Now, after celebrating Treyton's birthday we headed home to pack. After church on Sunday, we headed out! We arrived around 5 o'clock Sunday evening and didn't stop until 2pm Friday afternoon when we arrived home. We did everything we could, took all kinds of silly pictures and ate some amazing fudge and fresh Smoky Mountain Taffy. We had such a blast. I took so many pics they are scattered around on our camera and cell phones. Don't worry. I have enough to make a great post! Here are the kids and I enjoying the beautiful grounds at the condo we rented.
Aizley striking her pose.
The kids spent a great part of the afternoon running on the outdoor play equipment and through the creek that was accessible from the hotel grounds. We won't hesitate in visitng the RiverStone Resort again!
Monday, as is our "norm" for vacations, it rained. Lots of hard rain which closed the parks in the Smokies. Not one mini golf outlet decided to brave the weather so we hit up the arcade at the hotel.
I had to show the kids how to play air hockey. They double teamed me, but "you can't beat moma!" The rain slightened by afternoon and after lunch, we decided to drive through the park looking for bears. None were found but what a couple of turkeys!!
Since the kids were anxious, to say the least, about not seeing any bears, we drove straight through to NC were we headed for "Ghost Town in the Sky". It, according to the website, is a wild west themed amuzement park with rides and old timey saloons. Thanks to our tom tom and the "scenic view" options, we arrived 1 hour and 15 minutes later to this....
A real ghost town. It seems the park was closed due to a mud slide that happened to not be mentioned on their website. We felt a total Clark W. Griswold moment as we had traveled all that was for nothing. Oh well! Trying to savage what we could of the day, we drove down to Cherokee and watched some Indian dances and went mining for GOLD!
This saved the day as the kids compared all their "jewels" all the way to Texas Roadhouse Restaurant were we were waited on by Yuri and Yulia from Moscow. The kids slightly chatted with them before heading back to the condo for some late night swimming.
Tuesday we had better weather so we hit up Dollywood!
We got to the park early and was able to enjoy many of the water rides before the lines got to long. One of the things we really enjoyed was seeing the eagle exhibit that Dollywood has. You could get pretty close to some of the birds. We even watched them playing hide and go seek.
Look who we met while heading for the River Rampage.
Aizley enjoying a ride in the "County Fair" section of Dollywood. She just had to ride this one by herself.
Colton showing off the animal he won on the carnival game.
This was one of the views from our seats upon the Dollywood Express.
Aizley and Papa back at it in the 50' style cars. Colton and I are following behind them in a yellow convertable.
This is the kids favorite ride. We got SOAKED on this ride! Each boat has to try hitting targets along the path while other boats and observers get to try and hit you! The kids rode several times in a row.
What kind of mother would I be if I didn't ask the kids to do something embarrassing. Of course, Colton has a great sense of humor and is all to willing to act goofy.
We as parents must set an example, though.
After 9 hours of Dollywood, we called it quits and headed home to get ready for our Black Bear Jamboree Dinner Show. We may not have seen real bears in the Smokies, but the kids got such a kick out of these bears...
It was a very cool presentation that had us all enjoying ourselves. And the dinner was amazing, too.
Colton was even selected, with a little prompting from moma, to go up on stage and perform a song. He sang "If You're Happy and You Know It" as best he could standing front and center. I have video but I was yelling and bouncing so much you can't hear or see much of anything. Just look at my little Star shinning bright!!
Wednesday we headed to Splash Country! This has to be the kids' favorite place that we visited. There was so much to do. You could constantly cool off in water of some type. Believe it or not, I managed to get a few pictures of all the water fun before giving in to the temptation of the place. We slid down rafts and slides, had a ball in the wave pool and chilled in the 1/2 mile lazy river!
This was the kids' favorite activity there. I tried walking in the "jungle jym" but there was so much water flying everywhere, I was afraid I would lose a contact. That didn't stop the little ones...
Racing to the bottom...
Even Papa was unstoppable in water...
Notice he is wearing a shirt despite the 97 degree weather because his belly had gotten burnt from the day before :)
After our adventures outside all day, we headed to Wonder Works. It is an interactive museum great for interested kids. I took a camera but left the memory card in the room! (insert the eye rolling here)
Thursday was a mixture of both Dollywood and Splash Country since it was our last day. Much more of the same. Water rides, water rides, playing arcade games, splash country and "moma, look at me's" everytime I turned around. We did have a great time, made lots of memories and the kids decided they wanted to work hard again so they can spend next vacation at "Splash Country all the time!" Whatever incentive it takes, right?! That night, we chilled and enjoyed some shopping with the money the kids had worked for. More goofy pictures follow below...
Sticking your head in a sharks mouth, priceless.
Posing with a stuffed bear.
For dinner, we headed to Huck Finn's Catfish. Man, they have the best hushpuppies in the world! We all piged out, I mean ate until we couldn't and then some, all for around $45 bucks! And, we got a tee shirt to mark the occasion.
We were all ready for Friday to come but what fun we had. It makes all those nights of tears and complaints and frustrations seem worth it, at least that is what Aizley said. Now they know what they are working toward next year. They better get ready. We meet Colton's teacher next Thursday night and then the new school year starts on the 3rd. Are you ready for school to start back?
4 comments:
I didn't even realize Ghost Town had opened this year. When we were there in May, there was a lot of stuff in the news about bankruptcy, etc. But I know they were trying to work something out.
Glad you all had a great time and love the pictures!
Looks like a fun vacation! We were in the Smokey's last year. Aren't they just beautiful? Your family just looks so cute together!
Looks like a fun vacation! Glad you had a wonderful time. Sorry to hear about the rain, but it sounds like you found plenty of other activities to stay busy! We are still hoping to visit Dollywood, but I think we'll wait until the weather gets cooler.
We'll have to do lunch soon!!
Wow!!! GREAT pics! I'm so glad you enjoyed your vacation so much - it looks like a lot of fun!
I'm already ready to go on another vacation! :)
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