Trigger, Penny, and Blizz

We FINALLY went horseback riding in TN. We've had it on our to-do list for the past couple of years but never actually got it on our schedule.

But, this year we did and I am so glad we did. We had a blast! I was just a teensy bit nervous about Katelyn being on her own horse, but she did great. Katelyn was put on a horse named Penny and she was tied to the lead horse. She LOVED it! Here's pics of her getting settled onto her horse.

The stable that we went to was The Deer Farm Exotic Petting Zoo and Riding Stables. Our guides name was Mike and he was lots of fun. Even though he had to yell at Ken a couple of times to get his horse moving. LOL

Ken was on a horse named Annie and he was behind me the whole time. Poor Annie was slower than molasses and just loved to walk Ken through the trees instead of staying on the path. The whole ride I heard Ken talking to her: Annie come on now, Annie follow the other horses, Annie where are you going? Annie--come on now! Lots of laughter thanks to Ken and Annie!!

And here's another of Ken and Annie- way behind everyone:

I was on a horse named Bo and we had no problems. Oh, except for the fact that he was in love with Katie's horse Tina who was in front of us. Gavin's horse was Blizz and he had no problems riding at all. He thought it was pretty cool that he got to ride a horse for 45 minutes! Danyelle's horse was named Trigger and was a great horse also!

The trail we went on was just perfect for us. Lots of shade in the summer heat, some inclines and some pretty steep hills going down. All the kids did great and we had such a great time!!

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Vacation Recap ~ Part 1

After looking through all of our vacation photos I realized that I have to break up our vacation recap into multiple posts.

We left for Tennessee early Saturday morning around 1:30 am. We loaded up all 3 kids in the car and put Phineas and Ferb in the DVD player. Katelyn was the last to fall asleep somewhere around 3:30am. And with Ken driving, I finally went to sleep too.

I woke up around 730ish and the kids woke up when we stopped for breakfast around 930. Since we were now in Tennessee and traveling on back roads, we found a little diner to eat at. It was called the Biscuit Box and was the tiniest little place.

We got to our timeshare in Gatlinburg around 1130 and checked in. After some unpacking it was off to the grocery store to stock up on food. And since Gavin and Katelyn had been begging to go in the swimming pool, that was what we did when we got back.

Gavin loved his goggles and kept going underwater to explore. And Ken and Danyelle brushed up on their handstand skills.

After swimming we headed back to our place for dinner and some much needed relaxation after traveling all day.

Our second day of vacation we stopped at the welcome center to pick up some maps of the National Park.

Our next stop was to the Ski Lift up the side of the mountain that we do every year. Gavin and Danyelle road together and Katelyn sat with me and Ken. She LOVED going up the mountain and talked the whole way up about everything she saw.

Once we got to the top the heat was UNBEARABLE! The temp was around 98 degrees and we felt like we were melting up there. We only got a couple of pictures before heading back down.

We then walked around downtown and stopped in a couple of stores and then made our way to the river that runs along the back of the stores.

The kids quickly took off their shoes and started walking around.

Gavin and Danyelle decided they were going to try to walk to the other side of the river. Gavin didn't get very far before he fell over and got soaking wet. Eventually they both made it to the other side. Gavin came back by way of the river but Danyelle chose to get out and walk around across a bridge instead of chancing it with falling.

Katelyn sat on the rocks near me and picked up leaves and tiny rocks to throw.

And since this post is getting long, I will finish Day 2 in my next post!

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Moving Right Along

Tennessee in 3 days!! Yep, vacation is getting closer and closer.

So far today I have packed Gavin and Katelyn's bags. They are zipped up and waiting by the front door. All the beach towels are washed and packed too in the beach bag, along with the sunscreen, goggles, and pool toys.

Next I am off to pack the medicines and toiletries bags.

Which then leaves...packing for Ken and I, cleaning out the car, and packing up the dry foods I have bought to take with us ( perishables will be bought when we get there ). Lets see, I also need to pack a bag with all of our jackets in it since it gets cold at the top of the mountains. EEEEEH, I am so excited!!

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Vacation Recap ~ St Augustine ~ Part 3

Ok, this is my last and final recap of our trip to St Augustine. I promise :)

St Augustine has its very own wax museum - Potters Wax Museum . They had over 160 wax figures ranging from presidents, explorers, royalty, and celebrities. It is kinda creepy in there with all of the people being so very life-like. Danyelle and I thought we could see their eyes following us when we moved.

Danyelle actually enjoyed herself in the museum this time. She was about 6 the last time we were here and the wax museum scared the heck out of her. So much so that we had to literally drag her through the museum. I am not kidding here- she was frozen with fear and wouldn't move. Haha, I am laughing now at the memory. But, I wont embarrass her even more by showing the pictures from then, because even though she was scared to death - you bet I was still snapping pictures!!

Gavin loved the wax museum and was really excited to see his friends from Star Wars:

We also saw super cute Captain Jack Sparrow and Harry Potter:



We don't have that many pictures from the wax museum because Katelyn was screaming her little head off the whole time. She wanted OUT of her stroller. So I went through rather quickly and waited outside for everyone else to finish. Which seemed like forever with- did I mention?- a screaming toddler.

We also visited the St Augustine Lighthouse. This is the one stop that we were all so excited about. The lighthouse was constructed in 1871 out of brick. The original stairs are still being used. Katelyn was to little to be able to go into the lighthouse, so she and I couldn't make the trip to the top. And I was very relieved about that. For one, I knew there was no way either Ken or I could carry her up the stairs, and second, there was no way in heck I could make it to the top!!

It is 219 steps to the top and the tower is 165 feet above sea level. That's alot of stairs. So right before they started into the lighthouse I told Danyelle to take alot of pictures because the lighthouse is very haunted. I wish I could have taken a picture of her face when she heard that. I was really hoping to get some good pictures with a ghost or two in them, but nope, nothing. Maybe next time!

This is a picture Danyelle took out one of the windows on their way up. They were only about 1/3 of the way.

Then this next one is of the view when they finally reached the top:

And then of course here they all are at the top. Notice how each one of them is holding onto the railings for dear life. And the one of Ken and Gavin where Gavin is holding onto Ken's pants.

I am bummed out a bit they didn't take a picture of me waiting at the bottom. Haha. And one of the lighthouse caretakers took this picture of us in front of the lighthouse.

We really had a wonderful time on this vacation. So much to see and do in St Augustine! We will definitely be going back.

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Vacation Recap ~ St Augustine ~ Part 2

On to another post of our St Augustine vacation. Of course no vacation is complete without a visit to Ripleys Believe It or Not. Ken, Danyelle, and I had been there on our previous trip to St Augustine, but now we had Gavin and Katelyn who could also share in the fun!

They didn't allow strollers inside the museum so Katelyn was let loose. And boy was she happy. Running away from me into other rooms made her very happy. Gavin LOVED all of the different illusions and hands on stuff. There are so many neat artifacts and unique things to see. We all had a great time. Unfortunately my camera died while we were in there so I didn't get that many pictures.

Here is Gavin, Danyelle, and Katelyn posing with the Kodiak Alaska bear for Aunt Gina!!

Another place on our to-do list to see was the Castillo De San Marcos . Construction began on this incredible fort in 1672 and was completed in 1695. This is another structure in St Augustine that is made out of coquina shells and sand. The Castillo has defended the shores of St Augustine many times.

The fort is open to the public to take tours of the inside, but we chose just to walk the outside of the grounds. First off, the heat and humidity here are killers. We knew that there was no way we could walk the tour in the blazing Florida sun with dying of heat stroke! Although Gavin was disappointed we didn't go in, we promised we would take a drive back up here later in the year when the weather cools off just to go to the fort.

And we also had a good time looking out into the bay at the boats and looking at the lighthouse in the distance.

And Katelyn was there too- chillin in her stroller:

That ends part 2 of vacation recap. I still have Part 3 coming soon.

Have a wonderful week.

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Vacation Recap ~ St Augustine ~ Part 1

We spent last week in St. Augustine for our summer vacation. St Augustine is the nations oldest city. It truly is a very beautiful city to visit. Such beautiful architecture and so much history!!


This is our second time vacationing here and we still didn't do everything that we wanted too.

We arrived late in the evening. After checking into our hotel and getting unpacked, we headed out to drive around the city. We spend about and hour driving around plotting what we were going to do during the week. We then headed back to the hotel to eat dinner and relax.


One of the things we did while we were there was ride the sightseeing train tour. This trolley took us all over town stopping at over 21 different places to get off and on. All the while with the trolley driver narrating the history of St. Augustine.

We also spent some time walking the old streets of the city. We stopped at the beautiful Grace Methodist Church. This old church was built in 1887.

Here is Ken, Gavin, and Danyelle sitting in front of the city gates.

These gates opened in1793 and were the only access into St. Augustine. They closed at sundown and were not opened again until sunrise. They are made entirely out of coquina shells and sand. Pretty neat to touch. Gavin loved the idea that "real" pirates built the gates. He was so excited to touch them!

This is Gavin and I sitting in front of the Castillo De San Marcos:

We had a good time walking down St. George street. Gavin and Katelyn got the picture in front of a huge old anchor and then Ken and Gavin posed in front of an old mill wheel.

We also spend quite a lot of time in the center of town in the "old market". We all had to have some time around all the old cannons.

I guess that's enough for now. Part 2 of vacation recap coming soon!

Have a great weekend!

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