FIRE AWAY! In Tennessee . . . and Peanut Butter Crunch Muffins

                     

                                       Bouncing Birthday Party with little guys

Arcade and GoKarting Birthday Party with family culminating with  

a Predator Cake.

For a short Spring Break I planned a road trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  

A full day on the road took us to The Crowne Plaza Hotel at Greenville, South Carolina, the halfway point.

The next morning, Kepler and I explored the Greenville Children's Museum while Bryan and Nicole took in the art gallery and other sights of Greenville.   

                                             Kepler especially loved the groaning stomach and . . .

However, Greenville was as far south as we got.  We all agreed we had spent too much time in the car just getting there so we cancelled the Myrtle Beach Hotel and headed north.

We stopped for lunch in Asheville and had a GREAT pizza made with local mushrooms.   

Narrow  winding roads in the Smoky Mountains led us, none too soon, to Dolly Parton's DreamMore Resort Hotel outside of Pigeon Forge. 

 Although Dollywood was closed, we were able to go horseback riding.  "If anyone's brave enough to go riding in this weather," the ticket lady said as snowflakes drifted about , "we'll take you out." 

Bryan was the only one who had a pair of gloves so I got one and Nicole got one.  He bought a hand-warmer for himself.  My hero.

We rode single file for 45 minutes behind the guide.  One of Kepler's favorite games right now is with toy soldiers but I was still a bit nonplussed by his frequent shouts from up ahead of  "Fire away!"

Turned out that Bryan's horse was intermittently doing just that, LOL!

We had a tasty lunch at Paula Deen's in Pigeon Forge:  the collards were outstanding and we also enjoyed the fried chicken and fried catfish.

Just five years old, Kepler's favorite thing of all on this trip was the Laser Tag at Wonderworks!

Warming up in front of one of the hotel’s large gas fireplaces  

Next up was the zoo in Knoxville. 

Good to be home!

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PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS

                 (Adapted from Esther Brody’s Peanut Butter Crunch Muffins)

1.      Grease well a jumbo tin to make 6 large muffins.

2.     Start preheat oven to 400.

3.     Prepare topping in a food processor and set aside.

Topping

3 tbsp peanut butter

4 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp flour

1/8 tsp salt

4.      Prepare muffin batter:

2 cups flour

1 tbsp baking powder

½ cup sugar

½ cup chocolate chips

1 egg

1 cup milk

1/3 cup melted butter

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and chocolate chips in a large bowl.

Beat egg in a medium bowl.  Stir in milk and butter.

Stir wet ingredients into flour mixture.

Put in muffin pan and bake 20 minutes. 

Marvellous texture and Kepler enjoyed these!  . . . he's not easy to please LOL!