Wednesday Williamisms

"Mommy, can we go to the moo-seum."

Bedtime stall tactics "Mommy, the fire alarm needs batteries."

"I'll never get to play with that toy A-GAIN." The drama has started, now this comment is said with just about everything....."I'll never get to INSERT WHATEVER A-GAIN." The word again is said with the most woeful, sad tone you've ever heard.

"You're a bad mommy!!!!!!" The kid has a temper and when he doesn't get his way, this has started coming out. However, about 30 minutes later, he comes over and hugs me and says "I love you mommy."

Ferb, I Know What We Are Going to Do Today!

If any of you are fans of Phineas and Ferb on the Disney Channel, then you've heard the saying many times before. This cute cartoon follows the adventures of two brothers as they set out to have the best day ever during their summer break.

Well this summer, William and his cousins had a great time, thanks to their Mama and Papa (grandma and grandpa) and the help of Nene (my sister).

My parents took the kids somewhere almost every week, usually with Nene's help. From the Lego Activity Center to the waterpark to the aqaurium, the kids had a ball. In fact William has already asked to go back to the museum.

Here are the kids at the waterpark having a ball!And the Children's Museum downtown near Fair Park. Papa helping William make bubbles!

And the new Lego Activity Center at Grapevine Mills. Lego overload!

The Dallas World Aquarium- fish and fun!


I know lugging around 3 kids, plus a baby can be a lot of work, especially when the two boys get together (usually loud and trouble). So thanks to my parents for creating some special memories with all the kids this summer. I know William had a blast and was always excited when Papa came into day care to pick him up early for another adventure!

Shake Your Groove Thing

Well you might have noticed my posting became well...non-existent for the last month or so. The reason-- our big annual user conference at work. It consumed my life a bit. It is finally over though and was a huge success.

I spent six nights in Las Vegas at the ARIA Resort & Casino where our conference was held. The resort is beautiful. I had a great view of the pool, which was almost torture. I'd look down each day, watching folks catching rays, enjoying a frozen beverage while I headed down to work. Torture, I tell you!

My view also included looking towards Mandalay Bay, the hotel Alan and I got married at over 10 years ago.
I was working so hard, I didn't have much time to play or gamble. We did enjoy a little fun at night. We also had a big party on Monday evening and it had a 70s theme with a live band. Everyone dressed up and we also participated in a flash mob that you can view on youtube.

One night we did catch the Bellagio fountain show next door, which was nice considering the slight breeze off the water on a hot night!

I also headed to my favorite place in Vegas, downtown. Most folks don't care for downtown or get it, but I love the old school vibe and I can actually afford to gamble here where the minimums aren't $25. I did get to play a little craps at the Horseshoe at least. We also checked at the amazing new pool at the Golden Nugget, complete with water slide through an aquarium.

I had a good time, but six nights in Vegas is a little much, even for me. Plus, when you are there for work, well it isn't the same as vacation. I was so ready to see my little guy when I got home. He ran to the door at day care to hug me really tight when he saw me after I got back. I did talk to him each night on the phone and I could tell he lost more and more interest each day. The first day he talked for a good 5-8 minutes or so. By the last night, he said a few words and was handing off the phone to Alan again. Alan and Will had a great time together while I was gone- a little boys only time.

Wednesday Williamisms

Okay, it's not Wednesday, a few days late, but here it is, live from Las Vegas!

Gotta love this one......"Mommy, come wipe my butt."

Lately, Will is into saying "Never!" Of course he says it with a certain flair.

"Mommy, I've got a hangnail!"......as he tries to stall when going to bed. This was after he had been in bed almost an hour and suddenly peers over the railing upstairs to tell me about his hangnail.

As I am telling him how much I will miss him when I go out of town for work this week, he says, "Don't worry mommy, I will call you and then you will be happy again and not sad." So sweet!

We have a nightly routine of saying various I love yous etc. I always kiss him and my hair falls onto his face as I do so, so now each night, he asks me to "put my hair in his face". So i do. I told him Daddy would have to tuck him in while I am out of town. He said, "but Daddy has short hair"....knowing he wouldn't be able to do that part of our nightly routine. lol

While reading his I'll Love You Forever book, a little boy gets in trouble for saying bad words. William says, "Just like daddy? He says bad words.". Yes, yes, he does son.

25lb Apple Pie Anyone?

Day 7- Friday, June 17

This was our last full day in the Smokey Mountains. Wendy and her family left shortly after 5am this morning to start he drive home in the mini van. My parents, Mandy and her family and of course Alan, William and I were all still ready to enjoy our last full day.

Mama enjoyed some baby Brynley time! Love those rolls!

On the schedule? Dollywood. My parents passed and decided to go shopping instead, but they dropped us off at Dollywood. We arrived at 10am, thinking we were going to be there at opening, but we made a rookie mistake and didn't check the park hours. I can tell you park hours for Disney anytime, but Dollywood, not so much. The park had opened at 9am so we walked into huge crowds. Jeff and Mandy wanted to see the bubble show, but as we walked in, there was already a huge line for the 10:45 show (and this was at 10am). So we passed.

We headed over to the Mystery Mine ride. I love thrill rides and this one looked cool, so we switched off- one couple rode while the other watched Brynley and William. The ride was very cool- you went straight up vertically into the sky on a track and back down and they mixed in some special effects too. Probably the most fun (and intense) coaster I've done. We then headed around the park, stopping to play here and there.


It was pretty hot and overly crowded with tourist groups, church groups and more. We did the merry go round again and I took Will to drive a car again. He loved it.


By 1pm, we were done. On our way out of the park, we stopped at the bakery to have a look. Alan eyed the 25lb apple pie as featured on the travel channel. He decided to dish out the $10 for a 5lb slice to take home! That thing was gigantic. The rest of us got some yummy treats and headed out to the van.

Back the cabin for lunch and then we headed out again, this time to find a creek for William to throw some rocks in. My dad had found a great handicap accessible park area where the creek runs through so my mom could get down there easily to enjoy it. He had taken her earlier that day, so we went back for William to enjoy.
Next we headed out to do some exploring and shopping. We found some arts and craft shops near Gatlinburg, off the beaten path and did some shopping. We found a really cute old fashioned soda shop where we all got some ice cream, shakes or floats. Just what we need, more sweet treats. One of the stores we went in, the store owner had a baby raccoon that he was nursing back to health. Racoons were Wendy's favorite animal as a kid (don't ask me why), so it was sad she missed seeing a real baby one. After wrapping up our shopping, it was back to the cabin to finish packing and then we headed out to dinner. We found a restaurant called the Alamo Cafe across from the pizza place and owned by the same group. The food was fantastic, one of the best (and biggest) burgers (kobe beef, I think), that I have ever had. We enjoyed a fabulous last meal together and Papa kept William entertained.
The next morning, we were up by 5am to start the long drive back home. We only stopped like 6 times that day, so we made good time. We did the full drive in 15 hours and didn't stop overnight like on the way there. Brynley was so good the entire time. We finally got home that night, unloaded and headed home. I think we were back home after 9pm or so that night.

All in all, we had a wonderful vacation, made new memories with the family and explored some beautiful scenery!

Carry Me Daddy!

Vacation- Day 6, Thursday, June 16

Today once again started with a visit to a local pancake establishment. Try one of the 50 different ones in a 2 mile radius? Nah, we just went back to the same one. I guess when you like something, you like it. After pancakes, it was back into the mountains today.

We had decided to head up and see Clingman's Dome. The drive wasn't quite as long as Cades Cove.

We took the two vans back out again, winding our way up the mountain. It was so beautiful and peaceful. We finally reach the top and park. Of course there was like nowhere to park, the place was packed. My parents and sister found a handicap spot for them, but no luck for us. We finally went to the end of a row near where the road starts again and "made our own spot". The park ranger wasn't happy about that when we left and he drove by.

We checked out the amazing views into North Carolina.

There was a little gift shop and also a half mile or more walk up a steep incline (paved) to the dome viewing tower. We headed up and man was it tough. Alan had to carry William for the majority of the hike too. We tried to get him to walk some, but he kept saying "Carry me daddy!" and so Daddy did. It was hard enough carrying myself, not sure I could have lugged a 40lb toddler in my arms. We finally make it up and enjoy amazing views. My dad had really wanted to come here as he remembered visiting here with his parents as a kid.

After making the hike back down, we checked out the gift shop where my parents bought all the kids a little backpack with toys (toy binoculars, whistle etc.). The boys really loved those fake binoculars and pretended to be chasing bears around the cabin later that night with them.

So we made the drive back down the mountain, trying to find a spot near the creek to let hte kids out to play, but we weren't having good luck finding a spot with parking and an easy way down. Most of the areas were too difficult to crawl down too. We did pass by some folks jumping off cliffs into the creek and playing in the rapids (ignoring the "drownings occur here often" sign). LOLWe finally made it back home to the cabin and ate some lunch and then headed back to Dolly's Water Country waterpark since we had promised the kids. This time everyone came along and we spent about 3 hours there having a great time! That night, we found a local oven fired pizza place for dinner out. Unfortunately, my sister and her family were leaving early the next morning, so it was time for everyone to get to bed early. The rest of us still had one more full day to enjoy!

Who Needs Dollywood When You've Got Lightning and Buses?

Day 5- Wednesday, June 15

I know, I'm a slacker, almost a month later, I am finally posting about the rest of our vacation. Well unfortunately, that's what the busiest month at work will do to you. Work's been crazy as we prepare for our big annual User Conference in Las Vegas later this month. Six nights in Vegas for me- oh joy!

So now back to the mountains. On Wednesday, we decided to start the day by hitting the Forbidden Caverns. We wanted to get there early to avoid crowds and we managed to arrive at about 9:30 am or so, after following Mike through the "scenic route". Not sure what was so Forbidden here, maybe the corny jokes or horribly thick TN accent of our tour guide, but either way, we had fun.

The tour lasted about an hour and we saw some pretty cool stuff. After our tour, we headed back to the cabin to rest up a bit, eat some lunch and then hit the waterpark that afternoon.

But just our luck, we arrived to Dolly's Water Country around 2pm or so and by about 3 or 3:30, it was shut down due to lightning in the area. The kids were so disappointed and now everytime we have to leave the waterpark at home (just becuase we are tired or overheated), William asks "is there lightning mommy?"

I have to say, the waterpark was pretty fabulous- very clean, nice variety of rides, great shade and trees all around. It had a fabulous lazy river and even better, three, yes, count them, three separate kids areas. They had one big kids area like you find at most local Hawiian Falls etc., but then a second area further away geared to toddlers. Plus a third area that was fit for all ages under 10 or so. The kids had a ball for the short time we were there. We promised to come back.

So back to the cabin we went where we enjoyed some great family time just sitting on the porch and watching the storm roll in, literally. The clouds were passing right through us. We really loved just taking it easy and enjoying the little show mother nature put on.

We did have a little excitement that night. We heard a lot of commotion coming from outside and discovered the church group across the street had bottomed out their bus and gotten stuck, in the rain no less. After watching them try for almost an hour to get it loose, they must have called a tow service. An hour later, the huge industrial sized tow truck shows up and after another hour, they are finally loose. It made some funny entertainment watching. We did feel bad for all the folks driving up the hill that were completely blocked by the bus and couldn't go up to their cabin.

Tonight's dinner was tacos cooked in. All in all a good day, capped by the fun thunderstorm with a front row seat!