We met up with our friends on Valentine’s Day for a playdate. It was a cool and rainy day so we chose a warm and active option instead. Our friend Lincoln introduced us to Gym Bugs and the girls fell in love (with Gym Bugs, not Lincoln – hee hee). They asked to go back immediately. It is a great place to work off our extra energy. Basically they have a room filled with interactive toys and gym equipment pieces for the kids to play with. The girls loved playing and then when we were done we got lunch at Chick-fil-a together. It was a great way to spend the day – with other little people we love.

I think the big kids were pretending to be chickens while they bounced. The little one was just loving bouncing and playing.

Emily found these fruit bins and fruit to sort. She played with them the whole time sorting them, resorting them, moving them, and finally cleaning them up. She did do other things, but always came back to them. Such a serious girl.

The less serious side of Emily. She seemed to love being in flight.

You have to love the serious face on Kenzie. What a silly girl! She had a blast.

They have this rollercoaster for the kids to ride. I would have thought it gimmicky in a catalog, but in person it is pretty cool and the kids love it. They were so good to share and put the car back for the next kids. Julia’s turn was next – can you see her excitement?

Julia’s turn!!!!! That is one happy kid.

What could anyone want more for Valentine’s day than a hug from Maeve.

We went back to visit the Aquarium this time with Daddy. We had to show him all of our favorite spots. Emily was excited to see the Garden Eel. We had learned about them just that week and the idea of getting to see one was cool. It is such a different visit with two parents. The kids get more freedom to pick the thing they want to look out without having to stick with the other kid. They seemed to enjoy their freedom and in the interactive section they were rarely together.

A serious Emily in the fish tank. She did look at the camera though.

Julia had so much fun looking at the fish in the tank she couldn’t stand still for a photo.

Julia giving her "cheesy" smile.

Mama has not crawled down the observation tube before and it was fun. We visited in the later afternoon and again the penguins were settled in for the night. We read all the arm bands we could see. It was fun to have a name for the different penguins.

Fantastic news from Julia’s 3-year heart check-up – All the areas of concern from her first visit have healed with her growth and are no longer there!

The visit involved an echo of her heart along with the visit with the doctor. Julia was a good sport and enjoyed hanging with Mama and Daddy by herself. The ultrasound went smoothly because they showed Cat and the Hat during the procedure.

We rewarded her good behavior with a strawberry milkshake after the exam. For Mama and Daddy it was a celebration of the good news, too. Emily enjoyed the whole exam at a friends house, to her own delight.

Emily picked to swim for her birthday party. She also picked her party theme to be a Snow Princess party. To be a Snow Princess she got a special blue dress with pom-poms sewn on to make it ‘princess-y’.

We went to a local heated pool to have her party. We started off with some running around a gym, followed by decorating princess shoes with gems (Aiden got a frog to decorate), then lunch of pizza and cupcakes, and lastly all the swimming the little ones could handle. Emily had a lot of fun at her party. She is already planning her next one.

The birthday girl – she was having a good time despite the serious face.

A little pre-party game of tag. They do not understand the game and just had fun running away from Ms. Rachelle.

Craft time

Emily was serious about her shoe decorating. She had been planning for days which shoe she wanted to decorate.

Julia took her gluing seriously. She spread it all over her shoe like she was icing a cake.

The frog turned out pretty cute!

Our table of goodies

Emily enjoyed a lot of freedom in the pool because she was willing to kick herself around on the kickboard. She seemed to have the hang of the kickboard more this day than she has before.

Julia was pretty busy in the pool. Every time the camera came out she seemed to be turning her back to it. She had a great time just playing.

Aiden and his Mama – what a great photo. They both have great grins.

Elena floating on her own

Maeve’s eyes seem to always have such a sparkle

The little girls floating and having a great time together. It is nice to have friends.

We planned a family trip to visit the Aquarium in Gatlinburg while Daddy had some time off. As life does not always go to plan, he was sick and unable to join us girls on the trip. We went on and made the most of our day without Daddy. The girls took naps in the car on the way. After they woke up, we ventured inside to see all the fish.

Emily was very intent on getting down to an interactive area and hardly looked at the fish exhibits on the way. Julia seemed interested in looking at most things for a few minutes each. Once we got to the lower level, the girls chose to ride through the sea tunnel and watch the fish. The moving floor was a huge hit with the girls. Both girls seemed to really watch the different fish and sharks around us.

Then the girls played in the interactive area for quite a while. They were very busy and just turned knobs, flipped switches, slid windows, and ducked in and out of a dark room to their hearts content. In the past we have visited and attended a preschool program, and Emily was curious why we weren’t seeing Jessica and doing a craft.

When we were finally done in the play area, we ventured into a new part of the exhibit about sharks. And then caught a ray feeding while we had a snack. After the excitement of the play area, the girls were most looking forward to seeing the penguin habitat. They have several tunnels to crawl thru and observe the penguins. The girls were a bit disappointed to find the penguins not active and hanging out in the warmer room of the habitat. The idea that it was near the penguin’s bedtime was too hard for them to grasp.

The last treat of the aquarium was Mama allowing the girls stay in the gift shop for a long time checking out all the fun trinkets and books. Normally the stay in the shop is brief, but for a treat we stayed a bit longer.

We went out for dinner on the way home and enjoyed warm bread with dipping oil and pasta. The only thing that could have made the day more perfect was to have Daddy with us. We decided that in about a month we might try the day visit again taking him with us.

Chris the scuba-diver and fish feeder. When he ran out of food to feed the fish he did a few tricks to entertain us. We caught two of his feedings, one with the Rays and the other in the Reef tank.

Emily checking out the penguin habitat. They loved climbing thru the tunnel.

The girls checking out a shark overhead. They found a lot of sharks to watch in this tank.

Julia peeking up at the penguin habitat. I think she was as excited to be able to look back and see Mama as to see the penguins.

We made our final trip of the year to Dollywood the week after Christmas. We arrived an hour after they opened for the morning and they were already filling up parking lot F. Wow, it was busy. Luckily for us the lines were for things the kids aren’t ready for. Maybe we would have caught a show, but we didn’t even try. The day was cool, but comfortable. When the evening cool came we had plenty of warm clothes and blankets to bundle up in to stay warm. We did the girls favorite rides and activities: car driving, carousel, pig, duck, bumble bee, playgrounds, and rope course. We got our funnel cake to share too.

Emily took her nap on the way to the park, but Julia was stubborn and stayed awake. Well, she only made it so long and then fell asleep in the stroller. When we said goodbye to the sun she got wrapped up in a blanket.

We stayed until after dark so that Emily could see all of the lights and see the lights show. She loved it! I’m so glad we got to go so many times this year and enjoyed being together.

We didn’t get many photos of them awake together, but once one goes to sleep it get a bit easier. We are bundled up to stay warm!

Julia got so excited while driving! She was thrilled to get a pink car to drive.

One sacrifice of the park being so busy is that the girls had to share a seat with each other and sharing the rides with other kids. Sometimes they loved it and sometimes it was a bit frustrating for them. They seemed to connect with these girls and they loved the ride.