Tubing down the River

Thursday, we went tubing down the river. It was a one hour trip on both peaceful sections of the river, and small rapids. The kids were very excited. Mom was not. As a non-swimmer, I don't enjoy these activities very much. But, I has a great time watching the kids. CoCo lay in her tube with her head back and feet up like she was queen of the nile. Ginger was a little scared, but her courage bloomed with each passing minute. Owen couldn't sit still in his tube (imagine that!!) and kept falling into the water. Maddie just hopped on in and went down the river without us!

Another great day!

Wednesday

On Wednesday, we decided to do something a little more "relaxing." We all slept in a bit - the kids got up a bit earlier to enjoy the cable TV (my poor, deprived children who don't have cable at home! LOL).

That afternoon, we packed a picnic lunch and were off to Cades Cove in the Great Smokey Mountains. We found a picnic area beside a rushing creek, and the kids got to play in the water all day.

Owen, as always, scared me a little with how brave he was. I am always worried that he is going to hurt himself. The other kids are more respectful of their own personal limits.

Ginger spent the day splashing in the shallow areas...

....and CoCo perfected her skills in jumping off rocks.

While we were there, we met another family. A mom and her three kids - Daytona, Hurricane and some other very strange name that escapes me right now. I've been told that I attract odd people to me, and I usually don't think it's true. This family, however, was VERY odd. Within 10 minutes, I knew that the mom had been investigated by Child Protective Services on at least 3 different occasions, that her 14 year old daughter had been taking care of the younger children while mom was a work since she was 10 years old, and that her son had been taking special classes for kids with ADHD. It was all a little odd, but didn't concern me. Until Owen fell into the water. Owen said that the boy pushed him, but no one else saw what happened. I wouldn't put it past Owen to exaggerate this. In any case, Owen ended up with HUGE bruises all over he rib cage, upper thigh and knee. He was crying in typical Owen fashion (louder than a jet plane). The other boy started freaking out. He ran away from the family and just started screaming "He doesn't forgive me! It was an accident!! I don't want to be here!! He doesn't forgive me!!!!" Between the 2 of them, we attracted a great deal of attention. Owen calmed down after a few minutes, but the other little boy (Hurricane) continued to scream for at least another 30 minutes. His mom said that it was best just to ignore him. Very odd.

It all ended well, and the boys were playing again in no time.

Later, the family went for a hike. On their way back, the oldest daughter fell into the water, and she began to scream. Keeping in mind that the water was ankle deep in many places, and knee deep at it's deepest, it was odd to see such an old child respond in that way. The youngest daughter was now "stuck" on the other side of the creek with no way of getting over, and she started to scream. Mom started to scream because she was worried about her kids. It was very weird. I helped by holding their dog, but I sent Maddie, Owen, Ginger and CoCo to the car. They didn't need to see all the drama.

Regardless of the strange things that seem to happen around me, a good time was had by all.

The best things in life are free

Here we are on our second day of vacation. There were so many bubbles in that tub that I thought the girls would get lost! It was so much fun. We laughed and played with bubbles for well over an hour. As an added bonus, the kids were sparkling clean by the time they were done! No arguing over who gets a bath!

DOLLYWOOD

On Tuesday, we made our journey to the homeland. Yes, folks - Dollywood.

While we didn't see Dolly herself, we did see a lot of really big, blond hair. I felt so at home.

The kids were off and running from the second we walked thru the gates. They just wanted to go, go, go.

Maddie is old enough (and tall enough) to ride anything she wants to in the park. She tended to favor the water rides (making mom go on the log flume ride about 23 times), and was a little fearful of the roller coasters. In fact, she skipped most of the really good roller coasters. Her stomach of steel surprises me, as she can go on all the spinny rides over and over.

Owen is ALMOST tall enough to ride everything. In fact, if I hadn't shaved him bald, I probably could have teased his hair high enough. The only thing he couldn't do is drive his own bumper car. No big deal, really. He didn't mind riding.

Ginger started the day off fearful, but gradually warmed up to the rides. By the end of the day, she was keeping up with all of her siblings.

CoCo wanted to ride everything that she could see. She was down right ANGRY that she couldn't go on a lot of the bigger kids rides. She especially loved the river rapids ride, and the merry go round. She also loved running thru the sprinklers in the small kids area.

Mom was ready to go home by about 5, but the kids kept her there until it closed.

It couldn't have been a better day. Everyone was very well behaved, the weather was beautiful, and not one child cried a real tear. Those are all sure signs of success.

We ended the day at the Old Mill Restaurant in Pigeon Forge. It was the biggest meal I've ever eaten in a restaurant - started with salad, then clam chowder, then hush puppies, then rolls, THEN your meal, and then dessert. It was as delicious as it was big.

We all crashed into bed that evening, excited about what the next day might hold.

Catching Up - Our Vacation

I've been excited to write about our family vacation to the Great Smokey Mountains, but I am having a hard time catching up!!! I'm probably going to forget most of the good stuff, but I'm going to try anyway.

Our trip to Tennessee was as uneventful as possible with 4 kids, 2 dogs and a U-haul trailer. It took us about 7 hours to get there. The views from the mountain were awesome. The kids were excited to drive thru Chereoke and Pigeon Forge, and we hardly had to stop for any breaks.

We arrived at our farm house, and could hardly believe our good fortune! It was so much more than we expected. The house was HUGE, and very comfortably furnished. The owners had left a home baked cake for us (perfect, because it was Maddie's birthday!!!). I was excited to relax, but the kids couldn't wait to see the animals.

We walked the short distance to the barn, and were immediately greeted by the biggest dog that I have ever seen. His name is Blancote, and he is a Great Pyrenese. He was as friendly as he was big, and the kids loved him.

Maddie was immediately drawn to the horses - Cinnamon and Dude - and would have spent the remainder of her vacation there if we would have let her.

As excited as they were to meet the rest of the animals (a goat, 3 chickens, a cat and some ducks), we were all starving - so we set off to Pigeon Forge for dinner. We ate Mel's Diner, which was greasy diner food at fancy tourist attraction prices. It was good, however, and the waitress was nice. Plus, everyone found something that they could eat (a rare treat for our family).

After a quick trip to the grocery store (which, by the way, was PACKED with tourists!), we went home to celebrate Maddie's birthday. I cannot believe that child is 9 years old. It's ridiculous. Wasn't she just born yesterday? It surely hasn't been any longer than a few weeks. Anyway, she was very excited to get a new pink scooter, horse themed arts and crafts, and a bunch of books and games. Maddie is an easy child to please.

At this point, we were all pooped. The kids watched Spy Kids 2 (for the first of about 11 times that week!!), and everyone was off to bed. I tried to stay up to try the hot tub and enjoy cable television (which we don't have at our house), but to no avail.