Our Life: May 2013

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Who says you can only decorate cookies at Christmas time?

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Cousins!!

The first part of our trip took us about 45 minutes outside of Nashville to Jeremy's parents house. They also live close to Jeremy's sister and her family. The kids were SOOOOOOOOO excited to see their cousins! They had a great time together and simply love each other!

Nicole hugging Seth for the first time

And, hugging Susie! haha

Now, she's got them both!

Susie loving on Uncle Jeremy

And Hannah spending time with Uncle Chris

Susie and Hannah are like to peas in a pod!

Susie is a sweet little love bug. I loved spending time with her!

The kids all playing and rough housing.

Jeremy and his nephew, James. Who thinks they look alike?

James and I finally bonded thanks to the camera. We had fun taking self photos and looking at them.

Tiffany, James, and Me!

All the cousins!

Besides hiking in the Smoky Mountains, we had fun in Pigeon Forge, TN. While driving into town the first time, the girls saw this Wonderworks building. Nicole was incredibly concerned and afraid (this was the same day the deadly tornadoes were moving through Oklahoma, so I think that increased the fear and concern). She was almost in tears because she thought the building had flipped over. We pulled over to take a look, but it was hard to get them out of the car.

Hannah's look of concern. She wouldn't go near the building.

We also went to a dinner show called The Lumberjack Feud. It was a bit cheesy, but also a lot of fun. The food was pretty good too. We watched two teams of lumberjacks compete.

Hannah was asked if she would particpate in the show and she said Yes! (Nicole was also asked, and she said no thank you, hahaha...so different those two girls are....but super special!) Hannah was given an axe to chop down a ribbon tree. She did great!

Hannah McGraw

After the show, they got a picture with the lumberjill.

After a severe storm, this is what our view looked like. Guess why they call it the Smoky Mountains!

Grammy and Gramps came over to Gatlinburg for a day. They also went to the Lumberjack Feud with us and then to Dollywood the next day.

The girls loved this dress

Ta Da!

Nate go to ride on a lot of rides this time! Can you see him?

This is must do ride for our family! Last time it was just Nicole. This time, Nate and Hannah got to go too.

More sibling love!

Laurel Falls- The Great Smoky Mountains!

Since we had the time, we took three days of our vacation to spend in the Gatlinburg, TN area. We went back to the same 1.3 mile hike to a waterfall in the Smokey Mountains that we did three years ago. (Check that blog post out here). Things were different....Last time I was 7 months pregnant, pushing a little stroller with a 3 year old and 15 month old. In a lot of ways, it was miserable.

This time, Our youngest was 3 1/2 years old, no stroller, and no pregnant belly! Nicole did not want to go at first because she was sick. She had a fever, but we really believe that once she got out of the car, she would have fun. And, fun she had! She loved it!

The view from our condo about 10 miles outside Gatlinburg.

Laural Falls Trail. Can you see Nicole's excitement?

Silly kids

Nicole finally started to decide that this was fun.

Touching the water.

Oh yeah....not my outdoorsy girl is into it!

A blue salamander. Of course, the kids thought this was really cool!

Had to stop and take a picture.

And....another one :)

The pool at the middle step of the waterfall.

Looking down the falls. I was so worried about the kids slipping and falling over. In fact, I yelled at Nicole one time (she was WAY to close), but then I scared her and she almost slipped Because of me. That was a bad moment.