The Life and Times of the Arning Bros.

We had such a fun, busy, crazy weekend. I can't even believe we packed it all into such a short amount of time! And, we survived! Barely...

It all started on Thursday when I took Charlie to school for his Halloween party. Of course, it was a dress up party, so Charlie got to wear his fireman costume for the first time. He got a kick out of his personal fire extinguisher and bullhorn. (I saved the batteries for the bullhorn until after school. I'm sure Mrs. Jacobson appreciated that.) I thought he looked so cute! He seemed to have a great time at school, but I decided to pick him up early so we could head to Tennessee for the weekend.

The boys were absolutely perfect in the car on the way, even when we stopped for lunch. Not a peep from either one of them. What great travelers I have! I was so proud! We made it to Tennessee with no issues whatsoever, and both boys were in bed, asleep right at 7:30 p.m.

Friday was a yucky, rainy day, but we made the best of it. Grammy and I took the boys to the Oak Ridge Children's Museum, which they both really seemed to enjoy. So much so that Charlie napped until 5 p.m., and I had to go in and wake him up!

Saturday was an early start for us. We packed up and headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the day. The boys loved playing at the barn and of course, Charlie loved riding Grandpa's tractor. I left at around 2 p.m., to head back to Grammy and Poppy's house because we were headed to the Tennessee / South Carolina football game. I was super excited because A.) I had an evening to myself and B.) it was my first Tennessee game in over five years!

It was a gorgeous evening and the weather was perfect. The only bad part was the loss. Yes, Tennessee lost - again! Maybe one day we'll be a good football team again!

I got home at around 11:30 p.m., totally exhausted and ready to sleep. The only problem was that, for some reason, I could NOT fall asleep! Then I started panicking because I knew I needed to sleep but I couldn't - no matter what I tried. Has that ever happened to you?

I think I dozed on and off, and finally at 7 a.m., I drug myself out of bed and jumped in the shower. I knew we had a busy morning ahead of us, with only 90 minutes to pack, feed both boys, get them dressed and put them in the car to hit the road. Grandpa and I had decided to take the boys to Bryson City, N.C., to the PEANUTS Great Pumpkin Patch Express on the Great Smokey Mountains Railroad. What an adventure we had ahead of us!

And, boy was I right!

Since we were short on time, Grandpa decided that we should take Hwy 129 - also known as the "Tail of the Dragon" - to Bryson City. If you're not familiar with this stretch of highway, just imagine 31 miles of S-curves back to back to back to back to back to back... up the mountain, surrounded by trees. Don't get me wrong. It's absolutely GORGEOUS, but after 30 minutes of this, I was totally claustrophobic and breathing deeply to try to keep my self from getting sick... and I was driving! I was just praying the boys would be ok.

Well, they weren't.

After about an hour of this, Chase started SCREAMING. And I mean SCREAMING!

I wasn't sure what was wrong with him, but he just kept on screaming at the top of his lungs, while I was driving back and forth and back and forth and back and forth, claustrophobic and breathing deeply. After about 20 minutes of this, he finally settled down for a few minutes, and shortly thereafter, I came across a tiny convenience store in the middle of nowhere. Something told me that I needed to stop, just to check on Chase.

So, I did. I stopped the car, took one look back at Chase at the exact time that he decided to projectile vomit everywhere. I jumped out of the car, raced over to his side, opened the door and he was still vomiting. It was coming out of his nose even! I was worried he was going to choke on it!

Once he finally stopped, I unbuckled him from his wet, nasty car seat, pulled him out into the 30 degree weather, stripped him naked and grabbed another outfit from my suitcase. Poor Grandpa was left to clean up the mess. (Big thanks to the convenience store clerk for giving us an entire roll of paper towels for free. And, bigger props to Grandpa for cleaning up vomit! He gets an extra, super big GOLD STAR!)

So, after 10 minutes of awful cleanup, poor Chase had to sit back in his car seat and we continued our journey. He was totally fine at this point! Eating goldfish, drinking milk, singing, watching movies. I guess he just needed to get rid of everything and start fresh... all over the back of my car!

Once we made it to the Great Smokey Mountain Railroad, everyone was doing great. The boys had an absolute blast and it was such a cool event, that we'll definitely do it again next year. Trick or treating, bounce houses, apple bobbing, wagon rides, carnival games, juice and cookies, meet and greets with the PEANUTS gang, roasting marshmallows, picking pumpkins, what's not to love?!

The only bad part was that we weren't able to hit the road to head home until 3 p.m., with a 3-hour drive ahead of us. Of course, we also had to stop for dinner, so that meant we didn't get home until 6:45 p.m.

I was EXHAUSTED, but I knew I still had bath time and car vomit clean up ahead of me. (I don't know which is worse! Kidding.) So, I bathed Chase, got him totally dressed in his pajamas, then gave him his antibiotic (for bronchitis and an ear infection... that's a whole 'nother story!) Just as I was giving him his antibiotic, he THREW UP AGAIN all over the newly cleaned, Stanely Steemed carpet in Charlie's room.

Oh, joy. More vomit for me to clean up.

At this point, I just did the best I could with the mess, put Charlie in his PJs, literally dumped both boys in bed, cleaned the car and fell into bed.

Did I mention I did all of this - the driving, everything - BY MYSELF?! Mike couldn't come with me. He had to work the Martinsville race. I think that means I get an extra, super big GOLD STAR, too. Don't you?

Well, enough about our crazy, fun, adventurous - and memorable - weekend. Here are LOTS of pictures! Sit back and enjoy!

Isn't this a cool costume?

Charlie at school. I particularly like the little boy in the pirate costume picking his nose.
Can't you just imagine how many noses get picked at preschool?

"Excuse me. Did someone call the Fire Chief?"

Preschool looks like fun!

This is from our visit to the Oak Ridge Children's Museum.
See, Charlie! Telephones used to have cords and rotary dials!

Ahhh... Finally someone is bringing me grapes. Where's my fan?

It does a Mama proud seeing her boy working in the kitchen like this.

Both boys in the kitchen! I must have done something right as a Mom!

Seriously, though. This is part of a kid-sized doll house. How cute is that?

Grammy teaching Chase that money actually doesn't grow on trees!

Both boys loved looking at the model trains.

Boys. Is there anything else I can get you?
Take a load off. You've had a hard day, I can tell.

I love this photo because of Charlie's expression and the barn. I love the barn as a backdrop!

Love sweet Charlie's face.

Chase LOVES animals! (Sometimes a little too much.)

Oh, man. Isn't this a FABULOUS photo?

I'm fairly confident Charlie would drive the tractor by himself if we'd let him.

Chase and Grandma enjoying some time together.

Grandpa takes Charlie on a tractor ride... or two... or three.

Look how happy he is!

Riding through the fields...

We finally made it to the Great Smokey Mountain Railroad!

Another cool photo! Boarding the train.

This is at the pumpkin patch. They had all kinds of fun PEANUTS decor.
It really got us all in the Halloween spirit!

Charlie likes to "think outside the box." He goes for the gourd instead of the pumpkin.
He's a genius!

Chase sticks with pumpkins. He's a genius too!

This was bobbing for apples. You use this cool contraption to snag an apple,
which then rolls down the tube and into your hand.

Grandpa explaining the theory behind the apple bobber contraption.

I kinda like this photo, too.

Chase got an apple! Wonder how he did that...

And Charlie got an apple, too! More proof that he's a genius.

I think both boys would have stayed here all day if we'd let them.
This was just a sand box full of corn kernels with diggers and dumpers to load and unload.
Need I say more?

Wagon rides? Yes, please!

A football toss game. (I think Charlie might need to work on his form, but that's just me.)

Ah Ha! The mystery behind Chase's apple bobbing success has been solved.

Getting ready to trick or treat!

The boys trick or treated in a big tent with 10 or so cute little "houses" inside. Each house front was decorated and so festive. The boys had to go to the door, knock and say "Trick or Treat" in order to get candy. What great practice!
But, this picture doesn't do it justice. The little houses were SO CUTE!