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!

 



 



The Dixie Stampede

We have been working on Olivia sleeping in her room all night by herself almost all summer.  With the baby coming, we need her in her own room!  She had a chart and she got 1 sticker for staying half the night and 2 stickers for staying the whole night.  Every time she got 10 stickers, she got to pick out something from the Dollar Tree.  When she got 50 stickers, she got to pick a place to go.  Her choice?  The Dixie Stampede!  She picked up a brochure for it the last time we were at Dollywood and has been obsessed.  She finally got 50 stickers (yay for progress!) and we headed to Pigeon Forge last weekend.  Mamaw was able to meet us there. 

Anxiously waiting:

It was the first time Michael and I had been there, too.  It was pretty neat.  I had read ahead of time that there aren't utensils for eating, so I packed some plastic forks and knives.  Every time our waiter walked by us, he called us "cheaters," ha!

This next picture cracks me up.  Do we look excited to be there or what?

We did have a really good time!  Now Olivia only gets a sticker if she stays in her room all night by herself.  It's about 50/50 right now, but she starts out every night in her room, which is a huge improvement!

We got a Pottery Barn Kids magazine in the mail this week that showed some little girls in Halloween costumes.  She immediately picked the one she wanted (a winter fairy princess) and became obsessed with looking exactly like the picture.  The model has very curly hair and she wanted curly hair.  So, we decided to try rag curlers one day after her bath.  They're really easy- I cut up one of Michael's old t-shirts into strips, then used a pencil and the t-shirt strip to wrap up all her hair.  Apparently, her hair holds curls very well:

She had school that morning and you should have seen her flounce in there with her curls!  Now she asks to curl her hair after every bath.

5 month preggo pic:

This picture was taken 2 weeks ago and I can't believe how much bigger I am now!  Olivia isn't the only one growing, ha!



The Birthday Party

Olivia decided on a cowgirl birthday party this year.  It was actually pretty low key, but we had a really good time!  We had lots of visitors:  Mamaw and Granny Stills drove down and brought presents, including a sand box!  Then Dad and Tammie came down a couple of days before and helped me get the house ready (thanks again!):

Then Mom and Lilo came and helped decorate, get the food ready, and throw together some last minute goody bags.  Miss Priss was beyond excited:

Luckily, someone that works with Michael makes cakes and made these adorable ones for the party:

Michael fired up the grill and got the burgers and hot dogs cooked.  We had way too much food!  Before long, it was time to sing and blow out the candles:

She had a little trouble with the last one:


Next, was Olivia's favorite part:  presents!

After presents was my favorite part of the night!  Let me introduce you to the "Swamp Donkey:"

Our neighbors kids were asking for a horse.  Dennis decided this was much more practical!  He had a friend weld the top part onto a trailer, then bought 3 saddles.  Pretty neat, right?  No worries, they were going slow!

Why was this my favorite part of the night?  Because look who got talked into riding:

You know I got a video (although short):


Who needs a bounce house when you have a swamp donkey?

We moved the party inside as it started getting dark and Olivia broke out some of her gifts:

We had a great time!  Thanks to everyone for helping us celebrate our little girl!

In other news, she had her 4 year well visit Monday.  She was 39 inches tall, which was the 40th %! Highest ever for height.  She was 31 pounds, which was 23rd %.  She's getting up there!

Four

Hard to believe, isn't it?
Our baby is FOUR.  Good thing we're having another one!

We had a little photo shoot this morning.  She is much more cooperative now, since she loves having her picture made!

Does this look familiar?

She's grown a little!

We're having a cookout/birthday party Saturday.  She is so excited! 

I found a cute idea on Pinterest that I started this year.  It's 20 questions on your birthday.  I'll ask her these questions every year, then put it together in a book for her 18th birthday.  Here are her answers this year:

20 Birthday Questions

Olivia, Age 4

2012

1. What is your favorite color? Pink and Purple

2. What is your favorite toy? My bicycle

3. What is your favorite fruit? Grapes

4. What is your favorite tv show?  Diego

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  Corn

6. What is your favorite outfit?  My shoe shirts.

7. What is your favorite game?  Candyland

8. What is your favorite snack?  Carrots

9. What is your favorite animal?  Giraffe

10. What is your favorite song?  Twinkle Little Star

11. What is your favorite book?  Diego Saves Christmas

12. Who is your best friend?  Sadie Belle

13. What is your favorite cereal?  The marshmallow one (Lucky Charms)

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Play + ride bikes

15. What is your favorite drink?  Lemonade

16. What is your favorite holiday?  Valentine’s

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  Blankie, bunny, and pillow pets

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  Oatmeal

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?  Hot dogs

20. What do you want to be when you grow up?   A sister

Fun!

Last weekend we rode the Chattanooga Duck Boat.  These were used in WW2 as land/water vehicles, but not in combat.  They are very slow, ha!  It was pretty neat to ride through the streets, then drive straight into the river!

Olivia was a little apprehensive at first:

They offered to let her drive the boat (if that gives you any idea of how slow we were going!), but she wasn't into it.  We learned quite a bit about the history of Chattanooga and the Tennessee River.

It was a really neat evening!

Our little deer friend is getting braver:

It would probably let us feed it, if Olivia didn't get so excited when it shows up.  She either beats on the window, or yells "Look at the deer!"  It's not a fan of loud noises, ha!