June was relatively quiet for us. The kids are enjoying their summer vacation. Zech finished his baseball season about the middle of the month. His team did not have a very good season, but he seemed to enjoy himself and that is all that matters.
At the end of the month, we were able to slip away for a small vacation to Pigeon Forge. We left on Monday (6/26). It rained on us most of the way. We stayed at a condominium called the Whispering Pines. It is really nice place and fairly affordable as well. It gives us the room we need with 4 kids. (One room is really not a lot of fun with 6 people piled in.) We got our stuff in & went to pick up some groceries. After we got back, Cris and the kids went swimming while I stayed in the condo with Emma.
The next morning we got up and surprised the kids with the news that we were going to Dollywood later that day. For those of you not familiar with Dollywood, it is a theme/amusement park. Here is the link if anyone is interested in checking it out. http://www.dollywood.com/ The kids were really excited because we had told them before we came that we wouldn't be able to go. We spent some time at the condo and swimming. We went to Dollywood later in the day. They were having a special where if you went after 3 p.m. you could get in for free the next day. Yeah!
So, here is a picture of Cris and the kids right before we went into Dollywood. We rented a sturdy stroller for Emma and off we went to explore. We managed to walk around the entire park that afternoon. It was hot and really crowded. The kids rode a few rides. Tyler was a little frustrated with the lines and how long he had to wait. Kyla didn't like the walking. But we all managed. Emma did pretty good. She was content to ride in the stroller until we stopped. As soon as we stopped, she had to get out of the stroller and wonder around. The park had areas with fans which had mist. There were also areas that had mists coming out to cool everyone off. It was really cool! Emma got her first taste of homemade chocolate ice cream and boy, did she like it! She took my spoon from me and just dug in. She had it all over her. Isn't she cute?
This last picture is of Zech, Kyla, and Tyler on a ride called the "Shooting Star". The reason that Tyler has his mouth open is because he is screaming like a girl. No - he wasn't afraid. I think the person running the ride challenged them all to make a lot of noise. And he did!!
We left the park at closing. The crowd was unbelievable. We went back to the condo and took a swim. We were all exhausted. The next morning we got back up and headed back to the park. It was a little nicer. The kids were able to ride quite a few rides without such a long wait and it wasn't quite as hot. I think they enjoyed the park a little better that morning. Cris and I even took a turn to ride a couple of rides with the kids. We left about 2 p.m. We were all tired, hot and ready to go. We went back to the condo for a swim. We went out later for some dinner, ice cream and last minute souvenir shopping. The rest of the night was spent at the condo. The next morning we got up and got everything loaded into the van. We let the kids have one last swim before we left. Before heading back to Cookeville, we took the kids to have lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in Gatlinburg. (We try to take the kids to visit the Hard Rocks we are close to when we go on vacation - like the one in Myrtle Beach last year). The kids think its really cool, but the souvenirs sure are expensive. So, anyways, we had lunch, bought souvenirs, and then went walking around a little in Gatlinburg. We then headed home. It was a nice vacation.
When we got home, it was time to get ready for our annual 4th of July party. I will make a post on the party at another time. We also had some driveway gravel delivered on Friday. Cris and the boys spent the better part of the day raking gravel.
That is really about it for now. (You are probably all thinking - it's about time). I will try to post some more of our vacation pictures soon.
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