The cruise

After Savannah we made the short drive to Jacksonville, FL to board our cruise.  We left on Monday and came back Saturday making stops in Nassau and a small private island.  The girls spent our days on the boat playing mostly in the kids water slide area.  Reesi made friends with two sisters the first day and hung out with them all week.  We even met them in the evenings for shows.  The girls also went to camp carnival for a few hours each day, which I loved!  It gave me some time to lay out and read.  We ate dinner every night and made friends with our table.  One couple was a preacher and his wife, a middle age couple, and a mother and daughter.  We even met the preacher one night so Larry could teach him how to play crabs.  We had a great time and lots of good food!  When we got back Saturday morning elye was ready to go home at this point.  But our vacation wasn't over yet.  Next, we drove to Navarre to stay with the Hardings for a long weekend.

 Love those ice cream cones

 This girl was mostly good at dinner time.

 Our preacher friend and wife

 Elye made friends with the 18 year old right next to us.  

 Getting a few braids

 Shopping after a day at the beach- did not go well.  We left our cash on the boat so we couldn't buy any thing ($20 minimum and everything was junk).  So Elye cried the whole walk back to the boat.  I was so ready to throw her in Camp Carnival when we returned!

 Chocolate ice cream face

Savannah, GA

Before getting to Jacksonville, we stopped in Savannah, GA.  We stayed downtown and got there eary enough to enjoy the beautiful downtown area.  We did get stuck in a massive downpour with no umbrella.  We hid out in a hotel lobby for a while until we decided to make a break for it.  We quickly made it to the riverfront for lunch.  After lunch it was beautiful and we walked back to,our hotel for a swim in the pool.  Later we did some more walking and stopped at a classic ice cream place for desert.

 During the road trip Reesi began designing dresses in her drawing notebook.  I was pretty impressed.  So the whole time we were in Savannah she was taking pictures of architectural stuff the whole time for inspiration.  I have about a million pictures like the one above and below.  

Gatlinburg day 7-8

On day seven I spent my morning getting my hair done and getting Meemaw a new phone.  Today Larry finally got to come in town.  Everybody met him at The Alamo, which is ridiculously good, for an early dinner.  After dinner we walked around downtown, went to Riley's believe it or not, watched a Riley's 3-d, did the Riley's haunted house(adults only), and ate lots of almond.

The next day we packed up everything and said our goodbyes to the family.  Larry, the girls, and I had one last pancake breakfast before heading to Dollywood.  Reesi loved the log ride, while elye loved the baby roller coaster and the Dumbo ride.  We also saw the amazing bubble show which is pretty amazing.  We took off early for Columbia, SC, our first stop on our way to Jacksonville, FL for our cruise.

Gatlinburg-Day 6

For some crazy reason, I agreed to go on a sunrise hike with Jeff and Austin.  We woke up at 4:50 and headed out to Clingman's Dome.  We got there and thought we had little time to spare before sunrise.  So we booked it up the mountain.  That was not fun and our grumbling bellies didn't agree with us.  At one point, I heard Jeff let out a series of pooters with each step.  We finally made it to the top and ended up having several minutes to spare.  It was pretty cold, but it was a beautiful sunrise.  When we made it back down the mountain Jeff needed a bathroom ASAP.  He ran straight to the first one.  I went to the next one, walked in, and almost immediately threw up.  We decided that they smelled like rotten, spoiled, poop.  Jeff said he had to put his shirt over his nose the whole time he was in there.  Austin and I refused to even use them.  Austin went in the woods and I finally found one on the other side of the parking lot that wasn't that bad.  After the horrible bathroom experience we drove to Laural Falls for another hike.

Later that afternoon everybody went to Westgate to grill out with Granny and Papa.  We had a fabulous lunch and then went swimming at the water park.  That night Reesi, the Hardings, and I went to a Indiana Jones mystery thing.  Reesi was terrified the whole time, climbing up my body, and holding on so tight.  Of course, once it was done she said, that wasn't that bad.  

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!