Life Gets in the Way of Blogging (long, picture heavy post)

This was at Dollywood. We got there one evening in time to catch Veggie Tales Live on Stage and then went right into Untamed Illusions (a magic show that included a white tiger, a lion, and tons of sheepdogs). The kids talked about these shows more than any other part of our trip.

We rode the sky tram up the mountain to Ober Gatlinburg one day. I really enjoyed that. We got to view the mountains on the ride up and it was so gorgeous. This at Ober Gatlinburg. Aaron and Abby rode in one Ski Lift and Luke and I rode the car behind them. We were riding further up the mountain so that we could ride the Alpine Slide back down. The Alpine Slide is a plastic "thing" (like a thick sheet!) that slides in a concrete trough down the mountain. You have to sit on the plastic and control it with only a hand brake. Ok people, I was already freaking out on the ski lift. I only let go to take this picture. So you can imagine how they laughed at me put-putting down the mountain on my plastic sheet when they were zooming down and having the time of their lives lol.
And this is in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We rode through the park the day after Daddy left. When we found a spot wide enough to park on and not to steep to climb down, we stopped and let the kids go in the stream. They couldn't walk out too far because it got deep quickly and was very cold. We almost didn't get Nate to wade, because he was so scared. Right before we left, he got brave and let Aaron take him out to this rock. Then he decided it was fun and wanted to stay. Of course, Moma didn't get to go because she had to stay on the bank and yell at the kids to be careful. Also Moma is the mastermind behind all the terrible photography, so that's why I am in none of the pictures.

Here's my Abby girl. She is like a fish when she gets around water. I wasn't worried about her because she is usually cautious.

Luke on the other hand is not so cautious. In fact, he tends to push the envelope when no one is looking. He loved walking and slipping on the rocks and proceeded to fall in the freezing water right on his butt. Needless to say, we had to ride with the windows down because we couldn't use the a/c all the way back to the cabin (2-3 hr. ride). That's my cowboy :)