I love spontaneous road trips...and Funyons.

We had a fabulous time this weekend in Gatlinburg.



I have seen this view since childhood and yet it still takes my breath away.

Every time.

Stunning.



Upon arrival we hit the new Mellow Mushroom in town for a late lunch.

If your taste buds have never had the privilege of bathing in this ooey gooey pizza, let me be the first to say I'm sorry.

I really am.

I will pray that you get to eat here at least once in your lifetime.

Everyone should be able to.

It is that good.



After lunch we had a 3 o'clock reservation to board the R.M.S Titanic.



I cannot express how phenomenal this experience was.

As you board you are given a boarding pass of a real life passenger that boarded the actual ship in 1912.

The experience ends in the Memorial Room where the names of each person that was aboard the ship is etched in glass on a wall.

It is then that you will discover whether you survived or not.

I was a 33 yr old first class journalist from Paris, France.

Adam was a 21 year old kitchen porter from England.

Tyler was a 37 year old Postal Clerk from New Jersey.

Maggie was a 26 year old 3rd class passenger from London headed to America to wed her fiance'.

And Aidan was a 53 year old first class passenger from New York City headed back home to his wife and daughter.

We all survived except Tyler.

It was very sobering considering this was the reality for so many families.

There were no cameras allowed inside so I could not take pictures.

The amount of real artifacts in this museum is amazing.

There were moments I really could feel like I was on this ship.



I highly recommend this museum.

If you are a homeschooler you can make this very educational.

If you go be sure to visit their educational page first.

Fantastic stuff there.

I used almost all of it.

Including the Scavenger Hunt to test comprehension.

I also recommend this DVD Documentary from The History Channel.

After the museum we had dinner at Ruby Tuesdays.

We no longer have one here local and I LOVE LOVE LOVE their salad bar.

I am a sucker for chick peas on my salad.



And these.

Oh my goodness.

This is the best red velvet cupcake I have ever put in my mouth!

Sorry Grandma Margaret...but it was.

The frosting was crazy good.

Ruby Tuesday's...chick peas AND melt in your mouth cupcakes...who knew?!?!



The next day we had breakfast at the Hotel then hit one of our favorite Mountain roadways.

Roaring Fork Loop.



The higher we went...the whiter it got.

And just so you would not think that I had completely abandoned my Canon..I brought it along to snap a few shots.



We hiked a 2 mile trail up and I still find it hard to describe what I saw along the way.

Thankfully a bear was not one of them.





One minute we were walking in inches of snow.



The next minute we were greeted with lush green scenery like this.



Sometimes both.



Sign of Spring were everywhere.

But winter was hanging on with a death grip.

Two seasons battling it out on display.



It was beautiful.



It was also muddy.



Very muddy.



Lastly we dried off our muddy feet and pants by walking around in downtown Gatlinburg before heading home.

Mag and I snapped self photos while we waited on the boys.



Aidan drooled over freshly spun taffy.

Fun was had by all.

Then I came home and stumbled upon a show about a fatal black bear attack on a family in the Smokies in 1996.


Nice.



I'm linking up here:



The Homeschool Post Field Trippin'

"My every mortal breath, is Grace and nothing less"

This post brought to you by Instagram and Lysol

First let me ask a question.

Anyone else feel like they haven't picked up their camera in weeks due to Instagram?!?

Maybe it's just me.

Or maybe I'm just so lazy that I naturally gravitate towards things with the word "insta" in them.

This app is so fun and so easy.

If you live to take pictures you will love it.

You may also love Halfnote.

And CrossProcess.

And Labelbox.

Yes I am app happy.

Onto my original post.



It seems spring has sprung here in Nashville.

Long gone are the days of snow accumulations.



We were finally able to attend LCA's {already postponed due to snow} Elementary Valentine bowling party.

Neither Maggie nor Aidan's boxes won but thankfully they are not all that concerned with winning.

They are all about the fun.



And the friends.





I can relate.

I was able to spend the weekend at a Women's Conference with these lovely gals.



They even encouraged me to stop being a sissy and ask Shelley Johnson for a picture.

{Her song Mosaic of Grace is what inspired the name of my blog.}

I squealed inside.

And maybe a little on the outside too.



We had planned to make cupcakes for Valentine's Day but never got around to it.





I had even purchased these cutie patootie flags for them.



What did we do?

We made {post}Valentine's Day cupcakes of course!

And they were delish.



I decided to throw a little art into the mix and have Maggie draw a 'still life' of her cupcake.



She is so creative.



Just ask Nick and Bo.



They demanded I also show you a picture of them in their manly state as well.



Adam had to spend a week in Tahoe so it was just me and the kiddos.



We had a slumber party.

Ramona and Beezus and Funyons.

Does life get any better?!



Oh and these babies.



Before he fell asleep he said "This was the best night ever."

I will never forget the night I was a rock star in the eyes of an 8 year old.

**************************************************************

Dad being out of town could only mean one thing.

Sickness.

H1N1 to be exact.

Aidan came down with it first.

Let me just say that I would not make a good spokesperson for Tamiflu.

I gave him one dose and that was it.

After he threw up 5 times I figured he might be better off riding out the {non vomit inducing} flu.



About 3 days later he was doing this.

He called it his get well dance.



Tyler was next.

At this point I was wielding a can of Lysol.

Someone should make a holster for those.

Just a thought.

Tyler has asthma so it was a bit tougher on him.

We survived the week {by the grace of God} and managed to keep it contained to just the two kids.



In other news...this {ridiculously older looking} young lady had a piece of her writing published in our Homeschool Tutorial's {LCA} newspaper.



Her teacher thought it was fabulous and asked if it could be published.

It is pretty profound.

I call her Thesaurus Thelma.

*****************************************************************

The sun is out in full force here today and we are about to hit the road headed for Gatlinburg.

The kids and I have been studying the Titanic and decided on a whim to go and see the Titanic exhibit there.

I adore road trips.

Probably because there is food involved.

Especially a big ol' bag of Funyons.

An essential.


"My every mortal breath, is Grace and nothing less"