Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Knoxville - Sunday - DOLLYWOOD

Dollywood could not have been MORE FUN!  We had such a wonderful day there and made so many fun memories!  First, we started the Sunday by getting up pretty early and going to Lindsey and Curt's early church service.  Emory did great going to their nursery, and the rest of us worshiped together and it was a great service!  After we picked up Emory, we took a bag into the church bathroom =) and did a quick change.  We put on our Dollywood clothes and hopped in the car to make the hour drive there.  Once again...Brynn bedazzled her face.  =)  She kept telling us that "at these places they can paint your face but I think it's really expensive and I like how this looks better!"  HAHA!  I have NO IDEA where any of that came from...I don't even know where we've been where they've had all that, but anyway...(LOL!)


We grabbed a quick bite at the A and W right before we hit Dollywood...and we were in the park before 11:30!  YAY!



When we saw the Dollywood sign, our girls were a TAD excited!


Riding the trolley thingie into the park...



How amazingly cool is Curt...a man who can wear a fanny pack (and doesn't even have kids yet?) and not care what people think...it takes a special man...HA!  (But you should have seen my sister's face...she was dying.)


The girls loved loved loved ALL the rides.  Last year Brynn didn't want to ride a thing, even at the fair, but something changed over the last year and she was FEARLESS!  She wanted to RIDE EVERYTHING!  Even Emory wanted to get on all the stuff...even when Brynn wasn't with her.



The boys took the girls on the Ferris Wheel...Ryan and Brynn rode together and my dad and Curt took Emory.  HOLY COW!





Yikes...they were up so high!


One of my favorite memories from the day was when me and Lindsey and Brynn rode the Scrambler...we laughed and screamed so hard.  It was just one of those super special moments...not only did I have a blast and feel like a kid again to be riding it, but having Brynn there and watching her face light up....magical!



Me, Linz, and Brynn rode the teacups but the man wouldn't let Ryan and Curt ride with us because that was too many people, so they rode by themselves.  Curt was making Ryan SO DIZZY!


She loved it...but this pic doesn't really look like it.  HA!



Emory loved the elephants (el-funts) with Grandma!



Around 3 we gave Emory her blankie and she snoozed in the stroller while Grandma watched her.  The rest of us got to ride Thunder River (actually...that's not what it's called at Dollywood.  I can't remember the Dollywood name, but it's like the Six Flags Thunder River).  We had SO MUCH FUN!  The big raft thing held 6 people so it worked out perfectly that me and Ryan, Lindsey and Curt, and Brynn and Grandpa got to ride all together.





Carousel TIME!











You know we couldn't just ride it once...











Lindsey was telling us that they had this really fun Roller Coaster that even Brynn could ride.  I was picturing the Mine Train or one of those kiddie roller coasters...oh no...it was like a smaller Screaming Eagle.  We got all the way there and I'm thinking "Brynn wouldn't even ride the baby train ride at the fair last year...WHAT?"  But she BEGGED us to let her ride it.  We waited in line for like 30 minutes...


and SHE LOVED IT.  WHAT???  Ryan seriously didn't even want to let her ride it because he was worried she would hate it.  But she rode with me like a champ.  It was SO FUN!



They had a cool little kiddie area by the big roller coasters and my mom played with Emory there while we were in line.  My mom helped SO MUCH with Emory and just with everyone...thank you Mama!


We headed home and we were all wiped out.  The girls fell asleep on the way home and we put them in bed when we got home around 9.  Then we all stayed up and watched Big Brother together and just got to hang out and visit.  SO FUN!

Monday morning (Labor Day) we got up and just hung around their house, helped them hang some curtains, packed, and just hung out until around 11 when we loaded up to leave.  We had such a great weekend all together.  LOVE YOU GUYS!



Saturday, September 19, 2015

Knoxville Saturday - Saturday

I forgot to post these pictures, but Friday night after dinner we went to a really cool park that is right by Lindsey and Curt's house...it is awesome!  The girls (actually, the park is so cool that ALL of us) had such a fun time there!  It's huge and all wooden, and there are all these cool forts and obstacles...



Saturday morning we got up and did lots of fun crafts and had breakfast...Brynn was really into decorating her face with sticky jewels?   Not really sure why, but she seriously did this like 20 times!  HA!



Lindsey and Curt gave Emory her birthday present a week early...


She LOVED her Minnie Mouse vacuum cleaner!




The boys (and Emory) stayed around the house and worked on projects (my dad made them this cool wooden mantle) and started watching football, while my mom, my sister, and I took Brynn with us to go shopping.


We had SO MUCH FUN!  We shopped till we dropped at Anthropolgie (well...usually that's more like window shopping...ha!), Home Goods, TJ Maxx, etc. and then had yummy lunch at Newks!  I was digging this candle display at Anthropologie!


GIRL TIME!


After shopping we stopped by Andrew's (their nephew) birthday party.  It feels like they are another family to us, so we weren't technically party crashers...HA!  Brynn loves Andrew's little sister Mollie (Lindsey and Curt's niece) and Mollie's cousin Emmy.  They had a big ol' time at the party (and again...notice the jeweled face?  She even bedazzled the girls...)




We got back around 3 in the afternoon and Emory went right to sleep...Brynn laid upstairs watching cartoons with Grandma and fell asleep...and we had a couple of GLORIOUS hours of football watching while Mizzou and Tennessee both played games.



TWO HOURS OF FOOTBALL WATCHING HEAVEN!


Then we all headed to Mellow Mushroom for supper...YUMMY!