Happy New Year and Travels

When Summer heard me wish someone that a day or so before the new year, she asked me why. It was cute, and I explained what it meant to her. She is always excited about holidays. They mean something exciting is bound to happen. I can't blame her though, it is fun to have special days in our lives. Not that every day isn't special, but some definitely seem more special than others.

We spent a few days in Gatlinburg to visit some of the attractions on her Give Kids the World Passport which will expire in March. It's hard to believe that it has been almost a year since her Make-A-Wish trip to Disney World. Time sure flies when you grow up. I remember as a kid thinking it all went by so slowly. Our first stop after lunch at Ruby Tuesdays and an energy kick from Starbucks, was Ripley's Old MacDonald Farm. I was surprised when we showed up and it was a putt-putt place, but it was all good, and free, so no complaints were heard from us. Summer did a pretty good job getting through the course. She was most excited about the ramps they build for the balls to go down and would drop her ball over and over again. There were a couple of holes like that. On one, her ball got wet because it goes through water. She wasn't too excited about that, but got over it when we moved on to the next hole. She really wanted to go back again on our trip, but the other course we could go to was closed until the weekend. Afterwards, we left through the arcade and had to cash in a few bucks for tokens. After her 8 tokens were gone, she was ready to cash her tickets in for a prize. Trixie went on a little potty break while she chose what she wanted. Oh yeah, we brought the new puppy along for the trip. She was snuggled up in the red purse I was wearing the whole game. It was definitely an experience wearing her around for two days. I'm not sure if she got motion sickness the first day, but she had some "issues" when we got back to the hotel room. Luckily, she was back to normal the next day so no worries there. She is snuggled up in my lap now. Oh what a cuddly thing she is! It is kind of sad, but I think she prefers me to Summer at least when it comes to snuggling. It must be that I don't fly her through the air or bounce her around the house all day. LOL Her intentions are good though and she knows she needs to be gentle with the puppy. She's much better than Lexie who, although she doesn't realize it, really puts the death grip on. Her playing with the puppy is definitely a situation that needs to be supervised!

Next, we headed into Gatlinburg to get a hotel room and see some more of the attractions included in her passport. Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum was a much greater hit than Ripley's Moving Theater, which neither Clint or Summer enjoyed. Trixie either for that matter. She woke up and climbed out of the purse. We all got off after the first movie - a sled ride. The theater spit snow/water at you along the way so it wasn't just the moving they disliked. Oh well, like I said, the museum made up for it. It was one of the best attractions Ripley's has in my opinion.We also went to their Mirror Maze and The Guinness Book of World Records (my least favorite). The mirror maze was fun for us all and one of Summer's favorite things. At least she said it was before we went to Ober Gatlinburg. Then we did so much there she said she couldn't decide, but that she liked everything we did on the trip. I'm sure she wasn't including the moving theater though. We also went to the Ripley's Aquarium which had some pretty cool things our hometown aquarium doesn't have. Summer really enjoyed it; I think we all did.

Once we got up the mountain via the tram, our first stop was the wildlife exhibit which had 3 black bears, 3 otters, some snakes, a snapping turtle, several species of owls, a gold eagle, a falcon that was blueish purple, fish, raccoons, lizards, skunks, and squirrels. Summer enjoyed watching the otters and turtles eat their lunch. We even saw lizards eating crickets. Next stop was the carousel. Then ice skating. Summer was a little wary going into it seeing as how she has never done it before. When she got her skates on, she wasn't feeling any better. She quickly realized that walking in them was not easy, nor was skating. But, before we got off the ice, she was a little more confident and could at least go a few feet without falling. It was rough on my back trying to keep her from falling by holding her hands, but it was worth it to help her out. Once she accidentally did a twirl, and she wanted to repeat it over and over. That was easier said than done though. Our ice adventure ended when she fell and hit her head. After that, we talked about how you have to practice and keep trying to learn things sometimes. I can't say she left there gung-ho on trying it again, but I'm sure in a few years she will get the hang of it if she tries. She actually has an upcoming skating party so we need to pull out her training skates and get to rolling.

After we refueled with pizza, burgers, fries and ice cream, we were on our way to the chair lift. Yes, she ordered ice cream as her main course, but she surprised me by eating a piece of my personal pan pizza. So, it was not a complete junk fest. Or, maybe it was. :) It was nice that we all three could ride the chair lift together. She rode in my lap which she may be too big to do next time. On the way up the mountain, we looked for things that people had dropped - flip flops, gloves, scarves, etc. It was pretty chilly and when we got to the top, and Summer finally agreed that gloves were a good idea. Her daddy and I were already on board with that one. We snapped a few shots and headed back down to the car where Trixie was waiting on us. She had wiggled her way out of her sweater which I've learned is no big surprise. Summer picked out two outfits for her while we were shopping to help keep her warm should we venture outdoors. Unfortunately, Trixie doesn't like them nearly as much as we do, but we'll work on that.

Happy New Year! Let's all toast to many safe travels for us in the year ahead!