Nicholas Loses Another Tooth ~ 2/22/09

It has finally come out! Nicholas' front tooth has been loose since December and has now been pulled. Kevin pulled it out this morning before church, as requested by Nicholas. It came out very easy - now we will be wiggling the other one...stay posted :)

I know you are probably noticing his hair or lack of hair, too. Kevin finally got on board with me and agreed to shave it off to help him stop twirling it - wish us luck!

Our Trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee . February 13-20, 2009

We love to go to Tennessee - especially since it is so close to us! The kids were out of school February 13 - 16, so we headed to the Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg. We booked a condo for a whole week and talked my parents into keeping the kids the remainder of the week at our house so that Kevin and I could have some alone time. Thank you Mom and Dad! It was a great trip! The kids had a blast and we did too. What could be better than the mountains and pancake breakfast's in the Winter?

Gatlinburg - Hollywood Star Cars Museum

Bumblebee from Transformers

Eleanor from Gone in 60 Seconds

The Fast and the Furious

The Beverly Hillbillies

Car from Jurassic Park

We took the kids to see some awesome cars from famous stars and from popular shows and movies at the Hollywood Star Cars Museum on the Gatlinburg strip. They LOVED it! There were too many to post, so here our some of our favorites!

Gatlinburg - Hollywood Wax Museum

Matthew McConaughey

Forest Gump

Willie Nelson

Charlie's Angels

Wizard of Oz

Nascar

This was a cool place to go! The Hollywood Wax Museum on the Gatlinburg strip. They didn't mind you getting right next to the wax people, which made it more fun that way! We saw too many to list them all, so these were some of our favorites.

Gatlinburg - Hillbilly Golf

Yes, we took the kids to play some Hillbilly golf :) You had to pick out your club and ball at the base of a mountain and then ride an incline rail car up a short distance to play golf in the mountains. Kevin beat us all, then I followed close in score with Clayton in third, Nicholas in fourth, and Kaylee came in last. We all had a great time together.

Ober Gatlinburg - Scenic Lift and Alpine Slide

You can see a portion of the Alpine Slide in the above picture.

This is the scenic lift that takes you to an elevation of 3590 feet to some really beautiful views within Ober Gatlinburg. Also, we rode the Alpine Slide which winds down the mountain side.

Ober Gatlinburg - Snow Tubing

This was our last day with the kids in Gatlinburg, so we made it a fun one! We took a sky tram up in the mountains to a place called Ober Gatlinburg. They make their own snow there and have skiing, snow tubing, Alpine sliding, scenic lifts, ice skating, and more. The first thing we did at Ober was to ride the Alpine slide. It is a long slide that winds down the mountain side and mimics bob sledding. We had a great time racing each other to the bottom. Then, we took a ski lift all the way to the top of the mountain for some beautiful views, oh, and for some hot chocolate! It was cold there! Finally, we made our way over to the snow tubing - what a blast! We got a tube, rode a conveyor belt side walk up to the top, and waited in line to have our turn to race down the snow in our tubes. It was a fast ride down on those slick tubes!

Gatlinburg - Abrams Falls Trail in Cade's Cove

Cade's Cove is an area inside the Smoky Mountain National Park. It is a perfect area to see wildlife - we saw tons of deer! Also, inside the Cove is a 5 mile trail to Abrams Falls. Kevin and I bundled up and hiked together. It was so fun hiking along the river and getting to see the beautiful waterfall! I just love all the views here in the Smoky's!

Gatlinburg - Local Winery Tours

Kevin and I started off at the Smoky Mountain Winery in Gatlinburg to tour the winery, but it turned out to just be a store selling their wine while their vineyard is 30 miles out - bummer - but we did get to try a few varieties and bought a bottle. We were also directed into Pigeon Forge, TN where there are two local wineries that do give tours, so off we went. First, we visited Mountain Valley Winery and then Hillside Winery. Both were fun and we got to try some real southern wines, like the Muscadine wine.