Labor Day Weekend

It's football time in Tennessee! So on Saturday we took a little road trip to Knoxville for UT vs Austen Peay. We tailgated and then enjoyed watching UT put a 45-0 whipping on AP. Of course it was only the first game of the season and things will be a little more difficult once we start playing conference games. 

On Sunday we had our traditional Smoky Mountain Breakfast and then headed to Metcalf Bottoms for some tubing. 

This was our first tubing expedition so we decided to start small and keep things simple. It got complicated when we couldn't figure out how to operate the new pump for blowing up the tubes. That took a while and by the time we figured it out and got five tubes inflated we were definitely ready for some cold water! The second complication was the fact that the water wasn't really quite deep enough for tubing and we kept getting hung up on the rocks. But that just added to the hilarity of our day.  But we finally figured out where to go and how to maneuver the tube. So we're floating down the river and all of a sudden we see these four people staring down in the water. Jeff floats over to ask them if they lost something and the older guy replies, "No, I'm just looking for water deep enough to baptize these kids.  They want to be baptized in the creek." So we witnessed three baptisms, said "Amen", and floated on down the river! 

After a time or two down the river we stopped and had a picnic. 

Once we finished for the day, things got complicated again. We discovered it took longer to deflate the tubes than it did to inflate them. We ended up piling them on top of the truck. But then we had to stop and rearrange things a couple of times. More hilarity!

We finally made it home and got everything unloaded before the rain set in. We spent the evening eating and playing board games and topped it off with some time in the hot tub. We turned in early for some much needed rest, only to be awakened at midnight by our neighbor shooting fireworks off his deck. 

We started our Labor Day with a late breakfast of Pancakes and omelets. Then we let the games begin!  Between I-Pads and Cornhole, we had it going on!  

Before we knew it, it was time to light the grill. Our meal for the day- Cherry & Hickory Smoked Ribs with all the fixings. 

We did our usual snack grazing while we waited. 

The ribs turned out great. I must say that Mr G is getting really good with the big grill!  After cake and ice cream, the kids packed up to go home and our Big Labor Day Bash was over. Ah, till next time........