Weekend Getaway

Matthew has been traveling a lot lately.  He was gone 3 weeks back to back.  The kids and I were all missing him.  One Thursday night I e-mailed him "let's go to Gatlinburg this weekend".  So that is exactly what we did.  Saturday, April 14th we hit the road.  We stopped in Cherokee for a potty break.  

One day she will hate this picture

Waiting their turn

Traffic going into Pigeon Forge was bumper to bumper.  We finally got to a side road to get to a back road. We ate lunch and then went to Dollywood.  We started our fun on the train

We got off the train and was right next to the carousel.  

Charlotte and her pretty horse

Evan and his deer

Ellie & the bear

When we were riding the train it circled the ride area and Ellie got a glimpse of this ride.  

So happy in her generic Dumbo ride

We rode lots more rides

We ate dinner with the Chicken Lady.  Ellie was catching a biscuit from her.  

After dinner we headed to our hotel.  They haven't stayed in a hotel since they were One so this was super fun for them.  

They slept great and we headed to Dollywood again on Sunday.  We rode rides again and ate lots of yummy food.  We stayed there until about 3 and then went back to the hotel to swim. 

 More pictures to come!

The Most Magical Place on Earth

Since coming back from Disney World last December the kids constantly talk about their trip.  They would talk about the rides, Cinderella Castle, and characters.  I think it was permanently etched in their mind.  They were so excited to go back again.  We entered the park at 10am and headed to Fantasyland first.  We ended up having to wait awhile to ride our first ride, so they got a little antsy.  The next stop is one of their favorites - the Prince Charming carousel

 We enjoyed some other rides in Fantasyland then we ate lunch while we waiting for Tiana to come back from lunch.  

 We were first in line and they were so excited to see her.  

 While we were waiting in line the photographer said the line for Ariel always closes before she even gets there.  After Tiana we headed right over to see her.  We were the last ones allowed in line.  We waited for 45 minutes and they did really well until it was their turn.  Charlotte loves Ariel but this was as close as she would get.  We don't know why, maybe it was Prince Eric she didn't want to see.  Ellie loved it because Ariel showed her a "Dingle hopper" aka a fork

 Next photo op was with Woody & Jessie

 When we were planning our trip I looked up what rides would be closed while we were there.  Dumbo was going to be closed so they could move to their new locations.  We had to tell Ellie he was at the doctor so she would be prepared for not getting to ride it.  Well lo and behold it was open.  Matthew had said he thought he saw people going down to the new location, but I didn't believe him.  After dinner we walked over there and guess who was so happy!!!  

 After we watched the electrical parade we surprised them with fast passes to see Mickey & Minnie.  

 and the Princesses

 Belle is still Evan's favorite

 We left the park at 10pm and this was the ride to the parking lot.  Evan fell asleep in the car.  

Another fantastic day at Magic Kingdom.  

Easter 2012

Last week we had our church Easter egg hunt.  

There were 3 prize eggs in their age group and all three of ours won prize eggs.  We promise we didn't rig it.  

Last night we dyed eggs with them.  This was a first for them.  They had fun, but we have a lot of cracked eggs!

This morning the Easter bunny came to our house.  

A wonderful day at church.  

Picture Time

Happy Easter!

Orlando Trip

Last December when we went to Disney we left our camper down there.  We planned another trip to go pick it up.  We planned a less busy trip this time too.  We left @ 6am on a Friday scooping the kids out of their beds and hoping they would go back to sleep.  No such luck.  They were so excited.  When Matthew grabbed Ellie out of bed she said "Dad we have a lot to do today".  We made it down there at 3:00 and finally got to see the camper.  They were so excited to see it.  We have toys that stay in the camper so they had been talking on the way down about their toys.  They played while I cleaned the camper and Matthew got us set-up.  We didn't stay at the Disney campground this time, but another campground with a fun kiddie pool.  

Ready for the pool and happy with their toys they have missed. 

The next day we went to Downtown Disney for the day and ate at the T-Rex Cafe.  They were a little unsure of the dinosaurs when they came to life, but enjoyed it.   

It was St. Patty's Day so here we are in our green for the day

On Sunday we went to Sea World.  We really enjoyed our day there.  

Shamu was facing the sun so no one wanted to look up.

They rode their first real roller coaster.  Evan was even tall enough to sit by himself.  I have to confess I prayed the whole ride that he would not fall out.  I was with Charlotte & Matthew was sitting with Ellie.  He was next to another little girl.  They had a blast.  Charlotte squealed with delight.

Up next was the Shamu show.

 Our favorite show was the dolphin show and of course they loved the carousel.