Dog Days of Summer

Wednesday was a hot day in Bradford. Time to get out the kiddie pool! Lydia loved the pool at the resort but didn't know what to think of her own pool. I actually had to get in and show her it was okay! Certainly not the most flattering thing I've done in my life, not the best for my self image either! But I did it for Lydia, that's what is most important!

After she felt safe, she then pushed me away and wanted the pool to herself!! Sadie and Lydia had a great time playing as well. Lydia would hand a water toy to Sadie and then Sadie would take it and run to the bottom of the yard with it and Lydia would giggle! Too cute!

There's no place like home...

or your own bed!

The first day home and this is how we found Lydia when we went in to check on her during naptime!

Could you imagine?

Seriously... .could you imagine living in a place like this? William Vanderbilt did just that! This is his TN getaway... The Biltmore Estate!

The front of the "house"














back side view














One of the many gardens
















Lydia and Daddy visiting the Biltmore stables

Our little Strawberry Shortcake!

Today Lydia's outfit was a dress with strawberries on it. We also had strawberries for lunch. Lydia loved the berries... all of them!

Cades Cove part 2

Here are a few additional photos I felt were too cute not to show!

Another time, another place

Today our family visited Cades Cove. What an absolutely gorgeous place to visit... right in the middle of the Great Smokey Mountains. What adventures we had! Maria's only hope was to see a bear... she actually saw 3 of them. One was right next to the car, lounging on the road! Pretty cool! We also ran into a pretty bad storm, unfortunately we only made it halfway around the loop before this happened. :( So the rest of the trip was kinda quiet and wet! But the first half made up for the wet afternoon. It was so interesting touring all the old, historical buildings, even Lydia loved it!

More fun!

Here are a few other pictures of Lydia on the rides at Dollywood. I have decide that amusement parks are so much more fun when you have a little cutie to take along with you!

Racing Pigs

The next ride at Dollywood was the Racing Pigs. Mommy was really apprehensive about Lydia riding this. She had to do it alone, Daddy couldn't fit in the seat! Once again... I shouldn't have been surprised. She absolutely loved it!!! She smiled and waved the entire time! So sweet!

Flying Elephants!

Flying elephants? What? Daddy and Lydia went on a flying elephant today at Dollywood. The ride went around in circles and the elephants went up and down. we weren't sure how Lydia would do. But we shouldn't have been surprised. Lydia is such an easy going, fun kid! She loved the ride and wanted to ride more!

The Little Engine That Could

Today Lydia visited her first Children's Theater. We were at Dollywood and went to see the show "The Little Engine That Could". It was fantastic! Lydia was such a great audience member. She was so entranced by the whole thing. She never said a thing or even moved. Her eyes never left the stage! It was adorable!

All aboard the Dollywood Express

To finish out our first day at Dollywood we took the train excursion. It was a relaxing, 5 mile, 20 minute train ride throughout the hills of the park. Lydia seemed very interested and was an angel aboard the Dollywood Express. When we got off the train, right in front of us was a beautiful carousel. So we got on. Lydia wasn't sure what to think and Mommy got dizzy... but all in all a successful first ride for our little girl.

After a hard day of play, we stopped at Shoney's for a bite to eat and then headed back to the resort and took a cool dip in the pools! There is a pool on the outside and one on the inside. Lydia sure loves to swim as you can tell in the pictures. She even made a couple of friends. These two little boys, Bailey and Tyler, who loved making her giggle! A great way to end the day!

Dollywood here we come!

Well, the best laid plans never seem to quite go as planned! BUT everything worked out better than we thought! Our hopes were to get up early, go check out Pigeon Forge and then head to Dollywood at 3:00. If we entered the park after 3:00 we were allowed in the next day for free! Crazy, huh? So we got to Dollywood around 4:00 on Tuesday because Miss Lydia decided to sleep in at the condo for 3 hours. Sounds like a bad thing, huh? Not really! She was a very pleasant little girl because of it! So we made it into the gates and no sooner did we start walking around than our sleeping beauty passed out again. She slept in the stoller for about an hour! Wow! But when she woke up, she was ready to play. Lydia and Mommy checked out Dreamland Forest. It was so hot and the water felt so good! Lydia loves water and really enjoyed playing in the puddles and trying to figure out the spraying water!

Riding along in a trolley?

Riding along in an automobile... NO! We took a trolley instead! It was very neat. Lydia seemed to really like it. The trolley took us to Dollywood and saved us $6 in parking. It was 50 cents per adult one ways. $2 total for round trip, not bad considering Dollywood parking cost $8 and then you had to walk a mile to the car! The trolley dropped you off right at the front gate. Nice!

Checking out the Old Mill Square in Pigeon Forge

On Tuesday, we visited Pigeon Forge. Old Mill Cafe and Grille was our restaurant of choice. We were not disappointed! The food was amazing! Yum yum!

Tunes and Tales

Every night throughout the summer in Gatlinburg there is a group of about 30 musicians performing on the streets. We took tonight and went down to listen to them. We were not disappointed! These people knew how to "pick and grin". It was great fun for a country gal like myself. Lydia enjoyed it very much as well. She was often kicking her foot to the beat or just staring at the performers! I think Chad might even have enjoyed it! ;)