Vacation #3 - Dollywood & Apple Barn

I'm finally getting to post about our last day on vacation! I think this was our favorite day, please be warned, it's a picture laden post!

Not too shabby breakfast for just having a microwave and refrigerator!

We got to Dollywood around 10, but it took awhile to get the stroller packed up with all we would need for the day, and walk to the trolley stop. We had the kids all situated and Levi was actually asleep when we got on the trolley. Who knew we would have to take the kids out of the stroller and hold them on the ride . . . even though we were sitting right beside the stroller. Oh well.

Barnstormer. Jacob is on the end closest to us. This was like a giant swing that nearly went all the way around. This was the first ride Jacob rode, and poor Lily started crying and franticly reaching towards him saying "hold you." It was pitiful! I guess she was afraid he was going to get hurt.

Lily loved this ride!

The whole time they were walking out, she was saying "again, again."

So I took her again. I only got to ride this ride and the carousel since I'm pregnant.

Wonder Wheel.

Levi enjoyed his bottle and finally went back to sleep.

Jacob rode all the roller coasters two or three times each! I have never ridden a roller coaster, and I feel like my life will be complete even if I never do! :)

Lily was SO excited to drive!

Love this picture :)

My favorite part of Dollywood was the big bag of kettle corn that my dear hubby bought me! Fresh-popped kettle corn is so good! Jacob and Lily had some, but I nearly finished off the entire bag by myself!

We went back to our hotel and rested for a little while, then we went and walked around the Gatlinburg shops. We got to see taffy making, which was so cool!

Our last stop was Kilwin's. I had been dying all week for a dark chocolate covered marshmallows from there! Jacob and I went to Kilwin's in Charleston on our honeymoon, and when we saw the Kilwin's in Gatlinburg we just had to go. We got Lily her own chocolate covered marshmallows, but she didn't really eat much - she was more interested in sticking her finger in the marshmallows. Ha!

On our way home, we stopped by Apple Barn to get some gifts for family. Lily rode this rocking horse for the longest time!

Levi liked it too. :)

Yay! We're headed home after a fun week!

Please excuse the nasty mirror! I'm not really sure how it got that way.

Hope I didn't bore you to tears with the long, drawn out posts! I just had to record all the special memories from this fun family vacation!

Vacation #2 - Accident and Cade's Cove

In order to save a little money, we took muffins, eggs, and fruit so we could eat breakfast in our room every morning. 

Every morning we ate out on our little third floor balcony. Lily could also fit through these bars too, so we told her she had to stay away from the edge. On this fateful morning, she was being a little disobedient and as Jacob was guiding her away from the edge, she jerked away from him and her head hit the bars, giving her a bruise. As Jacob lunged to catch her, he spilled his coffee on her head and back. Oh, it was awful! We rushed her inside, stripped off her shirt and put ice on the burns. Thankfully the coffee wasn't *that* hot and her back didn't blister.

After getting all cleaned up, she and Jacob went out and read some books. That was definitely not the greatest way to start the day!

We decided to go to Cade's Cove, so we left around 9:30 (it opened at 10). We had no idea that it was going to be a really long drive to get there on curvy, slow-moving roads. At least the kids slept on the way there! 

At Cade's Cove, you basically drive along a one lane road and stop at different old sites (like cabins or churches). We let the kids sit in our laps while we drove to each stop. Lily loved driving!

I think we won't do Cade's Cove again until the kids are older. It was just kind of long for them, partly because there were a ton of people there and we had to drive through sooo slowly, but getting in and out of the hot car got wearing on them (and us). The scenery was beautiful though!

Yes, we carry the potty chair in the car in case we have any sudden needs for it. It definitely came in handy that day!

After we left Cade's Cove, we headed to Pigeon Forge. We went to the Three Bears General Store where they have live bears you can see. 

Lily loved the bears! She still talks about them!

At the General Store, we saw where they were advertising discounted Dollywood tickets. Jacob really wanted to go to Dollywood, but he wasn't really able to justify the nearly sixty dollar tickets plus tax! Anyway, to get the discounted tickets we had to do one of the "tours" for a time share, but they offered us two free tickets to Dollywood. We agreed to do the tour. 

Oh. my. word. it was insane to say the least! The 90 minute presentation turned into like 2 hours because the salesman said he had to have both of our focused attention. Um, hello! How do you do that with two little ones?! After him stopping for me to run Lily to the potty and to go change Levi's diaper, he finally figured out that it was impossible to have both of our attention. We did not buy in to the time share, and I can't tell you how happy we were to finally walk out of there with our free tickets to Dollywood! Jacob and I both agreed that the crazy two hours were worth saving us about $140!

After the long busy day, we headed back to the hotel, got showers and relaxed for the evening!

Vacation Day #1 - The Aquarium

My uncle and aunt own a time share in Pigeon Forge, so we were able to get a good deal on a hotel through their referral (or something). We saved up for this vacation and used cash so that we didn't go over budget. Anyway, our hotel was in Gatlinburg right next to the Aquarium. We went early on Tuesday morning to beat the crowd!

Waiting for Daddy to get the tickets. One nice thing about taking little ones is that they are free at pretty much all the attractions.

Lily really loved seeing all the "amials"

Crazy looking - it's head is pointing down.

The neatest part was this long tunnel where you ride a very slow moving conveyer belt and there are sharks, turtles, fish, sting rays, etc swimming above and around you! It was awesome!

There is a little kiddie area with fun things for children.

Levi enjoyed his morning nap in the stroller.

The spider crabs creeped me out!

In front of a tank with sharks and sting rays

There was a special exhibit with Penguins! Lily really liked them.

So neat!

I think she was a little afraid to crawl on the glass floor. ha!

Me and my girl

We headed back to our hotel for lunch and naps. We all took naps, and woke up feeling great! In the late afternoon, we went up the Space Needle. It was cool, although a little scary because Lily kept getting really close to the edge and her head would fit through the bars! Ugh!

We went to Mellow Mushroom for supper. Meals out with two littles is always pretty crazy, but we managed. Except for when Lily leaned over into the next booth and grabbed the baby's bottle out of their diaper bag! I was so embarrassed. 

After supper we walked around the shops in Gatlinburg. We went to one big outdoor/camping type store and Lily found a bunch of stuff she wanted. Ha!

We headed back to the hotel and crashed after a fun-filled day!

Vacation Part 2

Click here to read my Vacation Part 1 post.

On Wednesday morning we went to meetings at the church and then out for lunch. In the afternoon Mom, Myra & Ridley, and Lily and I went back to Walmart and to the mall to walk around (Walmart was actually connected to the mall). The Walmart was 2 stories- clothing and housewares on the top floor and then food and electronics on the bottom!

We rode this movator (basically an escalator without steps) between floors. What was so cool was that the carts had magnets on the wheels, so they stuck to the belt so you didn't have to hold on to them while you went up or down! Myra took this picture and a Walmart employee got quite upset with her because it's against their policy!? Who knew!!

On Thursday we visited Casa Loma. My family toured it years ago when we were pretty little.

Lily loved listening to the guided tour thingy.

The architecture was incredible!! Myra wrote a post on it last week and shared lots more pictures.

On Friday we headed to downtown Toronto to tour the tallest tower in the world- the CN Tower! It was pretty awesome!

There is a glass floor in part of the observation deck- this was looking down from there. We were a long way up, that's for sure! ha.

After a great night's sleep Friday night...

We started the long trek home on Saturday morning! What a wonderful sight it was to see the USA!!