Aquarium

The big plan for today was to go to Kidfest at Dollywood one last time to watch all the shows because the kids have loved them so much. I was determined we were going despite heavy rains and flash flooding. We got there and sloshed all the way through the park (Andrew's favorite part of the day!) to discover that the roof of the theater was leaking and it was literally raining on stage. So we turned around, hugged Strawberry Shortcake, bought lollipops, and headed back to the car. Since we were already that far we decided to take the kids to Ripley's Aquarium...everyone else in the area apparently decided to do the same thing because it was packed. The kids loved it though. Evie's favorite part of the day was touching the sting rays. Not at all what we had planned, but a fun day anyway!

Daddy showing them a horseshoe crab

Jellyfish

Octopus

Touching sting rays

A lovely sunny afternoon as we were heading back to the car

Way Back Whensday

July 31, 2005

Phil and I joined our church and were baptized together~definitely a very special day! I was 36 weeks pregnant and our pastor made me promise to not go into labor that day. It was very sweet when he told Andrew a few months later at his baby dedication that this baptism didn't count for him.

Way Back Whensday

Amanda and me in June of 2000

Our little trio today

Funfest 2009

Breakfast with the Balloons

Pal's in the park

Paddle boat rides at Warriors State Park

Bundled up to watch fireworks

Another fun week

Swimming with Kate

Popping popcorn

Jumping off the diving board

Swimming with Maxwell and Michael

Chatting with Bob and Larry at Dollywood

CFA Touch a Truck

The CFA cow up in the bucket truck

Evie and Andrew on the firetruck

Evie on the dump truck

Andrew on top of the humvee

Andrew showed the state trooper how to buckle up

Zoomobile

I took the kids to the library this morning to see zoo animals. They liked the animals, but they really got excited about the "zoo truck". Apparently I could have saved us an hour of sitting on the floor surrounded by preschoolers by just letting them check out the zoomobile itself. We got to see a skink (looked like a giant lizard to me), a hedgehog, and a tucan. I only took a picture of the bird because I was afraid the flash would freak out the other animals and cause pandamonium.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July! This year we enjoyed... Watermelon...lots of watermelon!

Roasting hot dogs

S'mores

Fireworks in pajamas

A guy's day + mommy

Dollywood with our MOPS friends

Max, Andrew, Evie, and Michael~we played with more friends, but it is really tough to catch 7 preschoolers in one picture!
Kids with Cas and Walker (an outdoorsman and his blue tick hounds...only at Dollywood!)

Evie in front of Zoboomafoo

Andrew with the cute animal display

The view from the first row of the train. Andrew loved being so close to the engine!

Comedy relief for the afternoon: Evie asked me what the name of the engine was as we got off the train and I told her Klondike Katie. As we walked past the engine a few minutes later she proclaimed, "We got to take a ride on One Night Katie." Totally inappropriate, but two very tired mamas thought this was hilarious! Evie now knows the train is KLONDIKE Katie.