Dollywood, Tennessee

I'm finally getting around to downloading our pics from Dollywood, Tennessee or "Tennessee Dollywood" as Jayce called it the whole way there... and it was a LONG way there I must say... We were driving for 8 hours... on the way there, Gabe slept one and on the way home, he slept half of one... so, 7 hours with a one year old awake seems like an eternity I must say! But, he really did better than I expected... Gabe is wonderful in every way but the boy does not like to travel... he normally cries the whole way to and from Columbia so I was a little concerned about our sanity on this trip... but the crying would cease for a few minutes at a time, long enough for a little quiet.. at least it wasn't constant... Jayce did great on the trip, he is finally at a great age to travel. Our biggest problem was him knowing when we would be arriving to see his "friends" ... actually his cousins but he calls them friends, it's so cute!

This was a McLaughlin family trip... all of Jay's sisters and husbands and all the children...7 of them were in attendance... We really had a great time! Dollywood is a neat place, one I would like to go back to, maybe in a few more years... I loved the country feel to it, and the smell of freshly popped kettlecorn was especially nice! Jayce and I got to ride the ferris wheel with his cousin Tucker who was extremely afraid of heights, as I discovered at the top of the ride... Jayce rode the scrambler and some car ride with Jay... Jay and I both anxiously await the day that Gabe can ride with him as both of us tend to get sick these days on rides... I used to be the craziest roller coaster rider in my family, and now I just can't stomach them... so pathetic! Anyhow, thank goodness he will have a partner in crime to accompany him soon!

One thing I am glad we did was request a joining room... for Gabe... Yes, I did take some heat for this arrangement... being called high maintenance and such but I told Jay it is not that, it is about being practical... when you have a baby who is used to going to bed at 7 and being able to nap in a quiet room, he is not going to sleep with 3 people staring at him... So, I thought it was pretty smart... we actually got to sleep at night! Definitely worth the ridicule I endured from the fam!

I posted several pictures from the park... My favorite one is the one of all the kids on the truck right before we went in... I added one of Jayce taking pictures with his digital camera Nanny and Grandaddy gave him (they gave all the grandkids their own for the trip which I thought was so neat). Jayce is SO into dinosaurs currently and there were about 3 dinosaur museums within walking distance of where we were staying we stopped by one on our way out and he was in awe!