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From Dallas, we made our way up to Edmonds Oklahoma. We were able to see Aunt Kaylynn and Uncle Nate! The kids enjoyed being able to spend time with their cousins! We did so many fun things while we were with the Davis’s. I got to do all of the girls’ hair, we went to church, and we celebrated Father’s Day!

We arrived pretty late at night, and went right to bed. After a slow morning, we headed into Oklahoma City, where we visited the site of the Oklahoma City bombing.

This honestly hadn’t been on our agenda, but after recommendations from the Davis’s, we decided to go. And we are so glad we did. That memorial is absolutely beautiful.

Lillian started working on the junior ranger program, and she met the kindest Park ranger who spent a lot of time talking with her about the events that led up to the bombing. He spent a lot of time talking with her about character development and the choices that people make about how they think. He really focused on managing emotions and how failure to do these things can lead to problems. It was a fascinating conversation.

On a side note, this trip has led is through some ugly historical moments and movements, so there’s been lots of questions about why people would do the things they’ve done or think the way they’ve thought. We’ve had great conversations about choices, presentism, repeating of history, etc.

After we left the memorial, we went and visited Miller Street. This is where my grandmother (Nella Miller) grew up. The mansion that she was raised in is still there. It used to be surrounded by farmland. This area is named after the Miller family. It has since been made into an historical landmark and revitalized.

We went to a place called pop stop, which had thousands of different types of sodas in it. It was such a fun place to look at. Everyone got different sodas to try.

We had planned a few other stops along the way, but we stayed an extra day at the Davis’s!

Daniel‘s favorite part of this was spending time with the Davis’s and visiting the memorial.

Janell’s favorite part of this was spending time with family and leaning more about Nella.

Lillian‘s favorite part of this was spending time with family!!!!

Ephraim‘s favorite part of this was also spending time with family!!!

The Smoky Mountains and Dollywood!

Because we opted to stay an extra day in Oklahoma, and we had a little bit of a mechanical pick up, we left pretty late from Oklahoma. We made the decision to drive straight through and bag some of our other stops (Little Rock and Nashville).

We arrived pretty late in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The campground that we were hoping for was full. So we found a small RV park that had a spot available that we could use. The sweet owner picked up the phone at 10 o’clock at night. We were very blessed. we slept in that morning after a long day of driving. From there, we went into Smoky National Park and got to our campground where we had a reservation.

We went for a hike along the river. We drove a crest that had views of the Smokey’s. The Smokey are absolutely gorgeous! The fireflies were amazing. Magical flickering lights throughout the forest that create a sense of a pixy like world. I wish we had two weeks to stay there and explore!

The rangers were hilarious when they found out where we were from. They pretty much bagged the bear education and we talked grizzly bears and their comeback.

We spent two days at Dollywood.-one day at the park and the next at the water park. We thoroughly enjoyed both. It was a great atmosphere-not overly crowded. The rides were fantastic, and the atmosphere was a lot of fun.

Daniel’s favorite part of this was the hole on little river, splash country and fireflies!

Janell’s favorite part of this was The Magic on the Smokey’s and the roller coasters!

Lillian’s favorite part of this was Dollywood. She loved the rides and the beautiful atmosphere.

Ephraim ‘s favorite part of this was riding big bear roller coaster eight times. He loved the flowers.