Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Whadda We Doin' Today, Papa?

Sevierville, TN  High: 105   Low: 71

The grandkids' first full day. Grandma Sparky decided to pull teacher rank on the kids. Little did they know it, but Sparky is going to have Cate, the oldest do a blog every day or every other day! And Trevor is going to draw a picture each day and write one sentence about what he is doing in his picture. Cate didn't mind the blog idea at all, Trevor, THAT was another story. He is not strong in language arts, so it was in his best interest to get a little practice in this summer. Sparky had to use every available motivational tool in her book of teacher tricks to get him to buy into contributing to his sister's blog!

Cate named her blog "C & T's Amazing Adventures" (C for Cate, T for Trevor) and she is now officially on Blogger. Woo-hoo! Here's a link to her blog that she did today, her first post. catetrevor.blogspot.com Trevor doesn't know it but he's going to be contributing every day...we hope! This will be a real test of Sparky's ability to get him to do something he hates--write. Might have to throw in a bribe or two......Sh-h-h-h, don't tell his mom. Sparky is already in trouble for letting him have a donut for breakfast! But he also had a bowl of cereal, mom.

It's still hot here...we heard that the entire state of Tennessee was at it's hottest hot yesterday in all the years of keeping weather records--a high of 107. We heard that at the Gatlinburg Great Smoky Mountains Welcome Center, where we picked up a pile of literature today.

The ranger said that in Atlanta, it was 114 degrees on the baseball field yesterday. Ugh!

We love getting information at the state parks before blindly heading into a hike or out driving around aimlessly. Sparky bought a packet of great stuff--Smokies Starter Kit for 5.00. All proceeds benefit the park. The packet included a backcountry trail map, day hikes map and guide, an auto touring map and guide, a safety in bear country flier, a Newfound Gap Road auto tour booklet, a Clingman's Dome Tour booklet, a Cades Cove tour booklet, and a Laurel Falls Nature Trail Guide.  Good deal!

After getting our information we needed for future visits to the park, we headed over to Big Daddy's Pizzeria for supper with the kids. Great pizza! Hand tossed, wood fire oven, that's the best kind, we think! We'll see you tomorrow...

9 comments:

  1. Cate did a great job with the blog. He even had his own homemade picture on it. Good job Cate!

    What a great idea...Starter packet. More parks could use something like that.

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  2. Oh, that "teacher virus". It's still alive and well in some of my retired teacher friends. It just never goes away.
    If someone is retiring they have to write a song, and SING it! Or do a little skit, or whatever.
    *Gah!*
    Thankfully nobody tries to correct my grammar. That would put me over the edge.
    They're a good group though. Sure more fun than a bunch of retired ******* ...*that's for sure.

    *Insert the name of any professionals that you might think are boring, I'm not going there.

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  3. We got the same Smoky Mountians Kit. One of the few "paper" things we kept. We hike to Abrahm's Falls....WONDERFUL!! Can't wait to get back there again.

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  4. Great ideas for the grands. I put a comment on their blog. Hope they will get more but take off the word verification to make it easier. Hope it's cool enough in GSMNP for hiking. Those temps are insane.

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  5. The blog is a great idea. I left a comment. It's crazy that it is hotter where you are now than in Houston.

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  6. What a great idea having Cate make a blog and Trevor to contribute. I really liked her blog....but did you know it has the comment moderation? grrrr

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  7. Day 1 down - how many more to go?? Looks like you're off to a great start!

    Have a great 4th of July with the Grands!

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  8. Hey grandma Sparky!! Keep up the good work with the kids!! Thank you. Good luck with the LA work with Trevor I know that won't be an easy task but one that will be very helpful for him. Don't worry about the donut, he might get one or two of those from me here or there. We love the blog! Cate is doing a great job. Thanks for everything!!

    Brian

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  9. Oh, grandkids and pizza.. what a great combination!

    I just joined their blog to follow it, what a great idea----

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com

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