Gramma Tucky's

We finally got to visit to Gramma Tucky's this summer!  For those of you that don't know, Gramma Tucky is my absolute favorite person in the whole wide world!  I used to spend entire summers visiting and I was anxious to get the girls back down there for a visit too!  We hadn't been in about 18 months, so I was really looking forward to visiting again!  We stayed pretty busy while we were there.  We arrived July 3rd and they were doing fireworks display that night, so we headed out to see the fireworks! 

Hannah thought it was pretty loud :)

Emma and Hannah hopped in the car with Gramma!

After resting on Sunday, we headed to a lake on Monday.  The girls and I swam at this beautiful lake for a few hours while Gramma and Pop John sat in the shade (what troopers!)

The picture really doesn't do it justice!

We ended our week by heading to Dollywood!  While it rained most of the day and we hardly got to do anything, we did have a great day together!

Welcome to Dollywood!

We got to tour Dolly's tour bus too!

Steam Engine Ride

The girls got to ride the bees, pigs...

...and ducks before it started pouring down (again!)

Emma, Pop and myself took cover while Hannah played in the rain!

My favorite part of visiting is watching the trains go by.  My Gramma lives right behind a train track (literally!), and watching the trains go by is a tradition. They head up to load up with coal and usually come right back to empty it.   Unfortunately, we didn't get to see too many this time, but I did capture some of this train:

Told you we could sit and watch them!

They day before we left we headed to Pine Mountain Settlement School - the school my grandfather went to as a child.  I went with him once when he was alive, and despite being blind he was able to tell us what each building was.  They now use the school for different camps.  You can read about it here.

The school was built the year he was born!

We had an awesome trip and the girls and I got some MUCH needed bonding time!  I am so very thankful for my Dad taking us with him when he goes!  My uncle is going down in just a few weeks to pick her up to spend several weeks up in Northern Virginia.  It will be so nice to have her only an hour away opposed to 10!  I plan on making weekly trips to visit - I can't wait!

Gramma Tucky with the girls! We love you!