Trip Day 3: Smoky Mountains

Saturday morning we woke up early and headed back into the park to go horseback riding. We saw a sign for horseback riding on our drive the afternoon before, so we went back there. We got rejected though, because of me. The owners were too nervous to have me on the trail, since I guess the trail is pretty steep. I was annoyed and frustrated, but they sent us to another horseback riding place about 15 minutes away with easier trails, and they accepted us there.
It turned out to be a good thing, because the trail we went on was plenty steep and there were several instances when I was scared I'd fall off. It turns out staying on a horse takes more lower body strength than you think!
It was really fun, though, and I really want to go again. It's the only kind of hiking I'll be able to do, and it was so beautiful and fun to be out there with my family.

One of 2 family photos that we got the entire trip. And Joseph's actually looking at the camera! One of the girls who worked there took some pictures and sold us the CD for $20. I splurged because I knew it might be the only photographic proof that I actually was on this trip with my family.


My view from the back of my horse.


Do I look happy? I was!





Joseph's horse, Sprout, was so funny. The guide told us to not let the horses stop and eat any grass or plants along the path. He told us to just yank the horse's head back up if they tried. Well, Joseph's horse was just plain bad. He took every opportunity to take a nibble of grass or a bite off an overhanging branch, and really fought against Joseph. Joseph was not sure whether to laugh or be angry. I was right behind him and just laughed the whole time. That horse did NOT want to be told what to do, and I thought he was the perfect horse for Joseph. Joseph is just as stubborn as that horse, and I told him so. Joseph was a trooper, though, because a few times his horse wanted to walk up the side of the mountain to get at an especially appealing patch of greenery, and I personally would have been scared! But Joseph was calm as could be and handled Sprout as well as anyone might have. I was happy that the boys had some experience on horseback; I think it made the experience a lot less scary and a lot more fun.

The only glitch was when we got back. The guy was trying to rush us off the horse to try to get the other family on the horses before the rain set in. (It started sprinkling while we were on the trail). I don't think the guy remembered that I have trouble with my legs, so he tried to help me off but my leg got stuck on the edge of the saddle and I sort of fell down on him very awkwardly. And then when I was on the ground, he quickly moved on with the horse, leaving me stranded. My balance really sucks and I was already fatigued from the ride, so I sort of collapsed on the ground and had to wait until Ben got off his horse and he carried me to the car.
Embarrassing.
We were sure to tell the waiting family that I hadn't collapsed because of the horse ride! They looked a little nervous...

It started to rain in earnest as we drove up into Gatlinburg again. We wanted to take a hike to see Rainbow falls, and thought maybe the rain would diminish, but it just poured and poured, so we took a driving tour instead.
I've said it a bunch of times, but I'll say it again: the Smokies are beautiful. Even in the rain. I think the adrenaline of driving on these narrow, winding, mountain roads in the middle of a torrential downpour added to the excitement of it all. I told the boys stories of some of my own camping adventures from my childhood as we were driving. Good times.
We saw a black bear off the side of the road (no pictures, it was too rainy to take the camera out), and lots of waterfalls. I sent Brigham out with my camera to take pictures for me, and here's one he took:

Not bad, huh?

After we got back down, we headed out of the park down toward Pigeon Forge (AKA Dollywood).
We ate lunch at a restaurant with a carousel right inside! It was yummy down-home southern food (don't want to know the fat grams), and afterward we went next door to this "Magic Quest" place that had a mirror maze.
I didn't feel like braving a mirror maze in my wheelchair, so I waited outside for Ben and the boys. They told me I really missed out, and the mirror maze ended up being one of the top things they did on the entire trip. Ah well, next time.

Then we were on our way to Virginia.
The drive up along the Appalachians into Virginia is spectacular. Ben and I kept commenting that it just looked fake! The gorgeous green foothills, emerald green patches of farms and picturesque little villages just boggled the mind of this California girl. The rain cleared out and we had fabulous views the entire time.
We passed through the city where SVU is (no, not Special Victims Unit, but Southern Virginia University, the Mormon university in Virginia), and it seems almost worth the price of tuition just to be in such a gorgeous setting.
We stopped for ice cream cones along the way and listened to Harry Potter book 7 and wandered around for a while along some beautiful country roads trying to find a place for Mosey to answer the call of nature (gosh, is it ever easier to travel with little boys than with little girls, if, like me, you have no scruples and totally abandon civilized behavior when it suits...).

We hoped to be at Naomi and Dave's (my sister and brother-in-law) in Charlottesville earlier in the afternoon, since Dave had to leave early the next morning for a conference, but we didn't get in until probably 9:30 PM. Still, Dave and Naomi were good sports and stayed up with us while Ben found a hotel and the boys admired Dave's homemade insect terrarium and watched the NOVA Planet Earth DVD about caves and Naomi fed us cranberry bread. I peeked in to see little Polly sleeping peacefully in her swing, but told Naomi NOT to wake her up!
It was a really good day.

newest Polly and Miles installment

Sweet little girl feet.


Miles's bright eyes.

Trip Day 2: Tennessee

Day 2 found us waking up in Jackson, Tennessee, and getting on the road toward Nashville. Tennessee is a beautiful, beautiful state. Full of huge, rolling hills, lush countryside, and amazing views.
We got into Nashville around lunchtime, and made our way to the state capitol building. It is perched up on the top of a hill, and is exceptionally non-handicapped accessible. I dropped Ben and the boys off at the bottom of the hill and they climbed 92 stairs to get to the building. There they asked where the handicapped accessible entrance was, and were told there was basement access through an entrance on the east side of the building. Really, the east side of the hill the building is on. The trouble was that the entrance was on a very busy road, and on the opposite side of the hill from the handicap parking. Huh. So I stayed in the car and Ben and the boys toured the building. Brigham (my architect-in-the-making) loved it and wished I had given him my camera so he could take pictures inside. I had to make do with pictures from the outside. You can only see the top of the building from the bottom of the hill. We saw several Capitol buildings on this trip and this one was the favorite.





We got back on the road and drove toward the Smoky Mountains, amidst radio reports of a tornado watch. We saw some stormy weather, but, to the disappointment of the boys, no actual tornadoes.
We made it to the Smoky Mountains in the afternoon, just in time for the Dolly parade in Pigeon Forge, AKA Dollywood. Have you heard of Dollywood? I hadn't. We happened to be passing through on the one day a year when they have the Dolly parade, and we actually saw Dolly Parton herself, riding on one of the floats in the parade. Our brush with celebrity. The boys were totally thrilled, being huge Dolly Parton fans. Just kidding.
Dollywood is an amazing place. It is this huge resort town with probably 50 hotels/motels and tons of resort-town attractions. Waterparks, helicopter tours, a gazillion restaurants, arcade-type places, a Wonderworks Museum, etc., etc., etc. It was 15 miles of hotels and resorts all the way up to the entrance of the park. Amazing. I had no idea that was even there. We laughed later, because we had stopped at a visitor's center a few miles before we got to Pigeon Forge (right off the interstate), and asked the person there whether or not there would be hotels closer to the park, or if we should try to find a place closer to the interstate. She gave us a funny look and told us she thought we'd find accomodations in Pigeon Forge. She wasn't kidding, the place could hold about 10,000 tourists.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but driving into the park was really spectacular. May is definitely the month to see the Smokies.




We stopped a couple of times to admire the view. Joseph was thrilled about taking pictures. I have to catch him unawares.


We wanted to drive up to the tallest peak in the Smoky Mountains, and we almost made it. I got really nervous since we were *just* about out of gas (the low fuel light had been on a while and the needle was now well past the "E"), and as we got to the top, it got extremely foggy. We could hardly see 20 feet in front of the van, and I wasn't keen on driving off a cliff or into someone coming down the narrow, winding road. Not to mention the fact that if we ran out of gas up there on the top, no one was likely to come up and find us because of the fog. So we stopped literally 1000 feet down the road from the top of the mountain, and I'm not sure Ben will ever forgive me. I spoil everyone's fun with my silly worries about driving off cliffs and being stranded overnight on the tops of mountains. :-)

But see? It was really foggy. This is at the top where we pulled over and turned around. I guess this is why they are called the Smoky Mountains.

On the way back down, we saw a beautiful sunset over the mountains.

We stopped again to let the boys wander around a bit by one of the many creeks running down the mountainside. I took pictures out the car window.

Mosey found dandelions.


We did make it down without running out of gas (phew!), and stayed the night in Gatlinburg, a little resort town right at the entrance to the park. It is nestled snugly between mountains rising steeply to either side, and was surprisingly busy. Lots of people walking up and down the street going into the little boutique shops and candy stores and restaurants. We ate an exotic dinner of McDonalds and slept soundly in a small local motel.

Mosey graduates from preschool!

Mosey had his preschool graduation today (after missing the last 3 weeks of school-- oh well).
It was very sweet. Each child came to the front of the chapel and the teacher said one thing that they child liked about the school year as well as what the child wanted to be when he grew up.
Mosey liked building gingerbread houses at Christmas the best, and said he wanted to be a builder when he grew up. Some of the kids' responses were pretty funny. One little boy said he wanted a job where he could get very dirty. :-)
I was totally cool through most of the ceremony, even contemplating how silly we are here in contemporary America, holding graduation ceremonies for preschoolers.
Until they sang the school song as the children were filing out.
For some reason it struck me then that I'll never have a preschooler again. From now on, my kids are all school-aged. By the time I got outside to the lawn where the children and teachers were gathered, I was all choked up, and by the time I found Mosey and went to thank his teacher (sweet Mrs. B), I was really fighting back tears.
Mosey is not at all regretful about leaving preschool. He is ready for bigger and better things!
I guess I'm just a typical mom, after all, getting all emotional and nostalgic whenever I'm confronted with my kids growing up.

Two more

Miles clutching his mother's (Rosalynde's) hand.


Mother and child.

Trip Day 1: Arkansas

Our trip lasted 18 days, so a one-post travelogue would be exceedingly long and exceedingly boring, so I'll take it one day at a time.
We left Wednesday evening, hoping to make it to Texarkana, but not quite making it. We were about 3 hours behind schedule, trying to get all the last-minute stuff done.
So we didn't make it into Little Rock until Thursday afternoon. We got off the freeway and made our way across the Arkansas River to the Arkansas State Capitol. It's a pretty building and the guard gave the boys Arkansas coloring books with all the trivia about Arkansas that you could ever want to know, and little Arkansas State flags. We saw the portrait of Governor Clinton, and that was about all we had time for before the building closed to visitors. The boys did find a great big boulder on the capitol grounds, which we thought might have been Little Rock's namesake (it wasn't), so the boys climbed up for a couple of pictures and we were on our way. Little Rock is a very nice city, situated right on the Arkansas River. It has a clean and stylish downtown and the geography is very hilly, which surprised me. I had imagined it flat, for some reason. We ate at a Pizza Hut off of Cantrell Road (I think) which is a curving road along a mountainside overlooking the river.
We drove through the rest of Arkansas (which is a very pretty state, by the way), across the Mississippi, and into Tennessee. We saw Memphis by night and continued on to Jackson, TN where we stayed the night at a Motel 6.

A few more

I should really be picking up the house. But who can resist these cuties?!



Don't you just love that pouty lower lip?!



I tried so hard for a smile here, but this was the best I got. Slightly concerned contemplation. But so scrumptious anyway!

Polly and Miles

Introducing...
Polly Gabrielle Sloan


...and her beautiful mother, Naomi.



And here is Miles Jacob Welch

With the most expressive face and contagious smile that ever a babe did have.




I took lots of pictures of my new niece and nephew, which will take some time to edit. But I'm battling insomnia tonight and decided to take a crack at a couple that I really liked.
They are about a month apart in age (Miles is older), and oh-so-different in looks and temperament (although at that age, 4 weeks can make a world of difference), but I love both of them so much. And their mommies.

Home again, home again, jiggedy jog

We're back!
And now I have to unpack, do laundry, clean out the car, catch up on mail (and email), and upload a gajillion pictures.
I'm letting the boys have a free day to unwind and adjust to being back home.
It was a fabulous trip, and I have to say I am sad it ended. But it is good to be home, too.

Polly video

Another post for Grandma. Isn't she cute? Excuse our baby-voices. I showed Naomi this video and she was a little distressed by her voice. I told her it was hard-wired into a mother's DNA to talk to her babies like that!

For Grandma

We spent the last 2 days in Charlottesville, and got the chance to spend some time with Naomi (my little sister), Dave (for a couple of hours before he had to leave town), and of course the adorable Miss Polly. We did a photoshoot (naturally!), but those photos will have to wait. I did take some snapshots with my little camera, though, and I couldn't resist posting them now.
Polly is SO cute! She has the most adorable chubby cheeks, and her mouth turns up just perfectly when she smiles. She also has dimples!! I tried mightily to catch those dimples on film, but didn't quite succeed.
My boys were very interested in Polly, especially Brigham. He kept wanting to hold her and he was very gentle and sweet. Joseph I think thought of her as a very interesting curiosity. He kept calling her "it." ("It likes to suck on its hands, mom!"). I'd have to tell him, "Polly is a person, Joseph, a girl person!" Mosey kept trying to find ways to make her laugh, and while most of his attempts I think scared her more than anything, he did get a few grins.
I love her age right now (well, I love all the ages, but, you know...); she is still so little and compact, but has got some pudge on her as well. She's just this roly poly little bundle of soft babyness. I will miss her!

We're off!

We're leaving today (hopefully-- if we can get all our packing and last-minute stuff finished) for almost 3 weeks.
We're going to Washington D.C., Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, and a lot of places in between.
I'm getting our audiobooks all loaded up, Mister's going to a pet sitter's later this afternoon, and I hope by this evening we'll be on the road.
I may have the chance to update my blog a little while we're gone, but if not, that's where we are!