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.

End of Kindergarten Festivities

Sophie's dressed up for cowgirl day.

Sophie & Emerson (our neighbor) after their program

our family minus Nana who came to the kindergarten celebration

Dylan, Olivia, Samantha, Sophie & Kenly with Mrs. Rogers

During the last full week of school, the kids had different dress-up themes for each day where they could dress up if they wanted to such as pirate day, cowboy/cowgirl day, flip flop and bubbles day, and luau day. On that Friday, they had their kindergarten celebration where the kids performed several songs that they had learned in music class. Uncle Phil, Paw-paw and Nana were all able to come in addition to our immediate family. Sophie has had an amazing kindergarten year! We are so thankful that she had such an awesome kindergarten teacher in Mrs. Rogers! This will be her one and only year at Trinity because next year Sophie will be going to a new school. Sophie had told us that she was going to visit Mrs. Rogers every day next year though she would be in a different grade. Mrs. Rogers decided just recently however to join her daughter at their neighborhood school instead of going to the new school. Hope everyone has a great summer!

Career Day

our little M.D.'s ready to go

Sophie and Daniel waiting for the bus

Recently, they had Career Day at school. Sophie's wanted to be a doctor when she grows up for a few years now. I decided to head for Toys 'R' us since I knew that they had doctor's outfits. I didn't think we had any lab coats that would be small enough. Sophie loved all of the tools that came with it as well. It was really supposed to be a surgeon's outfit but I thought it would do just fine.

The second picture is that one that Matt took as Sophie and Daniel, one of our neighbors, were waiting for the bus. I don't remember who he was supposed to be but someone with a very technical kind of job I think.

This week is their last full week of school. Each day they have different themes so that they can dress up each day if they would like such as ...Pirate day, Cowboy/cowgirl day, Luau day, Flip flop and bubbles day, etc. Fun stuff! I can't believe that her kindergarten year is coming to a close. It seems like just yesterday that we were beginning this kindergarten journey with all of the half days, the nervousness everyone feels, new friends to make, etc. It's been a great year though!

Sophie's Birthday

Here's a picture of the girls on the obstacle course at Stone Mountain. There was a zipline at the end of the course which both of them loved!!

Here's Sophie on Monday at school. I brought some chocolate chip cheesecake squares for her class to enjoy. She loved being the star for the day!

Stone Mountain

Matt & the girls

Paula & Sophie (the birthday girl)

Abbie & Sophie at the well

Before we headed home, we stopped to visit Stone Mountain Park. I remembered going there some growing up to watch the laser show. One of our friends told us that it was an awesome place to visit. Sunday, May 1st was Sophie's actual birthday (the day we visited). We bought a pass that included almost everything in the park but we didn't have time for all of it. We'll have to go back and do the laser show and some of the other things. We were able to ride the train (kind of boring we thought), we rode the big skyride up to the top of the mountain, the girls played in the big indoor barn (a huge 4-story playground, and we tried out the ropes obstacle course area. The girls loved this though it was a little bit challenging. We had lunch at the park too and Sophie decided on a funnel cake for her birthday (she wanted ice cream at first until I told her about the funnel cakes-Yum!).

Cookout at the Trainer's

Sophie with her birthday cupcakes!

Kenzie, Shawna and Dylan Trainer with Abbie singing to Sophie

Another one of Matt's friends from Harding, Mark Trainer, lives in the Atlanta area. They invited us over for dinner on Saturday night. It was my first time meeting Mark and his family. He and his wife, Shawna, have 3 children. Last year, they lost their 4th child, Hailey, to cancer. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor when she was a year old. She and Abbie were born only 4 days apart. I was reminded once again to be grateful for my girls and their health. We had a wonderful visit with the Trainer family! They were wonderful hosts. Since Sophie's birthday was the next day, we picked up some cupcakes so that we could celebrate. Our kids had so much fun playing with their kids. They have a trampoline and swingset in their backyard which were a big hit-especially the trampoline for Abbie. Kenzie, Sophie & Abbie were drawing pictures and playing dolls. Dylan and Jason, their younger boy, were quite entertaining at times. =)

More Zoo Fun

baby panda

Brodie and Sophie

Brodie and Sophie really enjoyed watching the gorillas. The gorillas were wrestling part of the time just like little children do. It was fun watching them.