We went to Gatlinburg to celebrate Emily’s birthday. Some of Emily’s favorite things include staying in hotels and swimming, and we were able to make both of these happen. The weather was amazing for January and we enjoyed being outside despite a few rain showers that moved through. In addition to swimming, we played putt-putt, visited the aquarium, rode the trolley, walked the strip, shopped, discovered our way through a mirror maze, and rode the skylift. Emily loved discovering that the hotel had hot chocolate and cookies every night. The trip was fun and it was a delight to share the time with Emily and Julia.

Our little swimmers before they made their big leap in. The water was a bit cold so once we got out we didn’t want to get back in.

Daddy was a great sport and swam with the girls until Julia’s lips turned blue.

During the break in the rain shower we got a game of putt-putt in. The girls wanted us to take turns in the order we played. We only got one ball stuck and didn’t lose any of them. We consider this progress with our young golfers. The rules were treated as suggestions and more than once the hole was bracketed with feet to give a sense of success.

Despite our rule bending both girls successfully made hole-in-ones all on their own. This is Julia celebrating her successful hole-in-one. Quite proud! She hit the ball without looking and was holding the putter backwards, but gravity and some good luck was in her favor on the hole. Emily was not to be out done and made a hole-in-one on a later hole.

The six-year-old has some game and some attitude. Funny!

This was how we traveled this weekend. When Julia got tired of walking we gave her a push. Not a bad plan because one afternoon she gave out and slept for over an hour while Emily kept exploring.

Emily’s first visit to the aquarium had a similar photo to this one, but the fish was bigger than she was. She has now grown longer than the fish!

Dude!! We found Crush!

Mama and her birthday girl!

The girls love the fish bowl and Emily still fits in there. I think the only reason they looked at the camera was that the fish swam away.

While Julia napped Robby took Emily up to the top of the mountain on the skylift. Emily was so brave and the heights didn’t faze her in the least.

Checking out! Emily took charge of all of her and Julia’s clothes and special things. Mama loves the efficiency of giving the stuffed animals a ride on the backpack with a view.

What is a birthday without celebrating it with ice cream for dinner? We did offer other food later, but up to this point it was dinner. Yum! We had enough fun we might do this every year.

Julia finally figured out that she could fit in the baby doll stroller. The first time she climbed in she flipped herself out. She figured out the trick and rode around the house several times with Emily pushing. Both girls seemed to enjoy the game.

Emily could not be outdone and had to fit herself in too. She still fit, but Julia wasn’t strong enough to push or pull Emily around in it.

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.