Friday, July 5, 2013

Gatlinburg- Day 5

On Wednesday the Harding decided to go White Water Rafting and Meemaw was determined to go horseback riding.  Meemaw, the girls, and I started out the morning with riding the trolley.  Elye had been dying to ride the trolley since day one and every time she saw a trolley she would scream out, 
Trolley!"  We rode that trolley so long that Elye decided she didn't want to ride a trolley again and was done saying trolley.  I think we trollied her out.  

After the trolley ride we headed to the country to ride some horses.  Elye was not excited about this, but she agreed since she got to ride with me.  We started out the horseback ride with the rough cowgirl leader in the front leading a little boy on his horse, then Reesi, the boy's mom, me/Elye, and then Meemaw at the end.  They told us two things: don't let the horses eat and make sure we stay in that order.  Meemaw had problems from the very beginning.  Her horse wouldn't go, wouldn't stop eating, and was miles behind us.  The leader had to go back several times to help Meemaw get her horse going.  We had just turned a corner in the pasture and we had to stop and wait on Meemaw and her horse again.  He had gone next to the creek to eat and Meemaw couldn't get him to move.  All of the sudden something spooked her horse and he jumped ten feet, freaking Meemaw out and throwing her sunglasses in the air.  The leader went back again, got the sunglasses and got Meemaw going again.  Less then five minutes later, for some reason Meemaw's horse started running, which made my horse start running.  My horse, Attagirl, had no where to go except into the horse butt in front of us or towards this giant rock.  Attagirl chose the rock, so I yanked back on the rains as hard as I could, nailing Elye in the head.  At this point Elye and Meemaw were ready to go home!  The leader traded horses with Meemaw and gave her Darlin'.  Darnlin' was the sweetest horse, but all she wanted to do was eat.  The rest of the trip every time I looked back, Darlin' was way behind us.  She was either eating or loping along with a giant branch in her mouth.  All we could hear was Meemaw yelling, "Come on, Darla!"It was the funniest horse back ride ever and all I did was laugh at Meemaw the whole time.  Reesi loved it and actually ended up leading the whole group half the time because the leader had to ride in the back with Meemaw.  Meemaw spent the rest of the week showing off her bruises and swearing of horseback riding forever!












Day 4

Meemaw and the Hardings went to Dollywood for the day.  The girls and I were waiting to go on Saturday with Larry so we went to our favorite gem mining place in Pigeon Forge.  Then we went to Granny's water park at Westgate.  That night I think we went with everybody to Ripley's Mirror Maze.  This was Reesi's favorite.  She laughed and danced the whole way through and when she found the end she went back through backwards over and over with Parker and Austin.  






Thursday, July 4, 2013

Gatlinburg-Day 3

Day three turned out to be a rainy day.  We hit the Aquarium in the morning where Lesli and Jeff scored military Ripley's tickets for everyone.  We got a great deal and got to go to all 8 of the Ripley attractions throughout the week.  We then did a little gem mining downtown Gatlinburg, walked around, ate more Mexican at a different Mexican restaurant, and ended the night sitting out on our deck painting toe nails and telling stories.  











Gatlinburg-Day 1-2

We started out our vacation in Gatlinburg with all of Larry's family.  Well, all of his family except him. He got stuck at home running a sports camp and didn't get to join us until Friday.  The girls were so excited to share a cabin with Meemaw and all of Lesli's family.  We started out the Saturday night with the Mexican place by the Aquarium and walking around downtown.  Elye's first mission was to get a stuffed animal, which ended up being a Smokey Mountain Bear.  The next morning we set out for a hike to Grotto Falls.  Elye made it all the way up, running half the way.  I think she used up all her energy the first half of the hike because she had to be carried down the second half.  It's no good having shorty legs.  We also headed to Granny's and Papa's place at Westgate and swam in their indoor water park.  

 Elye, with her park map ready to go
 Reesi and her fanny pack




 We made it to Grotto Falls, but somehow I didn't get a picture of the actual waterfall.
 Mexican on the river
The crew, minus jeff.
 We celebrated Lesli's Birthday


 Pancake Pantry

Swimming Lessons

Elye started swimming lessons again with Nancy Anderson, our favorite swimming teacher.  She taught Reesi for several years and our cousins.  When Elye started swim lessons she would not even put her face underwater and was terrified of her first lesson.  I actually think it wasn't until the fifth lesson that she stopped crying.  She was always fine when she got there, but dreaded it.  We were so impressed with what she learned.  She finally loves to go underwater.  Her favorite is for me to stand in the pool and let her swim back and forth from the steps.  We are so proud of our Elye.