Tennessee Part 2, Ripley's Aquarium

 Enjoying the underwater view...

 Popping up in an aquarium to get a closer look at the clown fish, AKA, Nemo!

 Trying on a dive suit

 Look at the sizeof that crab!

 At the Penguin Playhouse

 One of my favorite pictures!!!

Kendyll and Robert on the bridge outside of the aquarium.

Tennessee, part 1



The view from our cabin




Welcome!




Kendyll's room at the cabin.  She was so excited to have a t.v. in her room.




All tuckered out in the car




Breakfast!




Wonderworks... and upside down interactive museum




Getting ready to experience huricane force winds




It's a little windy in here!!!!




Is it over yet????




Making HUGE bubbles




A giant piano that really worked!





On the train for putt putt golf fun!  This was one thing that Kendyll just HAD to do!

 



Posing in the mouth of a shark... should have posted a better pic.




Howdy partner!




Kendyll's favorite treat there...

 How do you get a four year old excited?  Tell her that you are going on vacation.  Kendyll was so excited to go on vacation to Tennessee, where we rented a cabin for a few days.  We broke the 10 hour drive up into two days, and stayed at a hotel in Kentucky for a night.  She was just as excited to stay in a hotel.

Huckleberry Railroad 2010

Peeking out of the straw maze.  I must say that this is one of my favorites.  I love how she looks in her glasses!



"Oh no!  I'm in jail.  Help me!!!!" 



"How long have you been here?"

Tianna has become one of Kendyll's favorite princesses.  Look out Sleeping Beauty!  You have some major competition!

The ultimate princess... Sleeping Beauty.

Posing by one of the many trees down the pathway to the donuts and cider... yum!

Checking it all out!

Halloween M&M's... too cute!

Ready to cross the bridge and enter the village.

We had such a wonderful time visiting Huckleberry Railroad with Kendyll.  It's been YEARS since I was there, and Robert has never been.  I'm so glad that we went.  There were 20 stations/houses to trick or treat at throughout the village.  Even the adults had a goody bag.  After one stop, Kendyll and I gave our Mounds to Robert.  He was thrilled to get the extra candy.  At the last stop, we each received a donut and cider.  During the trick or treating, we took a break and went on the train ride, which lasted about 40 minutes.  We saw a lot of Halloween decorations set up along the way, including Max and Ruby, Dora, Diego, Boots, SpongeBob, Monsters Inc, etc.  We stayed until dark to appreciate the lights.  It was difficult to get Kendyll to leave.  We will definitely visit there again next year. 

Halloween 2010

For Halloween, we browsed many websites looking for costume ideas. Kendyll finally decided to be a 50's girl! So, we enlisted the help of Mimi to make the poodle skirt. We shopped for the materials to make it, and then sent it off to Mimi's house for her to sew it. As Kendyll says, "Momma can't sew." Nice, huh?!? I was worried that she would change her mind about her costume, but she didn't. Phew!

Before the big night, we carved our pumpkin. We sketched out many different designs before Kendyll chose one. Here she is drawing a face for our consideration.

Kendyll reluctantly helped Daddy with the pumpkin. She was very hesitant to pull the top off to reveal the insides. When she did, she dry heaved and had very teary eyes. Needless to say, she stayed at arms length for the duration of the carving.
The finished product!
Here's my adorable 50's girl, ready to head off into the night for some tricks and treats!

Build A Bear Outing

I surprised Kendyll with a trip to Build A Bear recently. She was super-excited, to say the least. It was a first for both of us. We started at the wall where all the unstuffed animals are, and they are laid out in order from least expensive to most expensive. We browsed through them all, and as we made our way down the wall, what does Kendyll's little eyes see? A JONAS BROTHERS dog! And, of course, it was at the end of the wall, which meant it was the most expensive one. I tried to persuade her to choose a lovely pink bear. Pink is her favorite color afterall. But, she held fast to her choice. So, after the choice was made, the real fun began. Here she is stuffing the dog...
More stuffing...

Adding a heart inside the dog. The salesgirl had her do all kinds of funny things with the heart, like put it on her eye.

Then Kendyll kissed it before it was sewn up in the dog.

Next was the bath and blow dry.

Finally, Kendyll registered her new pet on the computer. It's birth name: Lucy Roxie Jonas Brother Dog. Love it!

The new pet owner!

The icing on the cake happened when I was paying. Kendyll, all on her own, walked up to me and said, "Thank you Mommy." It warmed my heart because I know that she truly meant it!

Winter 2010

Tonight I took Kendyll out to play in the snow. What fun we had! She was all excited to get out there. After bundling up in a mismatch of clothes (including my scarf), we headed outside. She made snow angels, climbed up our neighbors snow hill, and made a mini-snowman. Afterwards, we came inside and drank some yummy hot chocolate, complete with marshmallows.