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| Love these two! |
The last day of school before the break just happened to be Lissie's birthday, so naturally we kept the celebration going throughout the course of the week. Because of the timing, she even got a birthday trip this year (usually reserved for Xavier since his birthday falls in the summer). We spent a good chunk of the break in the Smokies at our favorite waterpark. We even invited the grandparents along to enjoy the festivities and birthday fun. Since we had just been in the Smokies a few months earlier (over Christmas break), we felt like old pros. We went to our favorite place to eat (that will always remind me of my dear friend Stacy). We hot tubbed and swam (a lot). We played board games and card games. We enjoyed good eats and treats both in our suite and at the resort. And we even had time to fit in Xavier's only Spring Break request: bowling.
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| Justin's a trooper - he rode these slides countless times since I'm not a fan of them! |
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| Although they did get me on Runaway Canyon - many, many, many times! |
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| As close to a beach as we'd get this break, but we'll take it! |
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| Enjoying some "me" time while Justin took the kids to play mini golf |
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| With Lolo and Lola |
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| <3 Family <3 |
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| Aren't they the best? |
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| Realizing real bowling is way different than Wii bowling. |
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| But at least he beat big sis (albeit on the tenth frame by one point)! |
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Treats, treats.... And more treats!  Bennett's BBQ - a must-visit!  She spent the majority of the 3+ hour drive (all four times!) with her nose stuck in a book |
We headed back home on Thursday and enjoyed a fun family day on Friday - we had our first picnic of 2018 and spent most of the day enjoying the great weather. We also realized that we had somehow neglected to bring home the bag that contained all of our shoes. As such, we started devising a plan - well, maybe we should drive the three hours back to Sevierville to pick up our shoes and, I suppose, we should make it worth our while, so why don't we just spend the day at Dollywood while we're at it (since it literally opened the day after we came home from our trip)? It sounded like the best plan...until, after several phone calls, it was determined that our shoes were, somehow, not there. But...well, wouldn't it still be fun to go to Dollywood? And, so, on Saturday, we woke up crazy early to drive back to the Smokies (yelling "hello" to our lost shoes as we drove right past the waterpark) and spent a fun day at Dollywood.
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| They just kept getting soaked and soaked by this waterfall on the "Grizzly River Rampage" (as it will always be called by us thanks to Opryland!) |
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| The kids and I rode this three or four times before I finally told them I was done getting drenched! |
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| There was even an impromptu mini-parade for Dolly herself! |
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| Taking a selfie while our kids rode the coasters. Can you see them both in the first car with their arms up? Haha. |
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| Isn't he a handsome one? He had an Ireland shirt to wear for St. Patrick's Day, but he insisted on his favorite "avacuddle" shirt for the trip. |
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| Cheesy photo-up demands cheesy pics. |
The icing on the cake was that since my car has been in the shop all week, we drove to the Smokies (twice) and didn't even add wear and tear to my own car...and, instead, we used the amazingly fully-equipped and brand new dream loaner car that they gave us in its place. As for the shoes, most of the ones that we had lost in this journey were on its last legs anyway (though, RIP to Lissie's cowboy boots...), so they were bound to be replaced sooner rather than later, anyway. It turned out to be a win-win all the way around!
Also, now I don't feel so bad about spending money on that Dollywood Season Pass! (In fact, you can bet that I'm already planning our next day-venture trip out there!)
Gotta love my family and the crazy adventures we find ourselves in!
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| Xavier woke up this morning and immediately felt compelled to write this sweet thank you note to Dolly herself for such a fun trip: Thank you Dolly Partin Love Xavier to Dolly Partin |
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| Dollywood Dolly Partin (He wrote Dollywood with the signature butterfly logo and the "l"s like it is in the Dollywood signs) |
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