Happy 1st birthday Blog!

Michael's broken arm.

Our weekend was busy, filled with movies on Friday, games on Saturday, Main Street Festival on Saturday night, church on Sunday, lunch with our SS class that afternoon AND a visit to the Emergency Room on Sunday night.

I didn't see it happen. Michael and Em were swinging. Michael was very high and his sister bumped into him causing him to fall to the ground. He landed flat on his arm and apparently on his chin sending a tooth into his lip. Both tooth and lip are still intact! There was blood, screaming and crying. Kevin finally stopped crying (ha!) and we loaded up and went to the ER and SAT for 2 1/2 hours or more and then found out Michael had a compression fracture in his left arm. Michael said in the ER, "Wow, that really hurt.".

He got his lovely UK blue cast on today. He has to wear it for 4 weeks and then he will switch to a shorter cast for 2 weeks. There's nothing quite like being a Gabhart!

Wednesday at Dollywood

Wednesday we went to Dollywood. There are really only 3 good rides there - all of them roller coasters. I used to love roller coasters when I was younger. Now...not so much. I like them after the first hill, or so I thought. The first coaster we road was the Tennessee Tornado. There are 3 loops on that one. After we got off, I was very dizzy. The boys road it twice. Then we road the Mystery Mine. Most of that one was indoors, so you couldn't see what it did. What we could see was a little crazy. There was a 90 degree drop and a loop where it went really slow. It didn't look too bad, so we all did it. It was the craziest ride I have ever been on. There were 2 sections where you went straight up at 90 degrees. I can't even tell you what else it did. I think I have blocked it from my mind. The last coaster we road was Thunderhead. Apparently, it's one of the fastest wooded roller coasters in the nation. It was also crazy. Emily was done after the Mystery Mine, so she didn't ride on that one. They road the water ride 4 times in a row - real smart - and were soaked for the rest of the day. It was about 68 degrees yesterday. Needless to say, they were a little chilly last night. Michael went back and road the Tennessee Tornado and Thunderhead before we left. I think he has finally found his inner-daredevil. I'll post pictures later. I'm almost caught up on the week!

A Snowy Tuesday

Tuesday morning we woke up to a dusting of snow. Luckily, the roads were clear. We were going to go to the Aquarium; however, the rest of Gatlinburg had the same idea, so we went to Ober Gatlinburg. We rode the Tram - this is not one of Kevin's favorite things, but he was a trouper! After we got up there we had planned on ice skating - also not one of Kevin's favorite things. However, we noticed that they had snow tubing. We did that instead and had so much fun. The track was pretty high. By the time we finished, it was really fast. On my last run, I ran into the wall. Emily and Michael had a blast since they had never experienced real sledding. It even snowed while we were up there.

After tubing, we went back down to Gatlinburg to grab some lunch. A man with a very deep voice convinced us that we needed a really good SIRLOIN BURGER, so we ate there. You need to get Kevin to do his impersonation of that man.

After lunch we went to the Aquarium, which was great. The crowds were way down by then and we were able to walk right in and walk around with no problem. It was a great day!

Monday in Gatlinburg

We left Knoxville Monday morning and drove to Gatlinburg. We couldn't check into our cabin until 4:00, so we drove around Pigeon Forge, visited the Wal-Mart to get a few things (I hate Wal-Mart!) and did a Mirror Maze. Then we met my friend Cindy and her family for lunch. After that we got our cabin. It's in the hills of downtown Gatlinburg. There are 3 levels with a spiral staircase. The kids think it's awesome. They are on the 3rd floor with the pool table and we are in the basement. I think they got the better end of that deal! The middle floor has the kitchen, living room, and another bathroom. That night we all watched a movie and had a raccoon visit us out on the deck.

Sunday night and Monday morning in Knoxville

Sunday we packed up and headed to Knoxville to see the Cromers before heading to Gatlingburg. It was so good to see them! We had dinner together and the kids played for a while before we checked in at our hotel. The hotel had a pool, so Em and Michael went swimming for a while.

Monday morning we loaded up our car and ate breakfast at IHOP and then on to Gatlinburg.