Catching Up

Wow! It's been over a month since I've blogged! I apologize to my readers, what few there may be. So, what have we been doing over the past 5 weeks or so? Well, Rebekah's birthday party was scheduled for right around the last time I posted. Rebekah woke up sick the morning of her party. She curled up on the couch to watch cartoons and fell asleep after eating a little breakfast. A few minutes later she woke up vomiting. The Little Gym was gracious enough to reschedule her party for the following Friday. It actually worked out well because all her friends except for one was able to come, and another friend was sick the same weekend she was sick, so it worked out well. It just rained really hard before the party and some were late, but it was a very fun party!

The following weekend Rebekah attended a birthday party, and that next weekend we had fall break. We took our first family trip to the beach. We stayed at Seacrest Beach in a condo owned by our friends Tim and Stephanie. My parents joined us for the week. While the water was too cool to really get in it other than to let the waves run over our feet it was a nice, relaxing trip. Rebekah loved every single little aspect of the trip, and going for her was all worth it.

After we returned from our vacation Rebekah attended two more birthday parties. That week we also had a field trip with Rebekah's class to the Apple Valley Orchard and then our church's annual fall festival on Halloween.

Since then my mom and I have spent a weekend in Sevierville and Pigeon Forge shopping at The Incredible Christmas Place and Tanger Outlet, and we stayed the Inn at the Christmas Place. Oh, how that got me in the mood to decorate for Christmas! I didn't put up any fall decorations this year, so I'm excited to start putting up Christmas decorations a little earlier than normal (usually after Thanksgiving). I need to re-do my wreath and garland on the mantle this year, and I've decided to do gold, red, and lime green for a change.

Last week we had a playdate with Rebekah's friend Maggie. Her birthday party was held the day we left for the beach, so we had to miss it. So, we invited Maggie and LeeAnne to visit so Rebekah could give Maggie her gift as well as to give the girls time to play and us moms to chat. On Saturday we met at the English Rose Tea Room to celebrate our girls being big girls now that they are five years old. Jessica was supposed to join us along with her daughter Heidi who also turned five in October, but they were sick and unable to come.

Well, that catches you up on the latest of where we have been. It's been a busy last few weeks, and tomorrow is Darrin's birthday. One of these days I'll be back with photos from all our adventures of the past few weeks.

A Rendez-Vous

Thursday afternoon and evening we got some pretty strong thundershowers come through while we were at the cabin in Pigeon Forge. Friday morning when we woke up we were surrounded by cloud formation from the fog, but the neat thing was that we were above the clouds due to our height in the atmosphere.


That day we spent the majority of our time just hanging out around the cabin and relaxing. That afternoon we went to the pool that was part of the resort since it was so hot. It was the hottest day of our trip, so it was the perfect day to hang out in the pool. Rebekah ventured out in the pool more than she had previously, so she was able to practice some of the skills she had learned from her swim lessons. (By the way, we have decided to put her back in another two-week session of lessons in July to give her more confidence in the pool and to build upon what she has already learned. She just does so much better with her instructor than she does with Darrin or me.) Joshua did fabulously in the water and had fun practicing his little tricks as well. He grabbed the wall of the pool several times and also practiced flipping over to his back after "falling in" the pool.

While Joshua went down for a nap Rebekah and I relaxed in the hot tub and then we all got ready to meet some friends for dinner. I went to college with Will and Sarah. Will was a percussionist, and Sarah was a vocalist and majored in music education with me. They have three girls, the youngest who are the same ages as Rebekah and Joshua. Poor Joshua was so outnumbered! We met up with them at Flying Horse Grill in Pigeon Forge. (You can read about the neat history of this unique carousel here.) Last time we had been to Pigeon Forge I had seen this restaurant with a carousel inside and thought it would be fun to visit. Everyone gets one free ride on the carousel, and each additional ride is for a fee.

Rebekah, Ashley, and Joshua


Will with his youngest daughter Hannah


Courtney pulls up the rear


Sarah and I laughed about riding in a carriage together


The girls in the little souvenir shop (I did not attempt to put Joshua in the mix because he was in a somewhat sour mood due to fatigue and teething.)
Courtney, Rebekah, Hannah, and Ashley


Joshua went right to Will after the last carousel ride. Not a happy child, but he was very content.


Rebekah was just warming up to the girls when it was time to part ways. Giving good-bye hugs and kisses.


It was a great end to our vacation before we went home on Saturday.

Dollywood Day 3

We spent our last day at Dollywood today, so we won't be going to Splash Country, but we got to do more rides today since we headed out there early and didn't see any shows. We arrived at the park soon after 9:00, so we were able to hit a bunch of rides before it got very busy. Rebekah and I rode the River Rampage first thing while Joshua and Darrin rode the 1950s cars since Joshua was too little for the RR. It is one of those big tire rafts that goes along a rough creek. Rebekah was not too crazy about it, mostly because she had no control of getting wet and where she would fall around the water. We got pretty wet, so we headed toward some sun to dry. Rebekah really wanted to ride the carousel, so we headed there next.


We also rode the elephants which Rebekah loved and of which Joshua was a bit scared.



Rebekah and I also rode the swings and scrambler while Darrin took Joshua to ride some of the kiddie rides.


Joshua did not want to ride the "Busy Bees" until Rebekah rode too, and she wanted to, but Joshua didn't want to sit with her. Go figure!



I noticed that Joshua has been putting his fingers in his mouth a lot lately. We think he's cutting his very back molars.


It doesn't look like he's too happy to be on this ride. How can he love this ride one day and be scared of it another? Actually, I think the elephant ride was too much for him, and the bees are similar but on a much smaller scale.


We then got some lunch and then hooked up with LeeAnne, Bobby, and Maggie for a little while. They are visiting Dollywood today and Splash Country tomorrow with some friends. The girls were so glad to see each other.


We rode the swings with them a couple of times... (Maggie with her Daddy Bobby)


...then the girls rode the bees before we parted ways for the rest of the day. They had to eat lunch and we wanted to visit some water rides and activities before leaving.


Well, it turned out to be nothing, at least what we saw. We were going to hit some water fun, but we accidentally took a wrong turn and headed toward another area of the park. It, too, had some water activities for children, but it wasn't what I was expecting, and the one water ride they had got you absolutely drenched. We were not interested, so we ended up walking until we looped around the the entrance/exit. The kids were exhausted (Joshua asleep), and Darrin and I were really hot and tired. We had a really fun day today, and we're looking forward to some relaxation again tomorrow.

Chillin' at the Cabin

After two big days at Dollywood we spent some time resting at the cabin today. We were all very tired, plus we didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night. One of the cabins above us has a large group of people who were very noisy laughing and partying between 3:00 and 5:00 in the morning. I woke up to the racket at around 4:00 and went back to sleep after a while, but Darrin was awake more. One of our neighbors got in a pretty heated argument with them. He told them it was 5:00 AM and one of them responded, "COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!" Today a number of people called the office to report the group, and fortunately they are being dealt with. Hopefully they will keep quiet tonight.

After things finally settled down a loud rain shower came through. There was no lightning nor thunder, but it was a downpour that was loud! Obviously, we didn't sleep as well as we would have liked. It was a good day to rest and chill. I did, however, take Rebekah to The Christmas Place on the main drag in Pigeon Forge. It is the one store I like to visit every time we come to the Smoky Mountains, and I thought it would be fun to share the experience with Rebekah. She seemed to really enjoy it as well, although she did tire and was ready to head back to the cabin before I was quite ready.

Here is the view from our cabin. It is really beautiful, and the pictures don't do it justice.



Here you can see actually how close the cabins are to one another.


One of the activities at the cabin we have enjoyed is playing pool: Joshua-style. Every time Darrin would take a turn hitting the ball Joshua would pick it up off the table, as long as he could reach it, and drop it in a pocket.







This evening we had plans to hit the pool after an early dinner since it closes at 7:30. However, Rebekah was really tired, and although she wanted to go swimming we felt like she needed some time to rest. I really wanted a dip in the water, so I decided to enjoy the hot tub. Rebekah didn't want to join me at first, but she really wanted to spend time with me. She finally decided to try it (in her own words) "for just a little bit". She surprised us and loved it!


When Joshua came out with Darrin a while later he wanted in the spa with me too, so it wasn't long before our entire family was enjoying the hot tub together.


It wasn't so relaxing with Joshua trying to walk everywhere and falling constantly, but he sure was having a blast! Plus, we got to enjoy some time out there before a big thunderstorm came through, of which I'm enjoying the last few rumbles in the night.

Dollywood Day 2

Yesterday I mentioned we were going to arrive earlier to enjoy Dollywood more. We did arrive an hour earlier, however, the heat was much worse due to much less cloud cover, and the kids were so wiped out by 2:00 that we spent about the same amount of time at the park today as we did yesterday. We attended two shows today, revisited a few favorite rides, and hit a few new rides. We still did not cover all of the kids' section of the park, and there are some other sections for kids we did not even visit. Since Rebekah was so hesitant in the pool yesterday, and Joshua was even skiddish in the water area at Coolidge Park, we are pretty sure we are going to use our third day to visit Dollywood again. We would hate to attend Splash Country to find that the kids do not like it and lose a good day to visit some other rides at Dollywood that we have missed. However, we are taking a day to rest from all the sunny outdoors so much, and our plans are to hit the amusement park on Thursday.

When we arrived this morning the kids were eager to hit the little kiddie rides from yesterday. Both of them wanted to ride "Busy Bees". How can you say no?



Since it wasn't crowded at all the kids got to ride by themselves.



I won't bore you with a bunch of photos from repeated rides, but we did a few. Rebekah and I also rode the swings. This was a first for her, and she loved it!

At 10:30 we saw the performance of "Llama Llama Red Pajama". This is a favorite book in our home. There is a great deal of rhyming, and children can relate well to the story of a child who deals with all kinds of emotions laying in bed waiting for his mama. The play added some extra plot in order to create a longer storyline, but it fit well with the Llama - Mama- Drama rhyming and theme. It was a really cute play.


Mama llama takes baby llama grocery shopping...


...at Shop-O-Rama


Now for the real story...





Posing with the characters


After lunch we attended the show by the Kratt Bros., stars of the PBS Kids show "Zoboobafoo". Joshua enjoyed the show, but about half-way through he began to lose interest. He has never cared much for the television show. However, Rebekah told me tonight this was one of her favorite shows. I think she'll be interested in watching their T.V. program more now that she has seen them live.


Chris "finds" a porcupine in the Smoky Mountains. It was so much bigger than I realized they are.


Martin "finds" a baby zebra.


Chris pulls out a snake.


Martin with a beaver


Albino python


Baby kangaroo at 4 months old


And finally, the all-famous-on-their-show lemur


Following the Kratt Bros. show we took one more ride before calling it a day. We rode the 1950s cars. Darrin and Rebekah rode together while Joshua and I rode in a separate car.



After looking more closely at the Dollywood map I have seen we have barely tipped the iceberg where it comes to Dcllywood. There is so much more to do there, so it looks like we'll be spending another day to try out many more things to ride and do. But, as you can see, the kids were wiped out after two back-to-back days of outdoor fun, so we'll enjoy a day off before we hit the park again.