Dollywood

Abbie enjoys the Tea cup ride at Dollywood



Abbie, age 22 months, enjoys her first tea cup ride at Disney World in Oct. 2009.



Abbie and Sophie ready to ride with their Daddy.

having fun on the ride

Aunt Leia, Daddy, Abbie & Sophie got soaked on this ride!

After we left the Wilderness Lodge, we checked into a nearby hotel for the next 2 nights. Then, we headed to Dollywood for the evening. The girls had a blast in the kiddie area riding the carousel, the ride pictured above (Star Shooter or something), the teacups, and a few other rides. If you paid for admission after 3 PM one day, the next day was free. We went back on Sunday and had a fun time though it was pretty hot and crowded. There were a few rides that Abbie wanted to ride repeatedly. The mini-drop tower ride shown above that took you straight up and down kind of bounced you as you came down. I rode it a couple of times but each time after I rode it with her, I said someone else is going to have to ride with you the next time. I didn't get sick or anything but my stomach would drop every time. Sophie and I enjoyed riding the swings together. Some of the rides and shows brought back good memories of Opryland for me where I spent a lot of fun times growing up! Abbie was sad that she wasn't able to ride a few of the rides. Sophie rode one bigger indoor roller coaster with me, her Daddy and Aunt Leia. During the ride she said, "My eyes are wide open but I can't see anything" (it was pitch black for part of the ride). After being told that she wasn't tall enough to ride the Scrambler, Abbie said, "I am big because Jesus made me big!" So sweet!

The Great Smoky Mountain National Park

                                                              the girls are ready to go

                                                Paula, Sophie and Abbie at the grist mill

                                                                   Sophie

                                                                    Abbie

On the Thursday before Memorial Day we headed to Gatlinburg, TN. The girls were so excited about our trip and ready to go. Our hotel in Gatlinburg for Thursday night was fine but Abbie decided to wake up at about 4:30 central time. This is not our chosen time to get up! She would not go back to sleep so we ended up all being awake shortly after and we were eating breakfast by 6:30 eastern at our hotel (unheard of for us). Once we were all awake I had told Matt that we might as well just get up and do something. Friday morning started off a little rainy but it cleared off into a pleasant day. After we ate breakfast, we drove around the Smoky Mountain National Park some. We were able to spot several deer, a bunch of wild turkeys and a BEAR! We saw a whole bunch of cars pulled off the main drive through the park and there were 2 park rangers. We thought it looked like a bear over in the field but since we were just sort of driving through, Matt asked and it was! The girls got a kick out of it at our hotel because on the elevator sign for the capacity, it said 10 people and then someone had written in "plus one bear). =)

It was a beautiful drive through the park but it made me kind of sleepy since we had woken up so early. One bad thing was that Abbie needed frequent bathroom stops on our trip. She can usually wait for a few minutes. As we were driving through the National Park though, we weren't really seeing any bathrooms for a long time. I told her that when I was growing up sometimes you would just have to pull off the side of the road (on the interstate) and find a tree or something to go behind. That was going to be my last resort for Abbie though. Well, Matt finally found a little visitors station that had a bathroom. As we pulled up, Matt and I were relieved but Abbie said with gusto, "I wanted to pee pee behind a tree." We just laughed. Abbie is such a character and she constantly keeps you on your toes.

The drive was not very exciting for the girls but they enjoyed seeing the animals. We also took them to a working grist mill in Cades Cove as we were driving around. The girls were able to feel the corn meal because they were demonstrating how the grist mill works, etc. They seemed to really enjoy this part of the tour.

After this, we drove over to Sevierville and checked into the Wilderness Lodge. Matt had decided to pay a little extra for an early check-in. Matt's parents and Leia were meeting us there but they didn't arrive until a little later.