I have been trying to figure out how to post the pictures from our family vacation.  What is holding me back in narrowing the pictures down to a "normal" amount.  There are so many great shots of the kids, family, and about 674 pictures of the amazing views and scenery.  Last week we visited the Gatlinburg area of Tennessee along with my cousins and their families.  Our cabin was located in the beautiful Smokey Mountains and the views were absolutely breath taking.  The drive to get to those views, however, was not my cup of tea.  I have definitely had enough motion sickness and pure fear of falling off the side of a mountain to last me awhile. While in the area, we visited the Dollywood theme park (2 days on the theme park side and 1 day on the water park side).  While at the theme park, we happened on a glass blowing demonstration type area.  It was also connected to a glass store where I practically grabbed my children, tethered them to my side, shoved their hands in their pockets, and repeatedly instructed them not to touch any thing.  It appeared the glass blowing demonstration was over for the day but I thought I would ask any way.  To our luck, the glassmith over heard my questions and offered to give us a demonstration.  As homeschoolers, we are constantly looking for hands on learning experiences for the kids.  From our experience, when someone has a craft or skill and they find out we are a homeschooling family they are more than willing to give the kids an on-the-spot lesson.  Plus, our kids are very inquisitive and always have lots of questions.  We asked him if the kids could help in any way and he told us they could assist him in making an ornament.  Absolutely, sign us up!!! We told him we only wanted one ornament (for our Christmas tree) but wanted all three kids to participate.  He said that would work out well and each child would have the opportunity to blow into the tube causing the glass to expand and take shape into a ball.  First, we needed to select two colors. Hold up - wait a minute!  When you have three kids there is absolutely no way only two colors can be picked, let alone agreed on.  So, we quickly went with the multi-color option.  :)