Since we live near the beach, we decided to head up to the mountains for our summer vacation this year. We went to Gatlinburg, TN for a week and stayed in a cabin with one of my college roommates (Cassie...better known as Floyd) and her husband, Chad. It was actually a surprise for Floyd that we were coming up for the week, so that was fun.
We drove up last Monday and the trip went well. If you can believe this, we actually left on time! Well...almost. We ended up leaving only an hour after we said we would -- not bad! Jacob is still such a good little traveler. He played with his new Thomas the Train book the entire way (except when he was sleeping). Of course, it's one of those books that plays music and sounds, so Heath and I were on the verge of insanity once we made it to Tennessee, but Jacob was happy.
Our cabin was nice; however, the drive up the mountain to the cabin was a little cumbersome. With the high temperatures (yes, it was almost 100 degrees even in the mountains), our car got a little hot every time we drove up. We were afraid it might overheat, but it never did, thank goodness!
Tuesday we spent the afternoon at the community pool and I couldn't wait to see how Jacob would react. He was unsure about it and a little scared when he realized he couldn't touch the bottom. He couldn't be as independent as he likes to be and became very frustrated with the whole situation. He wasn't happy in the baby pool because he wanted to be where the big kids were, but he wasn't happy in the big pool either because he couldn't walk around. I guess we need to take him to pools more often and look into swimming lessons to get him used to it.
Hooray for Dollywood......
We celebrated Jacob's birthday by visiting Dolly Parton's "one-of-a-kind Smoky Mountain Family Adventure" on Wednesday (better known as Dollywood). It was a really fun day despite the 100 degree temperatures. I think that was the hottest day of the whole week!
A Chapel in the park. A sign out front said they hold services here every Sunday.
Dollywood had a great toddler area with several rides Jacob could ride all by himself. He started out on the Flying Elephants. Daddy had to ride this one with him.
Here he is on the Piggy Parade. There was a scarecrow in the middle and Jacob kept pointing at it saying, "What's this?"
While he rode the Lucky Ducks, he kept pointing back at the Bee ride saying, "Bee....bee....bee!"
He always looks so expressionless when he is on a ride, but I know he's loving every minute of it. I did manage to get a few smiles out of him, but didn't catch any with the camera.
This was another favorite. I liked it too since it was the only thing I was allowed to ride! When it was over, Jacob kept yelling, "Horsey, Horsey!!" so Heath rode it again with him.
Jacob enjoyed some raisins while Daddy rode a roller coaster.
When we got back to the cabin that evening, we let him open a birthday present -- his laptop computer or "poo-yur" as Jacob says.
Thursday, the weather cooled down slightly and we went to Splash Country (Dolly's water park). Jacob, again, was a little funny about the water, but he had a good time on the slides and in some of the play areas.
Friday was our "driving day." We drove out to Cades Cove, which was absolutely beautiful. The weather was perfect so that made the day even better.
Jacob was napping in the car during this stop. We figured that nap was WAY more important than letting him see the "scenic overlook." I don't think he was a bit upset that he missed it. :)
Ok...you have to look closely at this next picture, but there is a bear walking towards the road. It was a lot closer than it appears in the photo. It was A LOT bigger too! What I couldn't believe is how many people just stood there with their cameras out while it was walking directly towards them. This was the second bear we saw on our trip. We had seen one a couple nights earlier about a block away from our cabin. I was afraid to get out of the car that night!
Saturday we went back to Splash Country for more water fun and I think Jacob enjoyed it even more that day. He found a spot where the water wasn't squirting out with quite as much force -- perfect for a 2-year old -- and played there for a long time. He was also getting a little more patient while waiting in line for the slides.
Water Slide Mishap: I actually missed the funniest thing that happened on our trip, but just hearing about it still makes me laugh so hard I could fall out of my chair. Before we left Splash Country on Saturday, Chad and Heath decided to ride one of the water slides together. It was one of the slides where you go down in a big raft with up to four or five people. Since Heath and Chad didn't have anyone else riding with them, the lifeguard asked two other people in line to join them in their raft. Now, Chad is a big guy -- He's 6'7" and looks like a football player. Apparently, the two strangers with them were also fairly large. After everyone was seated, the lifeguard had trouble pushing them off onto the slide and said, "Once you get going, you're going to fly!" And that's just what they did. The raft went airborne a couple times as they went over little hills and bumps. Then, when they reached the bottom, instead of coming off the slide straight, they were up on the side. When they finally hit the water, they came down with such force that Heath flew up out of the raft and knocked Chad in the face with his knee! Can't you just picture that? I can't believe I missed it! I wish I would have been there with the video camera.
The week went by all too fast and we were very sad to be leaving on Sunday. I especially miss the deep fried rice krispy treats I had been eating nightly. Yummmmm. It's probably a good thing we left when we did. Vacation diets are never a good thing for the waistline -- not that I have one right now, but still.......
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