Trip to Florida - 1st Stop (Miami South Beach)

A month ago, Dave and I escaped to Florida without children for four days and three nights.  We had a wonderful time.   The main reason for the trip was to visit my brother Paul, but Dave and I had a great time just enjoying each other's company.  Sure I really missed my kids, but I also enjoyed the break from cutting food, stopping arguments, putting kids to bed, and the daily adventures with kids.

Our first stop was to fly into Fort Lauderdale and then drive to South Beach Miami.  As soon as we drove off in our rental car from the airport, there was a huge downpour of rain that lasted until we called it a night.  We had these great plans to walk along the beach together and then walk around the shops and restaurants.   Well, we ended up driving to a restaurant and then running into a hotel to avoid the rain.   We still had fun and enjoyed our dinner.

Here are pictures from our drive from the airport to the hotel.   

However, the next day ended up being much nicer and we were able to walk around a little bit before our drive to Key West.

  

Then we hopped into our tiny Fiat to start the drive to Key West.   Even though it was a small car, it was fun!

Trip to Nanny's

After we went to Tennessee, we made a short stop at Dave's Mom's (Nanny's) house.  We were glad that we had a chance to see the other twins in the family.

Here is Nanny with two of her Grandchildren and two of her Great-grandchildren.  It is two sets of twins.
 

  

 

Of course, Chloe wanted to have her picture taken too.

Another Hike

At the end of our trip to Tennessee, we stopped by Clingman's Dome which is the highest point in Tennessee in the Smoky Mountains.  We drove up most of the way, but to reach the top, you had to hike up a long uphill paved trail.  There were beautiful views along the way.

Of course, before we even started walking up the trail, the kids wanted to climb these rocks on the side of the path.  It did make them tired.  Then when we started up the "real" trail to the top, they had a hard time keeping up.   We had to carry them on our shoulders a bit more than normal.
 

We did finally meet our goal of reaching the top.

 

 

 

DANGER!  BEARS ARE ACTIVE IN THIS AREA!

 

Then we made the long walk down.  We had to keep Alex and Aubrey from running down.   They did pick a few dandelions...shhhh....please don't tell the park rangers.

 

Hiking in the Smoky's

Ok, its been a while, but here are some more pictures from our trip to Tennessee last month.  I am running a little behind.  Ugh, I don't like being this far behind.
During our trip, we took a hike to Laurel Falls in the Smoky Mountains.  It was labeled an easy hike, therefore it was kind of crowded, but we had fun.  Alex and Aubrey enjoy hiking.   It does help that we have treats along the way.



  

When we got to the falls, they were beautiful.  The pictures don't do it justice.

 

 

 

We went further down to the bottom of the falls and Alex put his foot in the water.  It was a tad chilly.

 

Trip to Dollywood

A trip to Pigeon Forge isn't complete without a trip to Dollywood.   We decided to go in the afternoon on Friday and then go all day on Saturday.    We filled our days with driving cars, carousals, kiddie rides, bumper cars, a steam engine

 

train ride, Ferris wheels, and water rides.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following pictures include a funny story...well for the most part.   On Friday afternoon, all four of us went on the Smoky Mountain River Rampage.   We all got wet, but Dave got soaked.  Alex and Aubrey loved it and it was the only ride that they wanted to do again on Saturday.  So I stepped up to the challenge and got in line with Alex and Aubrey to ride it again.  Dave decided to sit this one out.   We got in line and realized it was going to be a long wait. It was by far our longest line at the park and took somewhere between 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Fortunately, Alex and Aubrey did great while we waited....well as great as can be expected.   
After patiently standing in line, we finally got on the ride.  It was Alex, Aubrey, and I in a "raft" along with a mother and her teenage daughter.   We were set to ride away.   The first hill was great and seemed to go well.  As we hit the second hill, it seemed to go well, but it didn't seem to have the splash that I remembered from the previous day.   Then things started to slow down.  We almost got stuck in the next section of "rapids".  As we were about to round the next corner, we realized that we weren't moving anymore.  We just kind of went back and forth.  Of course, this happened to be at the point where people could put in quarters to squirt the riders with water as they went by.  There were a few people doing it.  Alex and Aubrey laughed so loud because the people weren't getting them wet, they were getting me and the other two ladies on the raft.  It was hilarious to see Alex and Aubrey laugh so hard.  Of course, Dave could see us so he got a few pictures.   We did have to get off the ride right there.  A ride attendant held our raft the side as we walked off the ride and went out a side/secret gate.
   

 

 I am just glad that we got to do some of the ride after waiting in line for so long. 
Alex and Aubrey will sure have a story to tell.

Trip to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

A few weeks ago, we took a family trip to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  We had a wonderful time.  On the first full day there, we ventured to this stream/river that we found along the road.  The kids had a wonderful time playing in the water.  We just wish we would have taken bathing suits.  I am glad I had some spare clothes in the car because their clothes were soaked.   They had so much fun finding rocks, throwing rocks, and moving rocks around to make the water go in different directions.  I really think they could have played there all day, but we had to go find lunch before going to Dollywood for the late afternoon/evening.