The Mountains

Last weekend, Jamie's mom and sister came up to go to the Parade of Homes. Two of our nieces were able to come over and spend time with Eli and Katie and me while they were touring the parade. The kids had a blast playing outside and then they got a little hot, so we went inside. They said they were thirsty, so after giving them each a cold cup of apple juice, they all retired back to Eli's room. They said they were going to rest. I went in there and this is what I found. Eli had a ball playing with his cousins. It was a good start to the next week.

This past week, we finished our 2nd and final planned vacation of the summer! We spent 5 days in Maggie Valley, NC. The kids and I went up Monday with my mom and Jennifer and the kids. We had a little cabin that we stayed in. The group of cabins is called "Twinbrook Resort." It is a nice little group of cabins up in the mountains. We stayed there with all of my family 3 years ago. It has a little creek that runs through it. The kids enjoyed going behind our cabin and wading in the little creek. It was a little peaceful place. It had a nice, cool pool that the kids also enjoyed. Eli enjoyed doing "belly flop flops" into the water. He does a very nice belly flop. I would have to give him a 10 on form. He also just enjoys jumping in the water. It doesn't matter if it is cold or not.
On Tuesday we headed into Cherokee to see what kind of fun we could find for the kids to do. We found a little amusement park with rides that were the perfect size for the kids. There were few people in it so the attendants just followed you around and opened up whatever ride you wanted to get on. Eli rode his first roller coaster with Hannah. He loved it. At first he made a scared face when he went down the hill, but then he just grinned and grinned. He rode the following rides: (I might have made up some of the names but it will give you an idea of the types of rides) train ride, motorcycle ride, roller coaster, canoe ride, demolition derby, small ferris wheel, and the pirate ship ride. I took pictures of all of them, but it was a little too much for the blog. I think I took about 100 pictures over the last week. So, I had to be a little selective.
On the way back from Cherokee, Katie enjoyed a little lollipop. She actually enjoyed it a little too much because I had to use several wipes to clean her up. Later that day we took the kids to the park at the cabins. I put Katie in the kiddie swing and you would have thought she was on the best ride in the country. She kicked her legs and couldn't keep her mouth closed she was smiling so big. This picture is just a little glimpse of her joy.
My dad came on Wednesday. We just hung out around the cabin Wednesday and went to the pool. I had gotten into reading The DaVinci Code at that point and was happy just to sit around and read while the kids doodled around the cabin.
Thursday morning Jamie showed up about 8am. It was nice to see him there bright and early. I think he was excited to get up there and couldn't sleep so he headed out bright and early. Since he was there, we decided to go to Santa's Land with Eli and Katie. It was a wonderful day! The weather was just right, not too hot and not too cold. The kids did wonderful. We strolled Katie along in her stroller and she loved looking at the animals, people, and rides. When we first got ther, Eli played in the little igloo. Jamie had him pretending to be a polar bear and he was pawing around inside. He then got to pretend to be a kangaroo's baby and got in the pouch of this giant kangaroo statue. (Again, I took pictures, but it was just too many to include in this entry.) He also rode on Santa's reindeer. We went into Santa's house and guess who was there. That's right, Santa himself. Eli wanted some of his candy, but wouldn't sit on his lap. Katie, on the other hand, looked at Santa and enjoyed sitting on his lap. I think his beard was her favorite part. She just felt it and was amazed. That Santa sure is a nice guy. : ) After visiting with Santa, we were just in time to see a magic show. It was a perfect length to keep Eli's attention. It was about 15 minutes long and he did some cute magic tricks. The best was this little girl's expression when he had her come up and he gave her a little foam ball in her hand and had her close her hand on it. He showed us another ball and then threw it on the stage. He waved his magic wand and he opened her hand and she had both balls. She looked completely baffled. It was pretty cute. He also made a balloon turn into a dove. I don't know how those magicians perform those tricks, but they sure can fool me.
We left the magic show and walked into the petting zoo. They had all kinds of animals. They had goats, deer, rabbits, chickens, turkeys, peacocks, and cougars to name a few. Of course you couldn't pet them all. My favorite animals were the baby bears. They were so cute. There are pictures of them further down. Before we fed the animals, Jamie found something fun for him and Eli to do to pose for a picture. What little sillies I live with. I'm really not sure sometimes who is sillier, Eli or his daddy.
After the petting zoo we moved onto the rides. Eli had a ball riding. He rode his second roller coaster which actually wasn't a tiny little kiddie roller coaster. I took a picture of me and him on it. As you can see in the background, it was a little bigger than the first one he rode in Cherokee earlier in the week. He rode it with Jamie once and he told him he was scared, but then smiled. When he rode it a second time with me, he didn't say that he was scared, but when we went to ride it later, he said "roller coaster no." It was actually called the "Rudicoaster." He rode these little cars, a motorcycle(again), and boats(with real water). We all rode the carousel and the train that took you around the whole park. I think Katie enjoyed these two rides with all of us. We couldn't ride the ferris wheel because it was being worked on. They even had playground equipment for the kids to play on. While we waited on the train to come around, Eli had fun with another little boy sliding down the equipment. They had paddleboats and we almost went for a ride on them, but there was noway to strap Eli down and I couldn't hold him and Katie for Jamie to paddle, so we passed on the paddle boats.
The most fun part for me (besides the Rudicoaster) was when they fed the baby bears. They came out on leashes and they immediately climbed the trees and they trainers gave them each a bottle. They were so cute as they gulped down their bottle. They then gave them some dry dog food before they took them back to their cages. They said that they used to let people pet them, but DHEC or somebody came in and said they had to quit that. The lady at one of the gift shops told Jamie that about a month ago some teenagers broke into the amusement park and stole one of the baby bears. It then got loose and was killed on the road by a car. They had to get another baby from a zoo in Cherokee.
Before we left, Eli played on another one of their playgrounds with some little girls and then even rode on Santa's sleigh with one of them. He definately did not meet any strangers that day. On the way back to Maggie Valley to the cabin, I looked back and saw that Eli had fallen asleep. Not only had he gone to sleep, but he had his cup right in the edge of his mouth. I grabbed the camera and took a picture. Before I could snap another one, he had dropped his cup. I guess Santa's Land tuckered him out. It amazes me how fast kids can fall asleep and then the postitions they can sleep in.
On Friday, we helped Mama and Daddy clean up around the little cabin they bought up in Maggie Valley. We look forward to going back soon and staying in their cabin for a day or two getaway. We sure had a good vacation. Eli told my mom before we left Friday night. What he said sums up our trip. "Grandma, I had fun."