Day 5- Travel Day to Gatlinburg, Tennessee

You might think there is nothing really to blog about a travel day, but you would be mistaken. 
We got to relax in the morning since we didn't leave until 11:00 am or so.  This is good for John and I because we tend to get up and going early and go all day when we are on vacation.  Just relaxing is.....hard. 

The men going to use the potty.

We took two cars.  The guys and the kids were in the mini-van, while Mom, Angela and I took the Volvo.  Awesome ride, nice and quiet in our car except Mom likes to talk.  I only say this because at the end of the 2 hour ride, she said her jaw was tired from talking too much.  Angela and I wisely didn't agree. :)

Tennessee rest stop.

One incident on the road happened when we witnessed a car pulling over on the freeway, a young lady got out and the car left her on the side of the freeway.  I called John in the lead van and they saw it too. We double backed to see if she needed help.  This is not easy because the off-ramps are few and far between.  We had to try, we just couldn't go by and just wonder what happened or help if we could have.  Of course, when we finally passed the same area we saw that she had been picked up. John said he saw the same car come by again and pick her up.  Lovers quarrel? Tennessee discipline?  We will never know.

What happens in the cabin, stays in the cabin
unless I blog about it.

Swimming.

We finally arrived at our wonderful cabin.  Good choice J. R..  The kids and Grandma and Grandpa went in the jacuzzi.  ( I will take a minute and talk about our names.)  Sander and Kingston have called my dad, Grandpa Bob.  So Grandpa Bob it is, but what to call my mom?  They call John and I, Grandma and Grandpa, and Mom doesn't want to be called Grandma Carol.  We were going to discuss the situation with Jade and maybe have her decide what to call her great-grandmother.    We weren't getting any closer to a name, so while were discussing this at the Waffle House, the South Carolinian native waitress suggested, "Ya Ya."  This is a very southern name and also in Greek means, "Grandmother."  (So she says.  Someone please correct us soon if it means something unbecoming.  Ha)  So now, Grandma and Grandpa are John and I.  Grandpa Bob and Ya Ya are my Mom and Dad.  The kids are using the names and it helps to figure how who we are talking about.  Now back to the day.

Cabin Living Room.

Once arriving at the cabin, JR and Angela went to the store to....have to stop blogging for a minute, they are yelling  "Bears!!"   I will come back to finish
.   
Ok. Phew.  Got some good shots of the bears.  I will talk about that on the next blog.

Her sting and her Band Aid.

While JR and Angela were at the store, Jade got stung by a wasp!!  Loud screaming can not describe what she was doing.  I first thought of Max and his bee sting and told John we needed to take her down to town right away.  I have to say I wasn't at my best.  John was looking for baking soda or a first aid kit and I thought he wasn't going fast enough.  I called Angela to see if she knows if Jade is allergic.  The reception was bad and all she could hear was Jade screaming.  Eventually she related to me that if she was going to have a reaction it would start very soon after the sting. Jade was breathing ok and Grandpa John was excellent at calming her down and putting ice on it.  She kept screaming, "I need a band aide."  She thinks that cures everything.  Grandpa Bob took a very large band aid of Ya Ya's and cut it down to size for Jade.  Also we gave her anything she wanted.  All is ok now.  She did say she couldn't walk and couldn't play because she got stung.  Drama.

Relaxing looking at the Smokey Mountains

Finally,  Angela had brought all the ingredients and Emril's Jambalaya Recipe to make Jabalaya for dinner.  I was her sui chef.  Chopping and dicing veggies while she cut up and marinated the chicken, Adouillle sausage and shrimp.  BAM!!!  That was the best Jambalaya ever, if I do say so myself.  Great dinner.

The General Lee

Gatlinburg, Tennessee is known to have the first 4th of July parade in the nation.  How do they accomplish this?  They have the parade at 12 midnight.  In our family the only people that made it out to see the parade was John, JR and Angela.  I stayed to watch the babies and Grandpa Bob stayed back to watch Ya Ya.  The parade was not very special according to John, but he did mention that Catherine Bach, who was Daisy Duke in the old Dukes of Hazard TV show yelled out from the parade to John, "I love you."  Angela said that John yelled to her, "you are looking beautiful."  I thought two things after hearing this story.  One, "I probably should have went to the parade." and "I wonder if she was wearing her Daisy Dukes?
"
See I told you there was stuff to blog about on a traveling day.
Next....The bear story.

Day 4-additional- Mom and Dad's Trip to Savannah, GA

As told to me by Dad:
As we headed out early morning toward Savannah, our GPS started speaking to us in German.  I could still follow the picture, but couldn't understand the words.  I thought it was because I can't hear very well so I was asking Carol what the GPS lady was saying.  Carol said that I think she is speaking German.  It dawned on me that this must be a Harmon caper.  We called Big John who couldn't stop laughing.  We managed to change the language to loud and English and made it to Savannah safely.
What we first noticed was that the only way to get to John and Anne's house you must go through old historic Savannah. I could swear I saw Paula Dean holding a sign on the corner directing people to her restaurant. 
Arrived at our favorite daughter's house to cheering grandchildren.  Anne and John made us a wonderful dinner of grilled shrimp, scallops, talapia and steak with fruit and cheesecake.
Made a quick trip to Tybee Island where we set our bare feet into the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.  It was a wonderful visit. Ty, Jacob and Abby are wonderful kids.  Anne and John look great. We couldn't get enough hugs.

Started back to Greenville, but couldn't remember the address to the hotel, so I plugged in the address to John and Angels's, drove past their house around 10:30 pm.  I remembered how to get to the hotel from their house.  We are glad we made the trip. 

Day 4- Fort Sumter-USS Yorktown and USS Clamagore

Cole had fallen asleep in his carseat.
John: "Looks like Cole is 10-98." (I think police talk for "it is finished")
Jade: "No Grandpa, Coley is not 10-98, he is 2. You are silly."
Ending an awesome day with the family learning about U.S. History, observing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time and just laughing and playing with the grandkids!

Ready to enter the Sub

J. R., John, Jade, Cole and I were the particpants of this outing.  Mom and Dad took the day to drive to Savannah, GA to see the Katz Family! Angela had to work, so she had to stay home. We missed them terribly.

It took three hours to drive to Charleston, South Carolina.  Mount Pleasant was the community by Charleston that had the tours to Fort Sumter and had Patriots Point, which housed the Aircraft Carrier and Submarine.  On a couple of our stops, I taught Jade and Cole to do jumping jacks and they got pretty good at it.  It is hard to sit in the car for that long. (even for the kids)
Again it was hot and humid, but there was a cool breeze coming off the water that made it bearable.  We received advice from one of the volunteers to tour the submarine first since it gets very hot in there in the afternoon.  We took his advice.  Very cool and the kids loved it!  They could climb on things and push buttons.

Three generations of John Harmon

The USS Yorktown was an incredible aircraft carrier with an extensive history of service.  It saw action in WWII, battle of Midway and also picked up the splashed down Apollo 8.  Jade and Cole were troopers climbing up and down stairs, sitting in jet cockpits and even standing in front of the largest American flag we have ever seen!
Our last tour started with a 30 minute boat ride to Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter was the start of the civil war.  The fort is at the mouth of the Charleston Harbor. What a beautiful area.  I am not going to bore you with the all the history, but if you want to learn about the history of Fort Sumter, click here.  The kids loved looking into all the canons and running on the grass.  They were really getting tired and goofy, but they kept going.

Another great day.  Now on to Gatlinburg, Tennessee for 3 nights and the 4th of July!

Clifton/Harmon vacation-Day 3

Day 3

This day started off with a bang as we went to the famous Waffle House!!  Jade and Cole have their favorite booth and the waitresses know them. 

Grandmother and Grandson

John had hashbrown, smothered, peppered and capped.  Starbucks $5.00 card to the first person who can tell me what kinds of food was on his hashbrowns.
Cole ate all of his waffle, his bacon, my bacon and Grandpa's bacon.  He also drank two glasses of milk. He was ready for the day. He reminds me of Sander when it comes to bacon!

The Gang having fun.

Today we visited Kings Mountain.  This is a Revolutionary War battlefield.  It was a 1.5 mile hike through the forest and was very hilly.  Did I mention it was hot and humid?  Not unbearable though.  This battle was a turning point in the war as the Patriots won this battle.

Boys and their toys.

Of course on the way back, we had to stop at the largest fireworks stand in the U. S! It is the Costco for fireworks. The men bought some large loud thing.

Finally, we ended up at Papa's and Beer Mexican Restaurant.  Good Mexican food with excellent company.  Another wonderful day in the company of my wonderful family.

Clifton/Harmon Vacation- Day 1 and 2

Day 1 Travel Day. Although long, it was a very uneventful day. Had to change planes in Houston Texas and we saw some incredible lightening storms from the air as we flew. Got to our Hotel around 12:15 AM. Day 2  Reedy River Started by meeting John, Angela, Jade and Cole at the Cracker Barrel restaurant for breakfast. It was so great to see them!! I posted a picture on facebook of us. On to downtown Greenville where we got to meander around the Reedy River. What a beautiful old city. Later we got to swim at Mom and Dad's hotel swimming pool. Jade and Cole both can jump off the edge of the pool and hold their breath. We ended the day with sitting out on John and Angela's deck watching the fireflies and John shooting off some totally illegal in California fireworks. Oh my!!!! Great start to a great vacation.

Jade and Cole with their Grandma

Mom and Dad enjoying the walk.