Get comfortable...this is a LONG one!

Hooray our computer is fixed!! Thank you Justin!! I put a zillion pics on the Shutterfly site so check them out!

Well, our vacation was a blast! It was so nice to get away and relax! The guys golfed Thursday while the rest of us were still working. We were on our way there when Wayne called and said they saw a mama bear and 3 cubs in the driveway at our cabin! I thought for sure he was joking, but they took pics and they were for real! I was so disappointed that I missed them though! We got there around 2am Friday morning and went to bed. Friday the guys golfed again while the girls hit the outlet malls. Hooray for deals! I found a TON of clothes for Kaitlyn for the next year or so. They had outlet stores for Carter's, Gymboree, Children's Place, OshKosh, etc. This kid is going to be in style! We ate a late dinner that night and missed the fireworks -- doh! I really wanted to see what Kaitlyn thought about them, but I was worried about how loud they were, so no biggie...there's always next year! Saturday we did a motor trail and stopped at one point to hike up to a waterfall. Boy, that was all uphill! Kaitlyn stayed at the car with Grandma and Aunt Ruth and had a bottle and a nap. Then we drove on the trail some more and ran into a bunch of stopped cars -- I got out and ran to the front and sure enough, there was a mama bear and 2 cubs up in the trees!! YAY, I got to see some bears!! FINALLY! So, that was really exciting! So I raced back to the car to tell everyone else and to grab the camera (should have taken it with me in the first place). So, we got some cute pics of the bears...the little cubs were adorable...I wanted to pet them! We walked around downtown Gatlinburg and went in some little shops. We played Hillbilly golf (aka Putt Putt), which was interesting. We had planned to put Kaitlyn in the baby backpack, but she had other ideas about that -- she didn't want any part of it! So, I held her while I played mini golf and she finally fell asleep! It's hard to play 18 holes of golf while holding a sleepy baby! But it worked! Back at our cabin that night we discovered that we had a pet raccoon. He came right up to our patio door and peeked in at us -- we were sure he wanted food, so we gave him fruit loops and he loved them! He tried coming in the door, so we had to hurry up and throw food out to him before he snuck in! He was cute though! Sunday we went up to Ober Gatlinburg. They had a little amusement park there and we rode this alpine slide thingy. That was fun. Then we rode the air tram back down the mountain into the city and headed for the aquarium. Kaitlyn was so busy taking everything in! All the colorful fish moving around really caught her eye. There was a tunnel that you walked through where you were surrounded by fish and sharks and that was really cool. We also got to pick up Horseshoe crabs and pet Stingrays! They were crazy slimy, but kind of cool! Afterwards we rode some go-karts, which was really fun. Then the guys played some more mini golf while the girls went to this Hoot-n-Holler dinner show. It was a mix of comedy, weird tricks/stunts and skits. We had a great time and the food was awesome! Then it was back to the cabin for one last dip in the hot tub! Monday we drove around Cade's Cove in the park and saw some deer, but no more bear. We were having a great time, but it was time to head home! Boo!

Kaitlyn was an absolute angel on the trip. With all the trouble she had sleeping before we left, I was really worried that this would be a disaster, but she did great! She was really good in the car and very patient with all the time she spent in the stroller. She was great in the high chair when we were eating out. She was so worn out from all the days excitement that she just zonked right out at bed time and we never heard a peep out of her! Phew! I am so lucky to have such an easy going baby! She's really started banging her toys together a lot lately to make noise, which is exciting. She also discovered that she can go "pppbbbsssttt" with her thumb in her mouth too -- so funny, but she's really starting to soak us with all that slobber! No news on the teeth, but I swear they are right there! In fact, I can see 4 bottom teeth pushing up...I just can't believe it's taking this long for them to break though! Oh well, she has her whole life to have teeth I guess! Her hair is starting to thicken up finally too! Yes, I won't have a bald baby forever!

Ok, this is certainly long enough! Hope everyone had a great holiday! :o)