Camping Again!

Well we went camping again this weekend. We went with our friends the Bannerman's. We went to Fort Parker. It was a nice small place. There were lots of squirrels and Caroline had a great time chasing them around trees. She even tried to follow it up the tree and "got stuck". She climbed up a little ways but was wearing flip-flops and did not feel comfortable turning around and walking down the tree's trunk. This was the view from our campsite. We were right across the street from the water... which was perfect for me...takes the snakes longer to reach my tent... ok no snakes seen by me (Greg saw one) but I prefer to put a little distance between me and all creatures like that.

We also did a little hike... that turned into a big hike... it was supposed to only be 1.5 miles. I am not sure how long it was but we followed the signs and would end up at a dead end... then had to turn around and try again. Also little bit decided she did not want to walk... she was "tired". I was tired after carrying her, as was Greg and Morgan. It was hot and we were exhausted by the time we made it back to camp. All that said we saw another family later that went on that same hike and one was carrying a sleeping child the other carried a girl piggy-back style. So we did not have it 'that' bad!

Ok I was not real sure I wanted to swim in the lake after reading the sign below... much less sleep at the park. I did eventually get in the water but at first I was on the lookout for two eyes just above the water... when none were seen and the park rangers said they had not seen any gators I decided to get in.

Morgan is so patient with Caroline. He is 13 and would play with Caroline and carry her. Caroline likes Morgan. Before we saw them Caroline asked "Am I going to hold Morgan's hand again?" (she held his hands at the Chris and Laura's wedding) I said I don't know are you? Caroline said yes! I unfortunately did not get a great pic of them holding hands... but he did let her hold his hand... what 13 yr old boy would do that... he is so good! Caroline asked him to hold her in the water and out and he did.

Here is Caroline practicing her swimming... Mrs. Deems would be so proud!

One of Caroline's favorite things to do while camping was playing in the sand at our campsite. Worked out well for us. Chris, Laura, Greg and I could sit around chatting and Caroline would be playing in the sand. Morgan joined sometimes, but this was also his quiet time that he could get some good reading done during this time.

No park is complete without the playground. This had the big playground that is in the background plus and single slide by some swings.

Caroline getting a piggy-back ride from Morgan. This was right before the scavenger hunt. The park put on the hunt for all kids 13 and under. Caroline won a water bottle and water gun, Morgan won a water gun, and two flashlights. We wanted to win the pink camo sleeping bag but I guess we will have to buy our own.

Over all we had a great time. Greg and I did have one minor problem... the second night we camped out our air mattress would not keep air... so we ended up sleeping on the ground... very hard ground. Needless to say we took a good nap when we got home from camping and plan to sleep well tonight in our comfy bed.

Swimming Lessons

This year we did swim lessons a little different. One I planned ahead and scheduled Caroline private lessons early. Now we have all summer to practice her swimming strokes. She did a great job. The first two pics were taken the first day of swim lessons. She held on to the teacher pretty much the whole time.

By the end of the week, Caroline was jumping off the diving board, Mrs. Deems was catching her and then she would swim all by herself to the side of the pool. Huge improvement!

Caroline also learned the racing dive from the side of the pool. Kinda funny but she had a harder time jumping off the side of the pool than the diving board. She did get thrown into the pool a couple of times by her teacher... but she did "dive" into the pool by herself some too. She did a great job learning all this in a week.

This Morning

Spring has arrived! We woke up this morning and looked out our back window to find that a momma doe had a baby last night in our backyard. We walked out to see this brand new baby fawn this morning. We found the momma across the street keeping an eye on her new baby. Caroline thought it was so great to see a deer so small. There are good things to living in a deer infested neighborhood.

Final Pics of Vacation!!!!

We were able to do a little hiking. However Greg was not feeling great so we did not do as much as we would have liked. It was so beautiful in the Smokey Mountains we would have loved exploring some more.
There was this great river that ran through these big boulders. Caroline and Greg had a great time climbing all over them, while I took pictures.

They are checking out this rock that had several butterflies on them. They took off soon after Caroline arrived on the rock:)

One night we went to a show at the "Comedy Barn". We were not sure how well Caroline would do since it started at 8:15pm and her bedtime is 8pm. However, they know how to keep kids up... below is a picture of the first time Caroline was on stage. She was on stage a total of three times and yes we did buy the video because it was so darn cute:) So let us know if you want to watch it sometime, Caroline does a great job dancing on stage in the video!

One thing Caroline wanted to do was drive the "car" so after she ran into everything when she drove we decided she should ride with the expert driver.... that is right me! By the way, I did out-drive Greg and beat him around the track. I probably could have lapped him but I tried to go slow so he could catch up.

Caroline's first experience with a ferris wheel. She is all smiles!

Ok, Caroline wanted ice cream, so we went to a local place and ordered the smallest cone they had.... can you believe this is the smallest? She ate it outside in a rocking chair... I ended up taking off about a scoop worth and throwing it away in the trashcan.... it was melting all over the place.

Ok, last picture.... very fitting I think. I am driving (obviously) while this is going on in the backseat... there was some snoring and no one even woke up to the sound of me taking lots of pics.

More Pics From Our Vacation

In the back ground is the city of Gaitlinburg, TN. We took a tram up the mountain above Gaitlinburg and then took a little ski lift up to do the "alpine slide". Caroline said "wheeeee" the whole way down.
There was a great playground up there that everyone in the family enjoyed playing on.

When we got the the riding stables they were not quite ready for us but Caroline was able to feed this baby goat from a bottle and then got to hold her. She thought that was the greatest thing. Here is Caroline getting ready to ride her very own horse all by herself. She is such a big girl now. We wanted her to ride with us, mainly because it was cheaper but since she is a big girl at 4 she got to ride the horse all by herself.
Here we are at the end of our horse back ride. Caroline did a great job holding on when going up and down the very steep hills... one of which was called "devil's slide". Oh, my horses name is "Rat", Caroline's is "Buddy" and Greg's is "Daisy" but we called her Lazy Daisy because she had one pace... that is right slow! Family Photo

After the horse ride we went to the petting zoo. Here Caroline is feeding the deer. There were all kinds of animals she could feed. We were only allowed to go in the pin with the deer and goats. When we were in with the deer Caroline would walk up to them and say "excuse me is this your house" then pointed to the barn... she repeated it several times because they never answered her. Then she went up to another deer and said "can I ride on your friend". Crazy girl. The deer were all laying down and I made sure to tell her she was not allowed to get on their backs and ride them.

This was pretty nasty. The camel pretty much puts all hands in it's mouth and slobbers all over them... yuck!

Pigeon Forge

We were able to accomplish a lot the first day here. We did most of the things Caroline had been talking about for weeks. We played mini-golf... Caroline only lasted the first three holes... not even worth paying for her... Then she got to drive her own race car... she did run into the railing and the other cars A LOT... she was busy looking around and forgot to watch where she was driving;)

Then she picked the train to ride... and when asking what her favorite thing we have done thus far... the train wins (over horse back riding, can you believe that?)! Crazy girl.

Although this is the only ride she smiled on... the airplane went up high in the sky and she would just be smiling... until she had enough then she gave the "air controller" a big pouty frown so he stopped the ride:)

She did smile on the merry-go- round, but only when we called her name. She was too busy checking out the clown faces in the middle.

Sunday School Camp-Out

We had a great time camping with our Sunday school class. We had lots of people come out Friday night for the evening then go home, while nine families stayed the night in either a tent or camper. Those in campers definitely slept later than the tent campers. Below is a pic of everyone down by the river. The kids and a few adults got in to enjoy the cold Brazos river. (You can click on all but the last two pictures to make them bigger so you can see better).

Caroline was of course one of the children enjoying the cold river. Her lips would be blue by the time she came out of the water.

Caroline's first canoe trip. I am told she liked playing in the water more than sitting in the canoe.

Caroline was worn out... this is her Sat afternoon when we got home. Greg picked her up and laid her on our bedroom floor. She did not wake up for a long time. She was too dirty to lay in a bed but did not have any problems staying asleep on the floor in our room.

Ok, last pic from our trip.... no where else but in Texas (ok I am sure there are other places I just have not seen it before) can you find such a site....

That's right a mobile home on stilts!

Before and After

BEFORE...

AFTER...

Caroline decided to donate her hair to locks of love. She originally was against this idea because I did not do a great job of explaining what would happen to her hair and she was against a boy having her hair... it has to be a girl that gets her hair. Once I figured that out she was excited to donate her hair to children who don't have any. However to donate to locks of love it has to be 10 inches long.... so we cut off more than mommy would have liked, but Caroline is excited about her new hair cut.... so now mommy is too!:) She is still precious, just looks maybe a little more grown up. What do you think? Does Caroline look older, younger, or the same with short hair? Leave me a comment and let me know...