Weekend getaways!

Olivia and I headed to Pigeon Forge at the beginning of last week to meet Lilo, Mom, and Mary Lee.  Mary Lee is in the process of moving to TN from CA.  So nice to have more family around!  We did some shopping at the outlets, then headed to the condo.
Olivia was especially excited to swim:



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We forgot a life jacket, but she was happy to splash around with Mary Lee (who was the only one smart enough to bring a bathing suit!). 

The next morning, we drove into Gatlinburg and ate breakfast at The Pancake Pantry (which is unbelievably good!):

 

 

It was a little rainy, but we still managed to hit a few stores in Gatlinburg.  They were just setting out some Fall decorations, which Olivia loved:

 

 

She wanted her picture made here, ha!  Lilo is holding her up:

 

 

She also wanted her picture made with the bears:

 

 

Olivia and I had to head home early that afternoon, which she was not happy about.  She was satisfied when I told her we were coming back on Friday, though!  Mary Lee had the condo for a week, but they left on Thursday.  So, Michael, Olivia, and I headed back on Friday afternoon and hit Dollywood Saturday.  Daddy finally got to experience all of Dolly's kiddie rides:

 



Mommy did get to ride the merry go round:

 

 







 

We also discovered that Daddy is pretty good at the games:

 









We had a great time!  We also stopped on the way there and got Olivia her very own life jacket:

 

Pretty nice weekend!

 

On the baby front, things are still going well!  She (no, we have not decided on a name!) is still measuring in the 48-50th % and kicking like crazy.  Seriously, this baby is a mover and shaker.  Olivia was active, but nothing compared to this little one!  Here's the 6 month preggo pic:

 

 

 

Less than 3 months left!  Can't wait!

 



 



 

 





Destin!

Despite a hurricane (ha!), we headed to Destin, FL over Labor Day weekend.  It was so nice to get away for a few days.  We haven't been to the beach in 2 years, so we were pretty excited!  We arrived Thursday night, a day after the hurricane made landfall in New Orleans.  Destin is about 250 miles east of New Orleans, but it was a pretty big hurricane.  There was very little damage in Destin.  The ocean was much rougher than normal, but the weather was beautiful!  Olivia surprised us all by LOVING the pool and swimming like a little fish.  Further reinforces my belief that swim lessons were a fail this year due to the cold pool temperature!  She is already asking to take swim lessons again. :)  I have lots of pictures, naturally:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Olivia made a few little friends at the pool (she's in the yellow

life jacket with her hand up- telling a story!):

 

 

 



She was tired of pictures by this point:





Our last day in Destin, we decided to rent a pontoon boat.  The water

had calmed considerably, plus pontoons are only allowed in the harbor. 

We randomly found out that some friends from Cleveland (Michael

rides bikes with Dwayne!) were also in Destin and they came with us on

the pontoon.  The big hype for the pontoon boats is Crab Island.  Crab

Island used to be an actual island, but is now more of a sandbar.  It's

anywhere from 2-10 feet deep and the water is crystal clear.  There's

 a huge water slide for kids, a stage, plus food vendors.  We couldn't

 get too close to Crab Island, because there were HUNDREDS of

boats!  Labor Day weekend is apparently a pretty popular time

for locals to have their boats out and we weren't comfortable

maneuvering around all those boats!  We puttered around the harbor

(our boat didn't have a very big engine) and beached at another island

to let the girls play and try out the kayak that came with the boat:

 

 

 

We did manage to find other areas in the harbor that were pretty

 shallow.  See how clear the water is?

 

 

 

The kayak was a little harder than anticipated:

 





 





 

Olivia thought it was pretty funny to see Daddy fall out of the kayak:

 

 



The pontoon was fun!  Next time maybe we won't be there on a

 holiday weekend and can explore with a little less traffic- the

snorkeling is supposed to be great and many people see dolphins

and manatees. 

We looked for crabs one night and tried out the metal detector on

a real beach!  I think we found 73 cents. :)

 



Overall- we LOVED Destin and are already talking about going back.
The beach is just beautiful, soft, white sand and clear water.  Olivia
kept saying, "Thank you for bringing me to the beach!" 
Mini vacation= success!