I would have loved a photo with the girls looking at camera, but that never is a guarantee these days. They were very facinated with all the little clover flowers hidden in the grass. It was sweet to watch their discovery of the blooming treasures.

This is a classic and wonderful story, enjoy! On our way home from Cades Cove, we stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner. Our first stop inside was the restroom. On the way I gave Emily some verbal directions to the bathroom. I told her to find the flashing stoplight on the back wall and the bathroom door would be below it. Half way back to the bathroom, Emily stopped walking and I asked her why, after all, we were staring right at the entrance and she knew where she was going. She told me the stoplight was red and that meant we had to stop. Everyone standing around up had huge smiles! Because the light was never going to change to green, I gave her permission to continue on. I’m glad our first lesson on the rules of the road have taken so well.

We took a drive to the mountains with the girls to see some sunshine and feel the fresh breezes. We picnicked at Cades Cove, then we took advantage of a nearby stream for a little playtime. After our cold-toe fun, we took a hike up the trail along the stream. Julia rode in the front pack and fell asleep half way out. I take that as a sign that she enjoyed it. Emily rode in the backpack with Daddy. She loved it and near the end of the hike she put her head down on Robby and may have gone to sleep if we hadn’t been overtaken by horses on the trail. That was way too interesting to look at.

Julia is big enough to hold her own in her umbrella stroller. The only problem is that the stroller is small enough that Emily thinks that she should be able to push it. We let her push the ball around in the stroller and decided that she might have to wait a little while until she gets to push Julia on her own.

For as cold as the stream was, you would not have known it by the reaction of the kids. Julia never fussed about her toes in the water and Emily stayed in it until we told her to get out. We were able to trick Daddy into wading into the water. Julia has her usual serious face about having her feet in the water, but I think she was studying it more than showing her displeasure.

Mommy and Emily had a playtime together at Cades Cove with the kickball. It was a little dancing and a little kicking. Lots of laughs and happy faces!

Mommy doesn’t always have a camera handy when Emily is playing with her Granddaddy. She misses a lot of really cute photo opportunities. Just this week I missed two cute playtimes that I wish I had photographed.

• One was while Emily was watching Dancing with the Stars with her grandparents. She went over to Granddaddy and got him to stand up. They danced together while the pretty people on TV were dancing. It was so sweet to see them dancing in a circle holding hands.
• The second was just yesterday while Emily, Granddaddy, and I were visiting on our front porch. Emily came and took Granddaddy’s hand and had him stand up. She then ran out to her swing and ask him to push her. She didn’t ask to get out of the swing until Granddaddy needed a break.

Mommy and Daddy took me on a hike around Cades Cove. I got to wear my pretty blue hat while we were out that day. Not only did I look cute, but the sun stayed out of my eyes. The hat brings out the my pretty blue eyes.