One day in Paradise

Do you know where paradise is?  There is a big hunk of it in Tennessee!  What a beautiful place!

Kenneth's cousin invited us to join them at their friends' lake house in Tennessee on our way down to Georgia from New York.  It tacked on an extra 3 hours to our trip, but since we were able to take a few days to do it, we thought it would be worth the extra driving time.  So, Sunday evening, we left the farm, visited Kenneth's Aunt Hilda in northern Pennsylvania and then drove another hour and a half and stayed the night at a hotel in Wilkes-Barre,Pennsylvania.  It was nice to see his Aunt.  It had been a few years.  She is getting up there in age, but still seemed in pretty good health.  She is a spunky lady and I always enjoy visiting with her.
I was sick as a dog when I woke up Monday morning.  My nose and eyes were watering so much I could hardly see or function.  It was awful.  So, that travel day was not much fun at all.  We stayed the next night in Wytheville, Virginia.  We went our to dinner that night at The Log Cabin 1776 Restaurant.  It was a great little place with lots of history and the food was pretty good, too!
The next day we drove to the lake house.  What a beautiful part of the country!  It was a gorgeous day of driving!  The hills and lakes were incredible!  The lake house was really out of the way- way out on little roads far from civilization, but worth it!  The friends of Kenneth's cousin from church were so gracious to us and welcomed us with, "Any friends of the Baldaufs are friends of ours!"  They were awesome hosts!  They took us all out on the boat to water ski, let us drive the jet skis (and by 'us', I really mean 'Kenneth'), shared their food, gave us great rooms to stay in and overall took very good care of us.  We were there from Tuesday 2 pm to Wednesday 4 pm, but we made some great memories in that short time!  The kids had a blast and Kenneth was in heaven! (I on the other hand, enjoyed the beautiful surroundings, but being so pregnant and taking care of a two-year-old made it not quite as much fun for me.)  I tried going out in the big tube with Grant and Kate at one point and it was too bumpy on the water with my big pregnant body to be that enjoyable.  They even had their very own brick oven to make pizzas in and we had a make your own pizza bar.  They were incredible.  Lori made an awesome kale salad to go along with it, which tasted so good after not having had kale for a couple of weeks!
Here are some pictures of our time at Norris Lake:

Dad and Kate ready to go in the lake!

Big trampoline out on the lake- it also has a slide.  So much fun!

Emma enjoying the water

I love this little lady!  She and I were buddies while everyone else did more intense activities.

Kenneth ready to take off on the rope swing

Here he goes!

Almost time to let go. . .

Bomb's away!

Down he goes!

Here's the video:

Kids in the tube- ready for a ride

Riding on the boat

Kenneth waterskiing

Look how amazing!

Max and Phil riding around on the jet skis.  Max is pulling some kids in the tube behind him.

Kate really took to her Baldauf cousins!  She couldn't get enough of Everett- here she is pulling him up the hill to the house.  

Evening view from the deck.

The Golds have a great entertaining space on their deck.  It was the perfect temperature and so pleasant all hanging out together!

Brother Gold putting our pizza in their wood fired oven.

It is 700 degrees in their!  

Kenneth helping the kids take their pizzas to the oven.

The sun is going down and we are still partying it up!  Lori and Max in the foreground.

The next morning we ate cereal out on the deck and Kate was loving playing with Tessa.  

Grant did a great job swimming around the lake in his life jacket, even though he was a little nervous right at the beginning.

The girls on the back of the boat at the dock.

Playing on and around the tampoline

Kate and Daddy in the lake- Kate liked it, but didn't want us to let go of her at all, in fact, she always wanted us supporting her lower half; we couldn't even just hold her hands or upper body, she was too nervous for that.

Arianna swinging out over the lake.

Riding the boat- Kate loved it!!!  She loves speed, what can I say?

Kenneth learned to surf behind the boat.  He did really well!

Kids hanging out on the boat. Left to right: Tessa, Everett, Emma, Grant, and Arianna.

The girls in the tube again.

Daddy riding around with Grant

Everett and Kate- little buddies

Daddy giving Arianna a ride this time.

We had a great time!  In fact, Kenneth tried to stay longer the day we were supposed to leave and I vetoed that.  I knew we needed to get to Georgia and get moving on getting the house ready! (Probably my nesting instincts taking over!) Besides, I was ready to be DONE with our travels!