Cincinnati

Early this spring my brother, Rob and I talked about summer vacations. Then around the time we were planning ours, he decided on going to Kings Island in Cincinnati and invited us to go. Naturally, I wouldn't go to the theme park, but there are other things to see and do as well. He took off work the week after our vacation to the Smokies, so I went back and forth a lot on whether or not to go. Finally, at the last minute, I decided to make the trip. My mom came with so we were able to split a lot of expenses and only stayed two nights.

Our first full day we went to the zoo and boy was it hot!! I went through

a lot of water and was pretty tired by day's end

The second day we went to the aquarium, which was actually just across the Kentucky border. Cincinnati is right on that edge, but I was still surprised when their aquarium was not even in Ohio or Cincinnati for that matter. It was so crowded...I guess everyone was trying to beat the heat.

And that's our trip! We grabbed lunch after finishing at the aquarium then headed home. The drive up was not great because they kids were not on their best behavior- mostly Will. But the drive back home was filled with nothing but traffic and it felt never ending. So we were very glad to get home. :)

Wilderness at the Smokies

We didn't really take a vacation last year, so I was determined to go this year. We went back and forth on where to go and finally settled on the Wilderness at the Smokies- a waterpark resort with both indoor and outdoor waterparks/slides. I was most interested in the indoor part because of the heat and our family's heavy reliance on sunscreen. :) Daniel and I both have been to the Smokies/Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge many times in our lives but the kids haven't and it's a good family place to go. Plus the drive is not bad- something I really didn't want to spend a lot of vacation time doing. Anyway, Daniel decided to take PTO the week of my birthday and off we went!

The kids loved having a bunk bed to sleep in. It was nice having a wall between their bed and ours, but otherwise it was a typical hotel room, oh and it had a nice balcony. I spent a lot of time out there because the weather was so nice. We didn't opt for a one bedroom because the nightly rate was double this room.

The view from our room. We loved that lazy river, it just wasn't that lazy with all three kids in tow and since Jake developed a fear of water like the week before we left, we only took him down one time. After that, Daniel and I took turns with the big kids. I went down once by myself, but there were water spouts throughout the river that were cold and a little hard on your face, so I couldn't take a nap...

For my birthday, we spent the first part of the day swimming and got ready for a late lunch. The first pic is my birthday cake...chocolate is not what I would pick if I were choosing, but it's the only cake they had and it was a really good chocolate cake. Daniel took several pics, I think this was the best one we could get of me and the kids. After visiting the ducks for a few minutes, we drove to Cades Cove where Daniel was determined to see bears. And we did! We actually saw several- the most I've ever seen

The first night of our trip, we let Will sleep on the top bunk because it was a twin and Maggie and Jake sleep on the bottom double. Well, Maggie woke up so many times that first night because Jake's head would be in her armpit or elbow in her ribs that we switched things up. I wasn't a fan of putting Jake up top, particularly by himself, so we gave it a try with Will and Maggie. Was funny to see little 'ol Jake in the big bed and the two bigger kids in the smaller bed, but everyone slept better. Including me!

 The last full day of our trip, I decided to bring the camera down to the pool because I wanted a few pics of everyone enjoying the water. I got a couple shots of Will and Daniel coming down the water slide and Will swimming and getting splashed with the big bucket of water...the other two wanted nothing to do with that. Maggie enjoyed splashing around in the water and Jake played some, but mostly enjoyed sitting out

 Maggie just had to put daddy's sunglasses on her Dora towel. Then on the way home, she really wanted her big girl panties on her little bear. Such my sweet girl. :)

We had a good time! It was a lot of work with kids so little- we decided they would all be older if we go back, probably a couple more years. But we still enjoyed getting out as a family

Summer Fun

Just a few cute pictures from our summer so far...

swimming in my parents pool. Will & Maggie enjoyed 

themselves swimming and floating around

 Jake, however, did NOT like being in the pool, but was 

happy when Grandma busted out the water table

We tried to let all of the sleep on the "big bed" in the play room (it's a couch bed), but Jake did not want to sleep so he had to go to his room

 Splash pad pics. Jake, again, was scared of the water