Nana, Grandpa, and Owen were just waiting....  I think the line lasted 60 seconds. 

Grandpa joined me and Willow riding this one. We're the last three people on the left but on the side that's opposite of Owen videoing so we're hard to see. I was proud of Willow's bravery!

The next weekend we took the camper to Pocahontas State Park so we could hang out with the Murrays for a bit. Unfortunately rain was in the schedule for most of the day (which included some unfortunate leaking from the windows). We hunkered down in the camper and under the canopy to at least enjoy conversation (games for the kids!). After the rain settled down we went out for a walk and some exploring!

There were snakes in the water!

Random March (including makeup and purple hair!)

Owen joined a friend at school for a family STEM night!

Willow and I joined together with some friends to make "Agape" gifts for attendees of a conference!

Willow's friend Helena loves to bake just as much as Willow! She had her over to hangout and bake. We all reap the benefits of their time together!

Willow is sure growing up on us! She recently asked about wearing makeup, which is only fair! We decided to start with mascara and eye shadow/liner. Not being much of a makeup-wearer myself, I asked a friend from school if she'd mind instructing Willow. She used to sell makeup and had a looooot of "tools." She was even sweet to give Willow a nice container with some makeup in it!

Naturally beautiful!

Owen is down another tooth!

My school was reading "Lemonade Wars" and having a contest to see if boys or girls could raise more money for the SPCA. I decided to do a boy vs. girl contest on Facebook to see who would donate more. The kids agreed to get pied in the face if the other one won! 

Owen was a good sport in his loss (he was warned that I had more female friends than male friends, so his chances weren't likely!)

Our local minor league hockey team was doing so well during their season that we had to get tickets to see them again! They ended up winning the championship!

Nana and Grandpa occasionally host "Cousin Sleepovers." This time they went to paint their own pottery and did some baking back at the house!

My school had a training done using a DISC assessment, which is a type of personality/work-style test. It was very interesting! I felt like this description of me was pretty accurate (good and bad!)

Owen is quite an artist and really takes his time on the birthday cards he makes. He also enjoys drawing his own characters to go along with games that he plays and enjoys adding written details about their strengths, weaknesses, and powers. He's a really creative kiddo!

In addition to her interest in makeup, Willow wanted to add some "subtle blue" to her hair. I wasn't sure what was going to be subtle about blue in brown hair and was pretty hesitant. Chris helps balance out my conservatism at times and told me that it's temporary and would grow out. Knowing her hair is dark, we'd been told that for any color to show up, it'd need to be bleached first. Eek!! The same teacher that helped Willow with her makeup is also very adventurous with her hair but speaks very highly of her beautician. I showed Willow a lot of pictures to try and narrow down what she was interested in combined with what I was comfortable with. We ended up with some purple highlights in an under layer, so it was very subtle but did require some bleaching first. 

I didn't get a good "after" picture, but here's before:

These pictures look a bit more reddish than it actually was. 

It was better seen when the outer layer was lifted up.

It looked fun in a braid for soccer!