Summer Vacation 2011

This week, our family traveled south to Pigeon Forge for a few days. It was our first time to go to Dollywood and we LOVED it! KidsFest was on this week in Dollywood, so there were cool kid shows to go to. We went to Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs in 4D, and the Gazillion Bubble Show. Really neat. Since Chris and I (endured) went to a TimeShare presentation, we were able to get our whole family into Dollywood for FREE! Not a bad deal at all since the presentation lasted only 1hour and 15 min!

We were able to get in on Monday at 3 PM and then go back all day Tuesday on the same ticket! I LOVED that deal:)

I thought this "family" of flower pots was cute! This was on the patio of a bakery or deli I think.

LOVED this grill/cooker!!! I would LOVE to have one of these on my back deck:) (Ok...maybe in a smaller size)They were grilling potatoes, chicken, peppers and onions all together. I wish you could smell it also!!

The mountain SlideWinder. Once Chris and I convinced(actually forced them..haha)the kids to give this ride a try, they LOVED it. I admit....I'm a big baby when it comes to rides and the first time down I REFUSED to open my eyes. But we ended up going quite a few more times and I loved every minute!! So did the kids. They begged to ride it over and over:)

The Rockin' Roadway was one of the boys' favorite rides.

Caleb was very pleased to be driving Daddy!!

Demolition Derby was probably Michael's favorite ride. He LOVED driving the car by himself and crashing into all the rest of us:)

Family Picture:)

Another of our favorites was the River Battle and since it so HOT (temps in the high 90's) it felt really good to get soaked!! And soaked we did get!! There are water guns on the boat itself for shooting at the other passengers and there are also some on the bank. Here Chris is soaking a passing boat!

There are also fountains that randomly shoot up soaking everybody also. We were drenched by the time the ride was over. Ahhh....much cooler that way!

The only roller coaster the kids would try was the Veggie Tale coaster. Very cute and they rode it more times than I could count!

Michael in the first car...Caleb and I in the second:)

Lauren and Michael on the River Rampage ready to get wet. (Another VERY wet ride)

Here the kids are waiting in line...already soaked and wanting to get wet again!!

Our family LOVED this ride. As soon as we got off the boat, the kids wanted to get in line again! So fun!!

Caleb with the mini basketball Chris won for him in the County fair.

Michael and his basketball:)

Wednesday, we left Pigeon Forge and headed to North Carolina to visit family. On Thursday, we all went to a Family Fun center called Celebration Station. We purchased the all day wrist bands and got a day of unlimited pizza, drinks, go-kart rides and bumper boat rides. The kids had a BLAST!

Lauren and Aunt Leanna

Michael and uncle Kendall...

Chris and Caleb:)

We made MANY fun memories together as a family....so I would say our family vacation was a HUGE success:) Lots of laughter and good times!! But I must say...there's no place like home. Thanks to Leanna and Kendall for a lovely place to stay and yummy food! In fact we were so relaxed and had such a great time there, I didn't realize till I sat down to blog that I didn't even get my camera out at their house! Bummer!