Saturday, August 1, 2009

Dollywood... (Day Five)

Here it was, the day the kids were all looking forward to. Well I guess us BIG kids were looking forward to the theme park day ourselves, or maybe we were just hoping to get a "Dolly" sighting. The weather was great! It was suppose to rain in the neighborhood that day, so the cloudiness cooled off what would normally be a killer hot day in the south. Yet, we only had a few sprinkles all day, so the "drowned rat" pictures of me throughout this post are purely from the rides I was "forced" to ride. :)

By the way, I will go ahead and apologize now, for I seriously think this is the longest post I've ever posted. I just happen to be the picture queen of my family. What can I say, I LOVE pictures!!! Anyway, when it came time to pick which pictures to include, I had a very hard time. So there you have it. I guess my saving grace in the length of this crazy post is that it is mainly pictures. If you like pictures, than hang on for a long ride... (I promise there are a few crazy ones of me mixed in for your viewing pleasure.)

While everyone was getting tickets, we took a few random family pics...








First on the list of rides was the wooden roller coaster, which I was "forced" to ride with the second round of our family riders. I think my insides are still jiggling around like jello. Here is a glimpse of my daughter...I was sitting nest to her.






This ride was a family favorite among the boys and my parents. You will have to forgive me if I don't remember the names of all the rides...I have lived since then, plus my souvenir map got wet from being in my pocket and had to be thrown away.












This was my first taste of being WET. I knew it was a battle of some kind, but really didn't know what I was in for until the boat next to us started spraying us with their guns. Of course I was just thankful I was sitting next to my brother-in-law or I would have been even wetter (if that is possible). Of course, when I looked back at my pictures I found one of this little guy and I'm just wondering if he is the reason I was wet? And what is up with my son? Boy, he was ready for battle!!!







There were two or three more roller coasters in which my sister and brother-in-law were the brave adults that took the kids. Sorry, but this woman doesn't do loopidy loops. I just don't see the need to defy gravity at my age. Although my son has discovered he likes the "loops" now.


Kayla wanted a funnel cake. You can't go to a place like this and NOT get one. She was a sweetie and shared with her brother and cousins...



Here are some more random family pictures taken while we waited on some of the others to ride rides...









My hubby bought me some pottery as my souvenir. Too sweet, huh? Everyone else got t-shirts and caps, but I got dishes. My hubby loves and knows me well. Aren't they pretty? They can go in the oven, microwave and dishwasher, so it doesn't get much better than that, I'm thinking. If you haven't guessed, I love dishes! Sorry! Not the greatest of pictures, but you get the idea. Trust me...they are pretty!




We went and saw a show. The show was made up of people either related to Dolly or some of them had played in her band. Thanks people for now I've had "Jolene" running through my head ever since!!! My sister went and bought a big bag of popcorn for everyone to share during the show, thinking my brother-in-law would be back in time with the kids to see it (they had gone to ride a ride, while we saved seats). Only they came at the very end. Did I mention that my sister bought a BIG bag of kettle corn? Everywhere we walked someone was commenting on what a big bag... IT made for some cute pictures, though. Let it be said, this family likes their kettle corn.






We saw this lady while we ate at her little restaurant. She was a crazy "chicken lady" who sounded a whole lot like Dolly herself...a relative maybe? Dolly in disguise? Hmmmm...




We had to make it over to the teacups (or actually I think they were lemonade cups), because little britches, my five year old nephew said that is all he wanted to ride. Unfortunately, he was so little it didn't make for very good picture taking. His daddy lifted him up for me, for one good pic before the ride started. The older boys had a blast... of course Jordan told me later that it had left him very dizzy.







A park is not a park without some kind of log ride. My dad bought the park picture of it for me. The different looks on every one's face is priceless.


Pictures of other rides...







We ended the day with two rides. The cars and the rapids (again, not sure of the exact name). My brother-in law and I were volunteered to be the token adults who had to walk around wet while going to dinner. Hmmm.... still wondering about that. Needless to say, I got WET!!! I think every rapid, waterfall or water cannon had my name on it. I was just thankful they had a dryer (that is the crazy picture of me in the sunglasses) or I would have been DRIPPING all the way to dinner.









Overall, it was a FANTASTIC day. We all had a GREAT time! My mom even said it was one of her favorite theme parks ever... I think I would have to agree. We got there when it opened and stayed until closing and we NEVER do that. We probably stayed about two hours too many, because we were worn out afterwards, but we had some great memories made in those last two hours too.

I will close this post with dinner. The whole trip, my dad had been teasing about going to Golden Corral. HE knows that my sister and I wanted to go to places we couldn't go to at home. However, since he had been a trooper and had gone where we wanted to all week, we decided to take him that night to the Golden Corral. Turns out to be one of the best Golden Corrals I've ever been too. It was fast since it was a buffet and we were worn out (and wet). Can't beat a good steak, baked potato and fried okra in this girl's book. And I ended up having the best salad too! In fact my hubby said it was his favorite meal of the whole trip. Great choice, Dad!!!



Well, thanks for hanging in there on our adventure through Dollywood. It really was fun. I have one more day of pictures left from my vacation. I would go ahead and tell you what we did, but I think I will let it be a surprise. You see, it was a surprise for us too... curious?

11 comments:

Amber said...

What a FUN day!!!

Let's go back!! And this time you can actually ride the rides without pretending that you're miserable. Because you weren't. You liked it. Every single ride. TELL THE TRUTH.

And the kettle corn was yummy. Is it weird that we still haven't eaten it all? Still sitting on my counter.

Jim said...

Sis,
You are SO.OUR.FAMILY'S.PHOTOLICIOUS.MEMORY.MAKER! Thanks for being our "documentor" on site. I cannot imagine having the good memories without your presence, even minus the camera.
I love you bunches, babe!
Jim-Dad

Gretchen said...

So rather than a coat of many colors, you have a post of many pictures.

It works.

Well. :0)

Heart2Heart said...

Mich,

WOW what a fun filled, action packed day you had. It's amazing all the great pictures you took. I too love roller coasters as long as the hills are not too high.

Funnel cake and me, are life long friends. I can't go to any amusement park that sells them and not get one.

The pictures you have taken are so fun you can just feel all the emotion inside each and every one of them.

The water cannon thing, we have one at Sea World where you can pay to soak people, hubby and I spent $20 and it was the most fun we had all day, laughing non stop at how soaked we got people!

The funny thing is when I was waiting in the Urgent Care yesterday, we watched a Golden Corral commercial and my hubby was commenting on how he wished they had one here.

Love and Hugs ~ Kat

He & Me + 3 said...

OMWord what a fun time. You all must be having a blast. All those rides look great and that kettle corn bag was huge. I am sure it was delish! Loved all the snap shots and closeups. Great job.

Five Moms & A Blog said...

Oh, it all looks like so much FUN! I love the picture of you after getting all wet... very cute! =0)

Hope you have a great Monday!

Erica

christy rose said...

Mich, These pictures are fabulous! I most definitely have Dollywood on our list of one of our next places to visit as a vacation. Memories are what vacations are all about. I believe that you made many this week. Thanks for sharing it with us. I really enjoyed being a part of all that you did. ALOT!
Christy

Mocha Momma said...

Fun day! Your parents are troo-pers. I've never seen my parents go on a ride in my whole life. Our family had never gone to a theme park either.

I've gone as an adult. It is fun, but I don't like certain roller coasters either. Makes my euquilibrium (sp?) go crazy for too long afterward.

Waiting for the next vaca pix. Glad you had fun.

Nannette

~*Michelle*~ said...

WOW! You guys know how to vacation!

Can I tell you that I am drooling over that pottery....

Oh, and I don't want to see kettle corn for a while. I think I ate 18 pounds of it at The Soulfest. I am still picking the kernels out of my teeth, and I am sure a few pounds got added to my thighs, LOL.

Thanks again for sharing such fun photos! :)

Lauren said...

FUN FUN FUN!!! Love all the pictures!! We spent our honeymoon in Pigeon Forge and had a great dya at Dollywood! :)

Thanks so much for the encouraging words on my post yesterday - you're a blessing!! :)

Anonymous said...

Mich,
What a LOT of fun! I have not been to many theme parks, and when I do go, I never go on the rides; I just watch the rest of the family go…suits me fine. However, you DO look like you are having a great time. That picture of the cute little yellow car would be the sort of ride I would take. Ha! Ha!
♥Hope