Busy Weekend!

Michael's grandmother had a cook-out last weekend, so we made the trek to Greeneville. There was SO much food at the cook-out! Definitely a weekend to forgo the diet.


Olivia was a little shy at first, but warmed up quickly. She especially loved Uncle Larry and his dog. She (drove him crazy) played with him for a long time!



A little pyramid action:



And fun was had by all!

We originally planned on taking Olivia to Dollywood for the first time on Sunday. However, Michael had to drive a truck back to work from Johnson City. He decided to pull the trailer his parents had kept for us while we were in Colorado and needed me to stay behind him. Long story short, we decided to put Dollywood off until Monday. Olivia was disappointed, so Mamaw cooked up another adventure. There is a zoo a few minutes from their house. Rachel and Maggie went on a field trip a few weeks ago and told us about it, so we were excited! It is a family owned zoo. Apparently, they started collecting exotic animals (who does that?!) and it evolved into a zoo. They are very into conservation and wanted to get several more exotic animals, but they were only allowed to buy them if they opened to the public. They officially opened 2 years ago. It's not like a normal zoo, where you walk around by yourself. You have a guide that shows you around (some of it on a golf cart!).

Here we are right before our tour. I love this picture, because it looks like the macaw is sitting on David's head:



We started out visiting some exotic birds and monkeys and then went to the larikeet experience. The larikeet experience at this zoo is much different that the one at the Denver Zoo! In Denver, it's all you can do to get a bird to drink your nectar. At this zoo, they swarmed you! It might have something to do with us being the first tour of the day.



Olivia was not thrilled with the bird on her head and made a quick exit to stand with Papaw after this picture:



Bird people:



We continued on our tour. This zoo is awesome. Where else can you feed a tapier?



Or a giraffe?





Shake hands with a spider monkey?



Or pet a baby kangaroo?



It was really neat!

On Monday, Olivia, Mamaw, and I finally headed to Dollywood. The weather was nice (well, until around 2pm!) and it wasn't crowded at all. The perfect day for Dollywood! Olivia looooooved it!







She was even tall enough to ride some of the "bigger" little kid rides. This one is called Shooting Star. It takes you to the top, then drops you a little at a time. She giggled the entire time!



Her favorite rides? The elephants and carousel:





She liked it so much, we are going back next week while Daddy is in Austria! Told you it was a busy weekend!

Singing in the Rain

Tropical Storm Lee made a brief appearance over East Tennessee. Olivia was thrilled! It doesn't rain much in Colorado and never for days on end. She really wanted to use the umbrella Mamaw brought her, so we ventured outside.



Daddy got out his golf umbrella for her:



Then she ditched the umbrellas for her scooter:



I was really surprised she stayed out there! She's usually doesn't enjoy getting dirty or being wet.

Olivia and I visited Granny last weekend and had a sleepover with Maggie and Aubrey. Three giggly girls in a bed:



Maggie wanted me to take a picture while they pretended to be asleep. Olivia didn't quite understand:



We were cracking up at Aubrey with her sleep mask!

Last night we went to a German themed dinner. Michael met a woman at a community meeting last month and she invited us. She is originally from Germany and wanted to share German culture with Dayton. There was authentic food, an accordion, and memorabilia. My great grandparents moved here from Germany, so I found it very interesting! Olivia was entertained by the accordion. Here she is right before we left:



Yes, she is crying in that picture. Or pretending to cry, take your pick! Constant drama with that child. She loves that feather headband!

I finished 2 hats for some sweet baby boys:





Love the mohawk!

Not much going on around here! I started an online program to get my teaching license. It's been 5 years since I took a class and I am pretty rusty! I'm enrolled at Liberty University. Three of the classes are on campus (they're called "intensive" and take place Monday - Friday from 9-5. Sounds like fun, right?!). If everything goes according to plan, I will student teach next fall and graduate next December. Fingers crossed!

Creative Discovery Museum and Fairest of the Fair

Olivia's Mamaw came to visit this weekend and we decided to take her to the Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga. We were so impressed! It was very interesting and fun. Olivia loved it!
The first part is a water area with boats and a play structure. It was only after she soaked her shirt that I discovered the water smocks! (This is a small part of it):



She really liked the huge instruments:



Playing with the light box in the Art Room:



The dinosaur area was awesome! There was a sand pit where kids can dig for dinosaur bones:



The roof had a playground area that was all about gears. Here she is in a seat that's a pulley system:



The big exhibit right now is Bob the Builder. Olivia was amazed when we got in the room and ran right over and hugged this character:



It was really neat. Lots of play tools and climbing.



We spent quite a bit of time in the clinic. She had a doctor's appointment Wednesday (it was HORRIBLE- more on that later!), so it was fresh on her mind:



She did manage to throw in a few ballet moves:



I see many more trips to the museum in our future!

2 weeks ago, there was an insert for the Rhea County Fair in the local newspaper. Olivia was looking through it and pointed to a picture, saying "I want to do that!" To my surprise, it was a picture of some little girls in the Fairest of the Fair pageant. She is normally pretty shy, but I figured we would try it! There were so many little girls in this pageant! Olivia ended up in the 3-5 year age group, which had 14 contestants. The 19-36 month age group (which she missed by a month) only had 4 (of course!). She acted a little scared backstage, but she did sooooo good! A few of the little girls have either been in pageants before or have watched several episodes of Toddlers and Tiaras, because they were all about waving, smiling, blowing kisses, and twirling. We just kind of threw Olivia out there, but the Fairest of the Fair queen helped her, luckily! I was snapping pictures like crazy without looking at them, so I didn't realize the camera was on the wrong setting. 90% of the pictures I took were fuzzy, these are the ones I managed to sharpen a little:



She was by far the smallest (and youngest) in her age category:



Getting her trophy:



She is so proud of this trophy!



Luckily, Daddy is better with a camcorder than I am with a camera and managed to get her solo performance (it's a little over a minute long, but really cute!):



I thought she might have a chance for 2nd runner up, but no such luck. The lady sitting behind us told me we were robbed, ha! It was really fun and we are actually headed back to the fair tonight for the rodeo (it was SO HOT today, we could hardly stand it!). She's already asking to be in another pageant! Maybe next year. :)