Smokey Mountain National Forest

The second day we were in Tennessee we decided to hang out in nature.  We drove to the Smokey Mountain National Forest.  The forest was just outside of Gatlinburg, but it felt like a whole different place.  Gatlinburg has shop lined streets and the park had tree lined streets.  It was so lush, green and beautiful!

We could not have asked for a better day!  The temperature was in the mid 70s and there was low humidity.  I kept commenting all day on how gorgeous the weather was and we couldn't have planned it better!

We stopped at the visitor center where Adelyn made lots of new friends while Travis was getting information. For some reason certain nationalities love Adelyn.  They kept taking her picture and they weren't even being sly about it!  Do you let people take pictures of your kids?  I never know how to react.  I can't blame them...look at that face!

From the visitor's center we set out on our first hike to a waterfall.  We met so many friendly people and Adelyn loved being in this carrier!  (Thanks for letting us borrow it Leisy!)  She would swing her legs, pat Travis' head and just smile and look around!

 

Not a super impressive waterfall but it was a beautiful hike along a stream.

We drove up the road a little farther to hike Laurel Falls.  It was my kind of hike!  It wasn't very steep, the views were beautiful and there was something to look forward to at the end.  Travis thought it was boring though.  He loves climbing straight up a giant mountain without paved trails.  There was nothing challenging to make it exciting for him!

I thought of my mom while taking this picture.  I am pretty sure she would have freaked if she saw Travis walking over this log with Adelyn on his back!

 It was a paved trail so we put Adelyn in the stroller and she fell asleep.  At the end there was a beautiful waterfall!  This picture shows just the top half.  I am standing on a bridge that leads to the bottom half and river.  It was crawling with people and Adelyn was asleep in the stroller so we didn't get to really explore it.

 On the way back down we went off the path to find a spot to eat our lunch.  We found the perfect fallen tree to sit on.  It started to sprinkle for a minute. I couldn't help but think of how tranquil and peaceful it was sitting in the middle of this beautiful forest with my sweet family!  Life really is great!

I almost forgot the most exciting part of this hike.  We saw a bear!  As we were nearing the bottom of the hill a man was stopped with his camera out.  He told us there was a bear and pointed to it.  The bear was pretty close.  It was a tiny little baby.  Surprisingly I wasn't nervous about being so close to a wild animal until a woman started saying that the mother bear had to be close by and she would do whatever to protect her baby.  One little girl turned to her dad and told him he needed to get his gun.  ha!

While we were in the area, we decided to to the Wildlife Loop.  It was a bit of a disappointment after being surrounded by buffalo on our last wildlife loop!  I was hoping to see several bears!  All we saw was a deer.  I could see more wildlife in my parents back yard.  Travis and I had fun pretending to see things and making up stories.

At least the view was beautiful!!

By this point, I had a migraine and had to get back and get something to eat.  (a trip isn't complete without at least 1 migraine) 

We had dinner at Luigi's.  It was a tiny little restaurant, but so yummy!  We met the nicest couple there!  Adelyn kept flirting with the guy and we ended up talking to them throughout our dinner!  They were from Cincinnati but own a cabin down there.  They ended up giving us their information so we could come stay at their place sometime.  It is a gorgeous 5 bedroom cabin with perfect views!  (we went and drove by!)  They only rent out to friends so I took it is a great compliment especially since Adelyn was with us!  They were so impressed with her!  The wife kept commenting on how well-behaved and social she was! 

We did take a tram up the mountain, but I did not get any pictures since we were going back the next day and I didn't feel well.  That ended up not happening though.  I loved all the fun facts that our guide told us!  We saw a beautiful 6 million dollar cabin that was built with embezzled  money.  The guy that got his money stollen ended up buying the cabin for 1 million dollars after the crook was arrested!  Crazy!  We also saw a cabin that was modeled after the barbie dollhouse!

We called it a night and headed home to get Adelyn (and me) in bed.  I was so impressed with how friendly everyone was.  It was the perfect relaxing day!

I think that we went swimming the first day, but I had to include this picture.  This was her first time in the pool really.  She didn't love it but she loved floating on the lazy river with me.  I just adore this little baby!  I can't get over this little swimsuit!

Pigeon Forge

For Memorial Day we headed down to Tennessee.  It was the perfect trip and the perfect time of year!  I loved every minute of it!  It exceeded my expectations and I left wondering why we had never been before!  We are already planning our next trip!

We left after work so we didn't get in until late!  As we drove up I was shocked at all the lights and activities!

We spent the first day exploring Pigeon Forge.  At breakfast, a guy from Hatfield's came and performed for us.  We didn't go to the dinner show but we did go check out the building! 

 Adelyn fell asleep in the car so we got to drive around and check things out.  There are so many cool buildings!!  Everything is so creative and detailed! I can't even imagine how much work went into designing each place!

Magi Quest

 

 Wax Museum.  We voted this the coolest building!

Even the sides....

 and back have intricate designs!

 Ripley's Haunted Mansion!  Seriously!  Look at that detail!

 

I loved this little photographer!

Adelyn finally woke up from her nap so we got to get out and do something!  We decided to go to Wonder Works.  It was top on my list and I thought Adelyn would like it.  It is a discovery museum with over 100 hands on activities!  Adelyn was too young for a lot of it, but I LOVED it!  There were cool rides, simulations, experiments, a ropes course and more!

 

Travis let me go on the ropes course while he watched Adelyn.

 Adelyn played in the spaceship while I was climbing around!

 Adelyn loved this giant Light Bright!  She played here forever!!
I cannot get over this picture!!  I love it so much!  She looks like such a big girl!

 She was so happy just pulling the pegs out and collecting them!

 And she loved watching the big kids make designs!  We want to make one for our house!

 Surprisingly she loved the little animals at the arcade.  I have tried putting her on the one at Meijer but she does not like it.  These were just her size!

 She loves hugging things lately!

 

We ate dinner at my favorite restaurant from highschool, Johnny Carino's. Before heading home for the night, we stopped at the Christmas Store.  It wasn't as exciting as I hoped for but was still fun to look at all the extravagant decorations!

It was a perfect day!  We had lots of time to wander around and do things!

1 Year Photos

 I just got Adelyn's 1 year pictures back yesterday!  It was perfect timing because I have been wanting to do a post about her so I can remember some things that she has been doing lately.

I have always heard the phrase "a mother's love" but never understood it until now!  I seriously love this little baby so much!!  I can't even express how much I love her and how happy she makes me!  I kiss her about a thousand times a day!  I just can't get enough of her and how cute she is!  I wish I could just freeze time!  I love babies/elementary aged kids but don't know if I can handle the middle school years!

Next week she will be 14 months!  She grows and learns something new everyday!  We have been trying (not very consistently) to teach her sign language to reduce frustration from not being able to communicate.  This week she has started doing the signs for "more" and "please."  I don't thinks she knows what they actually mean.  She just knows we give her some of our food when she does it!  Her favorite thing to beg for is chocolate but she also loves raspberries and blackberries but isn't picky!

This past week she has started walking backwards!  It is so funny!  She will walk backwards across the whole room and just laugh or smile while doing it!

She is turning into a big mama's girl!  She hugs me all of the time, wants to cuddle with me often (one of my favorite things in the world!), climbs all over me and is constantly trying to make me smile.  I love all the attention!

She still loves dancing anytime she hears music with a beat and she loves to climb on everything!  She is learning how to actually play with toys and loves her new play kitchen (thanks Ashley)!!  Something I also find funny is that she loves carrying things around.  She loves putting things in baskets and carrying them around.  She will gather as many odd little things that her fingers can hold and just walk around if she can't find a basket or bucket.  This includes things like receipts, dryer sheets, pens, socks, etc.  She also loves to carry longer things draped over her arm.  Quite often I will find little stacks of random things that she has put somewhere.

 She is still curious and wants to be in the middle of everything, whether it is Travis lowering the crib, me doing a craft, one of her friends playing, she wants to be in the middle of it all!  She is very inquisitive and likes to figure things out.  She is also very alert!  We can't get anything past her!  If she hears the dogs barking or kids playing she goes to the window to see what is going on!

 This past week she had her first real scare.  She fell down a few stairs.  She didn't get hurt (not even a bruise) but it scared her...and me!!  After she stopped crying she went right back to them. 

We have also reached the stage where it is fun to make messes.  She pulls all the books off the shelf, all the clothes out of the drawers, all my shoes off my hanger (she loves shoes and will carry them around everywhere) and dumps all her toys.  It is not my favorite thing she does!

 I almost forgot!  Adelyn is getting really attached to her blankets!  She has two that she switches between.  They are made of minky and have a silky border.  As she is falling asleep, she will rub the silky edge on her nose.  When she does that, I know it is time to put her down for a nap.  She hugs her blankets anytime she sees them laying around and will drag them all over the house.  She is also becoming motherly and hugs all her stuffed animals and dolls before carrying them around in her wagon. 

I can't think of much else right now.  She just has the sweetest personality!  I think these pictures show the true Adelyn!  She really does smile all the time!

Mother's Day

I wanted to say Happy Mother's day to my mom!  I talk to her almost every day so this Mother's Day wasn't much different.  I am lucky to have such a great relationship with her.

I am also grateful to have such a great mother-in-law.  She loves me and supports me!

 This was Mother's day a year ago!  It was my first real one as a mother!

 This one is from Sunday!  It is amazing how much babies change in one year!

 She did not cooperate so these are the best photos we could get!  She just wanted to get down and play!  She is independent, strong willed and knows what she wants!!

 I feel so blessed to be Adelyn's mom!  It is really the best job I could ask for!  I love her more and more every day!  She has taught me so much about love, learning and joy!  She is always happy and can make me smile on a grumpy day! I love being a mom!

c

Teacher Appreciation Week

Teacher Appreciation week is scheduled at a perfect time in the year!  We are past the high of starting school, we are done with state testing and everyone is looking forward to summer vacation!  It is this time of year that I start a count down to the last day of school.  I think it is put at this time to give the teachers that last boost of energy to finish off the year!

Since I don't have my own classroom, I wasn't necessarily looking forward to this week.  I would be surrounded by teachers getting gifts and cards from their class.  I didn't expect anything!  I was wrong!  This has been one of my favorite years yet!

On Monday, our AWESOME PTO president brought me a bucket of goodies!  It seriously made me feel so special!  I almost cried.  It was so thoughtful of her to include me!

On Tuesday I got some sweet cards from the fourth graders!

Wednesday we had lunch catered in to us.  Yum!  Thursday I found this adorable caterpillar in the hall!  It had nice things written about me!  Seriously, it was so cute!

Today we had an ice cream bar at lunch!

I have felt special all week with nice cards, treats and extra hugs!  I may not have a classroom full of students, but I definitely have students and they are some good ones!  I love all my kids and the opportunity to work with so many of them!