While Mom and the Kids Have Been Vacationing...

Dad built a Pergola to go over the back patio. He's been working on it all week. It turned out nice!

Vacation Day 6- Log Cabin Pancake House Breakfast/ Morning at Great Smokey Mountain National Park/ Afternoon of Mario Kart/ Evening at Pool

We had another fun and busy day today. We had breakfast at a pancake house. Lydia loved her blueberry pancakes. We then spent the morning in the mountains. We left when it started raining. Uncle Michael gave Seth Mario Kart with steering wheels for the Wii for his birthday. Michael also brought his Wii and set everything up. Lydia and Seth spent the afternoon playing the Wii. We then went to the pool for the evening.

Vacation Day 5- Seth Turns 5!!!

Today is Seth's 5th birthday. We're going to have a little party for him tomorrow when more family arrives (and another when he gets home,) but Mom and Nana wanted him to have a fun day today. We went to Krispy Kreme's for breakfast, spent the day at Dollywood's Splash Country, and had Spidey cupcakes in the evening.

You can see below the picture of the huge tunnel slide you ride a raft through. Seth wanted to do this yesterday, but Mom couldn't take him because Lydia and Morgan wouldn't go near it :-) Today Nana took him. He was so excited and proud to ride it! He had a nice birthday.

Vacation Day 4- Morning at Pool/ Evening at Dollywood's Splash Country

We spent our first morning in Pigeon Forge at the pool and playground. The kids had a great time swimming.

Mom planned to take the kids to Dollywood's Splash Country for Seth fifth birthday tomorrow, and she found out that it's free to go the evening before if you buy a full day ticket. She, Lydia, Seth, and Morgan spent the evening at Splash Country while Nana and Sydney hung out at the room. We have another big day there planned for tomorrow.

Vacation Day 3- Drive to Pigeon Forge, Dinner Outside at McDonalds, and Alvin and the Chipmunks Movie Time

Today we drove from Nana's house to Pigeon Forge. We stopped at McDonald's on the way into town, and the kids loved eating outside. Mom had to work so Nana and the big kids watched Alvin and the Chipmunks when the little kids went to bed.

Vacation Day 2- Family Pool Party/ Evening of Chalk Drawing and Morgan's Manicure/ Pedicure at Nana's

Mom's cousin Casey is also visiting Tennessee this week with her baby Jesse. Uncle Booner and Aunt Vangie hosted a pool party today for the family to get together. It was a lot of fun to see everyone and meet Jesse!

The kids spent the evening at Nana's house playing with chalk and watching movies. Morgan enjoyed getting her nails painted for vacation.

Vacation Day 1- The Long Drive to Tennessee

Mom and the kids are spending the week in Tennessee. They started vacation with the long drive. It took about nine hours. The kids were great. The older ones love the chance to spend hours playing their DS's and watching DVD's. We rented Red Box DVD's which they enjoyed. Morgan especially enjoyed the ice cream snack and Sydney napped a lot.

Next year she'll want a hotel room :-)

After our fun camping weekend, Morgan woke up this morning with her hand and arm extremely swollen. Mom took her to the doctor, and he said she was probably bit by either a biting fly, a spider, or she is allergic to something more common such as mosquitos. One dose of benadryl made a HUGE difference. Her hand is still somewhat swollen, but MUCH less than before and no longer red. She's on benadryl for a couple days, and the doctor expects it to be fine by then.