Swimming with The Varelas

My best friend Kate invited us to come swimming Memorial Day weekend. The kids were super excited since they are seeking out all pools, so we went. It was extremely hot that day and the water felt awesome! Not too cold, not too hot.

I got Julianna this Puddle Jumper at the beginning of the season and I love it! For one, she scares me around water, so I can just keep it on her all the time and not worry that she might get in that water without us looking (which she did on this day, but without it on). For two, it keeps her head and face up out of the water, along with keeping her buoyant. I would get one for Parker but I don't think he's quite ready for it.


Kate with Parker. Kate is going to have her first baby the first of August, or maybe the end of July if she's lucky. :)

Kate and Jose with Chase and Julianna. It was a great day and I love spending time with my Kate!

Packing It Up

Our last day of vaca. Sniff, sniff. This picture is actually from our last night. Each night the kids all got to read bedtime stories together. It was so fun reading to all three of the big kids and hearing them all giggle.
Our last day of Dollywood was all about kiddie rides and just the ones that were not wet. Here's Phil on the tea cups with the older three.
Don't they look sad to be leaving each other??? These were our goodbye pictures after we rode the carousel.
Saying their goodbyes. Julianna doesn't want to accept it.
Now they're happy again.
Through the whole trip, we never got a picture of all the kids! We had to do that before we went separate ways. Parker (16 mos), Ella Kate (3.5 yrs), Julianna (3 yrs), Chase (5 yrs), Amelia (7 mos).
I recruited Uncle Joe to stand behind me and be the entertainment for the kids so I could get some smiles. I would love to know what he was doing back there because they were cracking up!
I can't pass up an opportunity to get a picture of Julianna smiling, for sure!
The Vinson Family left Dollywood and we stayed to ride the steam engine train up the mountain.
Do they look tired? Boy were they.
Don't let this smile fool you. He fussed and cried the whole train ride and was almost asleep in Phil's arms when the train made it back to the station.

After this, we packed them up in the van and headed back home. They all napped as soon as we got on the interstate. We stopped in Nashville for dinner, dodged some tornadoes around Jackson and made it home around 11pm, safe and sound. Thanks Vinsons for a fun trip!

The Middle Day

Since Dollywood was closed on Tuesday, we hit the mountains instead. Here's Ella Kate and Julianna holding hands, ready for our hike. We quickly realized that this hike was a bit scary for the little kids, so we had to have them hold our hands not long after we took this picture.
Chase was so eager to climb on some rocks, so as soon as Phil found a "safe" place to climb, he took him.
We made it to the falls!
Did I mention that Parker was continuing to cut his one year old molars on this trip? Poor guy. He had some rough times.
And look what was waiting for us on our hike back down the mountain......yes, a bear!! It was about 20 feet from the trail! (It's that black thing in the middle of those limbs.) I was a bit freaked out, thinking about how could I get three small children off the mountain quickly. Just a few minutes before he had actually been ON the trail, per the hikers we saw going the other way. Once we got to bottom, there was a Park Ranger with a gun that shot bean bags heading up to scare the bear away.
Our view on the way down.
JuJu decided that she had to potty about half way down the mountain. Luckily Kathryn had packed a potty that folded up, so we found a clearing and put it to use. Look at that good Daddy, giving his daughter privacy!
As we got closer to the bottom, there was a stream coming down the mountain with lots of "safe" rocks for the kids to climb on. Chase was thrilled!
JuJu did her best to keep up.
By the time we were almost at the end, both big kids wanted Daddy to carry them.
Love the trees!
We headed into the town of Gatlinburg after our hike.
We rode the ski lift up the mountain.
Made it to the top!!
Chase looks pouty, but he wasn't...I don't think.
More beautiful mountains. Reminds me of when I lived in North Carolina and woke up to this view every morning.
And now the way back down.
Phil got the task of holding wiggle worm Parker in the chair lift. Now that I look back on it, it wasn't very safe for us to take him on that ride.
The kids trying to move the marble ball at Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum. I remember doing that as a kid too....and as an adult. :)
Last day of Dollywood coming......

Water Day at Dollywood

Our first day at Dollywood was a half day. If you go after 3pm, you get in free the next day. So we went Monday afternoon after 3 and came prepared to just do water rides. It was super hot, so the cold water felt great! (I can't get these pictures in the right order on this computer, so we're gonna have to work in reverse order.)

Kathryn and Chris with Ella Kate. Amelia stayed at the cabin with Uncle Joe on this day.

Our crew. This was the end of the day, about 6pm, so they were tired. It was so much fun though!
We found this kiddie area for them to play in, which is a lot like our spray parks here. This allowed the adults (well, all but me) to ride the newest ride there. Pretty smart to put a kiddie play area right next to it!




Chase and the girls. He wasn't complaining.
Everyone except me and Parker got to ride this ride. I did the same thing two years ago, waited with the babies. The babies back then were JuJu and Ella Kate though!

When we arrived at the park that day, we found out that our plan to come the next day, Tuesday, wasn't gonna happen because the park was going to be closed that day! So we had to rearrange our plans a bit. We ended up hiking in the mountains on Tuesday and then doing the rest of Dollywood on Wednesday, the day we had to drive back. Whew! Glad that worked out.

More is coming.......

Fun, Family and Friends

We left Nashville on Sunday morning, after some more swimming and Parker's morning nap, and headed to Gatlinburg. We made a quick stop by the outlet mall on our way into town to meet one of my college roommates and her family, who also happen to be in town (but on their way out). I didn't get any pictures though.

Then we arrived at our cabin in the mountains just after our friends, Kathryn and Chris. They have two girls- Ella Kate and Amelia. They had their Uncle Joe along for the fun.

This is Chase and Ella Kate. She is just a few months older than Julianna and they quickly became 'best friends'. It was so cute!

Daddy and Uncle Joe feeding the babies in the morning. (Notice Parker's purple pj's? I forgot his jammies on this trip, but luckily I brought two sets for JuJu. It worked out well because they wear the SAME SIZE!)

Our plan the first day was to do fun stuff in the morning. That meant Putt-Putt, Go Karts and rides.
First up were the girls and their Daddies.
Look at Phil- "Oh, what have I gotten myself into?!"
Chris and Ella Kate.
"Why am I always stuck in this stroller??"
There they go! Julianna loved it! She is our dare devil. Look at that hair.
I hear Ella Kate wasn't quite the fan of the go karts as Julianna was, but she looks happy.
Chase was a good big brother and waited patiently for the girls to go first.
This is a crazy picture of the girls and Parker after they were done riding.
Here's the big boy getting ready.
He doesn't look happy at all, does he?
Then we found go karts that they could ride all by themselves. They LOVED this! Chase was a great driver. He was even able to maneuver around JuJu when she had run into the wall.
And here she comes. This was a rare occurrence- Julianna going straight. She was mostly in the wall the whole time.
Next was the Ferris Wheel.
I felt bad for Parker, so I let him out of the stroller. He proceeded to walk three feet, fall and totally bust his forehead. You can't see it in this picture. It was kinda under his hair. We took him back to the cabin not long after that and cleaned it all up. Luckily his hair hid the two band-aids he sported for the rest of our trip. Poor guy. At least he got to enjoy one ride.

We went back to the cabin for lunch and naps in preparation for our first day at Dollywood! Stay tuned!