Our last stop was a “rest” stop on the way home. We stopped and visited with Aunt Janet and Uncle Art for one night. The day we arrived they had just had their annual Easter egg hunt with extended family and friends. Our bonus was that all of Rachelle’s Atlanta cousins were there and stayed for an evening of visiting. It has been years since we have all been together and it was a joy. The girls took a while to warm up, but they were in an unfamiliar place with loads of people. Emily warmed up first and loved playing with the new to her toys. Lily was great to play with Emily too. Eventually even Julia was running around and playing in the cubby under the stairs. The next morning we visited until after lunch and then headed on home to see Daddy. Thanks for the hospitality and the invite for future visits!

Julia was having fun running around playing and acting like her pixie self. At this moment she was supposed to come for a group photo, but had other things in mind.

Emily getting a special front porch hug!

Uncle Art and Aunt Janet with the girls. I wish the girls would pose better for photos, but it was cold and they were just ready to go home and see Daddy!

The majority of our trip away was spent camping at Florida Caverns in Marianna, Florida. Emily and Julia knew who we were going to visit with and they were very excited. Julia had been nursing a cold so she was shy when we got there, but it did not take her long to feel her freedom and play with the other kids. Our campsite was pretty full, but thankfully we had one of the larger sites. We were able to fit three cars, one camper, two tents, a picnic table shelter, and still have plenty of room for the fire, chairs and play area. Jolie had planned it all out very well.

In total, we had four adults and five kids including one infant. Natalie did a great job of playing with the younger kids and Julia tried to keep up as much as she could with the older kids. It was fun to watch Dylan play with his superhero characters right along side of the camper and tent toys. His superhero toys even had their own sleeping bags just like the dolls for the girls. They all loved coloring in books at the table.

For our activities, we spent time in a field kicking a ball around, some short hikes, and a cave tour. Everyone seemed to do really well in the cave and the darkness didn’t seem to bother the kids. We got to see two bats along with puddles, cool formations, and a few seconds of absolute darkness. Our evening entertainment were owls calling to one another. They were some of the most unusual calls I have heard. They were not distracting enough to keep us awake, but fascinating to listen to. I would call camping a success. Despite some rain, it all worked out and we staying dry and warm. The girls seem ready to try it again.

A scene of Florida

Julia playing with the tent, camper, and family of dolls. All the kids enjoyed these toys a lot. I noticed that Julia would gravitate to it when the other girls were busy doing bigger girl things. She enjoys her solitary play a lot. I was explaining to Emily about how Aunt Jolie’s camper closed up, and she described to me how she would do it. She then told me she knew all about it because of the camper toy. I was impressed, but didn’t let Emily actually help take the camper down.

Happy Baby Mikayla! She got her “floor” time in the pack-n-play so that she wouldn’t eat dirt. She was moving around the play yard pretty well and got the idea about crawling as soon as she got home. Maybe she wanted to be able to move around like those big kids.

Mama time for the little one.

Maybe one of my favorite times and definitely my favorite photo. The girls were bouncing along the trail as much as their hair was. Emily was trying to be a big girl just like Natalie and having a blast. They just look lost in conversation as they spend time together.

After kicking the ball around at the field for a while they decided that the hill needed to be conquered. They decided that they would play Jack and Jill (renamed to Jackie and Jill). They would recite the rhyme at the top of the hill and then roll down. It took Emily a few tries to figure out how to roll down the hill.

They must teach rolling down hills at school, because Natalie was an expert at it. She even perfected a dramatic ending to her roll.

Dylan and Natalie had been getting Superhero tattoos and were showing them off to Jolie.

Coloring was another of the activities that got pulled out a lot to do. Here again, Julia took advantage of a quiet moment when she didn’t have to share the crayons with anyone.

Three strong Nobles women! Thanks for inviting us to join you and hope to do this again in the future.

The Edwards girls took a Spring Break vacation to visit and camp with Aunt Jolie and the kids. On our way, we stopped and enjoyed a morning at Callaway Gardens. The morning was a little cool, but the sun was shining. Our first stop was at the Butterfly House which is in a greenhouse so the temperature outside wasn’t really an issue. Julia was pretty clingy and sad for the morning so separating her from Mama was a little hard. Despite that, she became interested enough in the butterflies that she ventured away a few times.

The butterflies were everywhere! They put out a few feeding plates with sliced fruit for the butterflies. These made great places to see them up close. There was also a waterfall and fish pond to see. The girls seemed to enjoy looking around and exploring the path.

After walking around inside of the Butterfly House we made a loop around it. They had lots of tulips blooming around the building and a nice walk. Then we drove over to the Azalea Bowl. This is a garden filled with different varieties of azalea bushes. We took a hike around the different trails and found a waterfall and bridge to explore. The blooms were just starting. The garden must be breathtaking when all the bushes are in bloom. Emily walked and Julia snuggled with Mama in the backpack. It was a wonderful way to spend the morning!

Every trip the girls and I make to Dollywood is fun, and Emily asks if Daddy is coming with us next time. When we told her that we all were going to Dollywood together, she was so excited! As we entered, she got her map and then started to tell us where to go. We had been hoping for cooler weather on the day we went, but it was very humid and pretty miserable to be walking around in. We were good sports and covered more activities than we have ever done in one visit. Despite the humidity and the threat of rain later in the day, everything worked out just fine. Robby got to try the rope course and gave it rave reviews. We were so proud that Emily ventured onto new rides for her and that Julia was willing to try anything that we encouraged her to do.

We decided to try the car ride off the bat and beat the lines. Emily wasn’t sure that it was her choice for first ride, but was willing to change the plan. Julia drove the car while I was the passenger. She became pretty disinterested in driving pretty quickly and wanted to look around. It isn’t so easy to drive a car from the passenger seat, take pictures, and point out the scenery.

Emily had the priveledge to drive with Daddy. She was disapointed that her car wasn’t more fun of a color. I was just glad that Daddy fit in the car.

Emily is so hard to get a photo of these days. We were lucky that she looked at the camera long enough to get one. She has such a pretty smile, but sitting still and focusing on any one thing is hard when we are in our independent stage of life.

Emily is such a Daddy’s girl and Julia is a Mama’s girl, it just made sense to split ourselves up that way. Emily’s prince was informed of which horse he had to ride, even if it was the smallest on the carousel.

For some reason Emily was expressing fear at riding rides this trip to Dollywood. It was odd that she did it for rides she has ridden before and liked. When it came time to ride the bumble bee ride, she didn’t want to ride. We asked Julia if she wanted to ride by herself and she said yes. She seemed a little lost in the bee by herself, but occasionally waved at us. I was proud that she would do it alone.

We found this awesome union to join. It was next to a deck filled with rocking chairs. We took a break to cool off and do some rocking. The sign was too funny and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to enjoy the laugh forever.

The girls and I have watched the River Battle ride before, but never ridden it. It was great that Emily was willing to try it with Robby. We didn’t mention to her how wet she would get, knowing that she would decline to ride if she knew. She tried to hide from the shooting water by curling up next to Robby, but still got soaked. The side effect was that Robby got to shoot twice the water. She didn’t know how to walk with wet pants and was hilarious to watch after the ride was over.

Our little wet girl was willing to hang out in the owl nest for a photo. She liked the idea a lot.

They have a fun educational boat floating game for the kids to play. Emily loved watching the float she started at the top work it’s way down the sluice. It had to work around objects and get help along the way. This area had the coolest playground that Emily loved playing in. Of course she found a house that she could be the princess of. She played house with Robby until the weather turned and we had to make our way out.

Sweet Julia played hard and just couldn’t make it the whole day with out a nap. She fell asleep after a snack and stayed that way until we worked our way out to another snack. Clearly, she has her priorities in order and is a child after my own heart.

The girls and I have been able to go to Splash County for the summer, but I have been a little apprehensive to go alone with them and not know what to expect. I was so pleased when Robby was able to go with us. We learned a lot about our girls and water parks.

• Everyone loved it!
• I can take them by myself now and will.
• Emily loves wearing her life preserver and Julia does not. I think Emily learned that she felt safe in the pool with it on and was able to do a lot. She was given a couple of opportunities to take it off and she always chose to leave it on. Julia hated being restricted by it and fussed non-stop when in it. With Emily safe in one it wasn’t as big of a deal to leave Julia out.
• The girls think sliding is fun. There was one slide Julia could do by herself and one she could do with a parent. For Emily her options were seemingly endless. Sometimes the slide required being spattered with a lot of water to get to it and those she wasn’t as excited about.
• Julia could take a nap on a lawn chair if she is tired enough. Emily on the other hand was not able to sleep, maybe she wasn’t tired enough.
• You can apply enough sunscreen to a kid all day long to allow you to stay at a water park all day. The only spot that got too much sun on Emily was her nose and it wasn’t even that red. Julia didn’t get any red spots. Now the parents on the other hand both missed spots and didn’t reapply enough.
• Julia can sit still long enough on a lap to ride around a lazy river.
• The wave pool was a little too wavy for our little ones.
• Emily was brave enough to ride the one “big” ride with her Daddy. When she was done she informed us that it was a little scary. (Daddy says: She also informed us that she said, “ahhhhhhh” all the way down the ride.) Since that day she has asked to ride it again though.

We spent one morning of our vacation at the aquarium in Gatlinburg. The girls were interested in looking at the fish in the tanks for a few minutes each tank. The tunnel was fun to move us along and also give us the vantage point of seeing the bottom of animals. Emily wasn’t sure she liked seeing the teeth on the sharks, but the sea turtle was pretty cool. Neither of the girls were brave enough to touch the hermit crab, but both seemed to enjoy crawling into the small fish tank cubbies. Julia loved being able to move around and explore. They even looked at the camera a few times and gave us smiles, cheesy ones sometimes. When we left the aquarium the girls were tired, but they got to bounce in an inflatable bounce room. I don’t think they would have ever come out except for being thirsty.