Mirror, Mirror On the Wall...

...who is the cutest of them all?

Guess who discovered herself in the mirror today?

It was cute when she was cooing and babbling to herself.

But when she started this.....

Perhaps we should have named her Narcissa?  ;)

~Lone Butterfly  )i(

Gatlinburg Cub Scouts - Day Two

Day Two started wonderful.  Everyone woke up happy, and GO & CW rolled around on the bed playing.

 

 

We had breakfast all together,in the hotel, and I had a chance to take pictures of our beautiful view from our balcony.

The hotel was amazing, and I loved being so close and walking all around downtown Gatlinburg, but still being able to see the Great Smokies in the distance.  The long bridge is how you exit the hotel and get to the main street.

After breakfast the group split up.  We went with the Royal family to the Guinness Book of World Records Museum, managing to be the first people in the door.  GO spent her second day in the Ergo Baby (getting ready for our long trip).

Hubby and King found a really cool drumming machine - King bet us all, but no one came close to the record!

B10 found a car to drive.  I never really understood the car, I think it was a car from a movie.  Either way, he enjoyed it immensely!

After the Museum, we made our way to the Mirror Maze.  It is one of the few attractions I had never visited in Gatlinburg (attached to the Candy Kitchen - buy 10 lbs of candy, get a free toothbrush) and we LOVED it.  It was a really cheap addition to our group passes, but one of my favorite things.

We had a blast wearing our gloves (so as not to smudge on the mirrors) and trying to find our way back and forth in the maze.

Lunch was at Wendy's (again...), but we made it back to the parking lot around 12:30 pm to get our cars and head to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

I love watching B10 stare at nature, he could do it for hours and the way his brain works is so fascinating to me.

The GSMNP is the most visited park in the National System.  We stopped at the Sugarlands Visitors Center with Prince, Princess and ET.

It was raining (except in the upper elevations, where it was doing a bit of "slushing"), so we didn't get to stop often.  We did pull over at the Newfound Gap, where the boys could stand in both Tennessee and North Carolina at the same time.

Also, the Appalachian Trail crosses this point, so while I didn't hike MUCH - I did "hike" a part of the trail!

GO and CW were fast asleep, ignoring the cold, wet snow.  Hubby didn't really get out of the car either!

After we left GSMNP, we headed south home, following the Royal Family.  Since I've been an adult, I've never driven by Tallulah Gorge during daylight hours and not stopped, so we had to pull over and take a few quick pictures.

This was GO's first Gorge visit.  She was quite happy to get out of her carseat!

The rest of the drive home included IHOP for dinner and a quick geocache grab at Brenau University.  Overall, a great Cub Scout trip!  (Even with the damaged toe!)

~Lone Butterfly  )i(

Gatlinburg Cub Scouts - Day One

We drove up late last night (arriving at the hotel after 11 pm), so we woke up early this morning and put on our new Cub Scout Class B shirts and headed out to breakfast.  This is the balcony in our room (B10 was so cute and careful, he refused to stand up on the balcony with GO at all!).

Our first stop was the Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, one of my favorite aquariums ever.  GO was fascinated by the TV and Prince is fascinated by GO.

The Caterpillars worked hard on their Scout badges (Princess even had a Girl Scout book).

Hubby practiced using our new Ergo Baby.

I loved this "fish"...

The aquarium has a really cool tunnel that you ride through, the saw-tooth sharks like to lay on the top of the tunnel.

GO and CW loved this turtle.

When B10 and I came to Gatlinburg in 2007, I took a photo of him next to a Coral tank and it is still one of my favorite photos ever.  On this trip, I wanted to be sure to get a photo of all three Caterpillars next to the tank.

And the two little "Nemo" fish came out to say hello!

GO seemed to enjoy the Ergo Baby as long as she could look around and see stuff.

B10 LOVES the horseshoe crabs, and he loves showing others what he knows.

For lunch we all went to Wendy's, our old faithful standby.

Then it was off to the Ripley's Moving Theatre, another favorite attraction from 2007 and my trip with B10.

GO fell asleep on ET's Daddy, and when she went back into her carrier, she looked like her little head was going to fall off.  But she wouldn't let us prop her forward!

You can see Hubby isn't thrilled with her stubbornness!

We went as a group to the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum, then I headed out early to pick up drinks for the Scout Dinner.  The families all headed to our hotel room around 6pm to eat pizza and enjoy time with each other.

The goal was to be at the trolley stop by 7:10 pm for our "Winterfest Trolley Ride of Lights".

While it was chilly waiting for our Trolley (named "Frosty"), the Caterpillars had a blast.  GO was in her pajamas and ready to fall asleep (not that she did, mind you).

The hour long trip was awesome (I highly recommend for anyone traveling to Gatlinburg during the winter).  We learned a lot about Gatlinburg and saw beautiful LED lights all over town.

Back at the hotel, it was POOL TIME!  Even GO spent about an hour in the warm indoor pool water, and B10 and CW got to swim for almost 2 hours!

They crashed hard when they finally got in bed asleep!  But, that means they'll be doing good tomorrow when we wake them up early for Day Two.

~Lone Butterfly  )i(

It Started Out Wrong...But Did Get Better!

It's always hard to navigate in the dark in a new place (like a hotel room), so all I knew was that it REALLY hurt when I stubbed my toe trying to get GO out of the playpen in the middle of the night.

Morning came, and as I was laying in bed, with my toe under the blankets, I thought - OW, my toe still hurts a lot.

Then I pulled back the covers and saw this:

It was SO HARD to put a shoe on...really?  Did this have to happen the day I was about to walk around ALL DAY LONG?  And it wasn't even an end toe.

Tee hee hee, CW and B10 thought it was cool at least.

~Lone Butterfly  )i(

Boo-Boo!

We had a rough day today, and poor GO had to bear the brunt of it.

I had received a jury duty notice in the mail, for the week before we were leaving on vacation.  Add that to the fact that I am the primary caregiver for a nursing infant under 1 year - and I needed to postpone my Jury Duty by 90 days.  It's a simple process, but requires a phone call to a live person.

Meanwhile, B10 is cooking lunch (yes, a hot lunch, because he is AMAZING).  This left CW, who was asked to sit in the middle of the floor with GO and play Little People with her.

The next thing I know, there is a loud crash and screaming and B10 is yelling "I'm taking her to Mum, right now!"

GO had managed to stand and grab onto the wrought iron fireplace tools stand, then bring the entire thing down on her head.  The puncture wound on her forehead and the scratches on the top of her head, spread far to much blood for me to remain calm.  I managed to call Queen (who, God bless her, was at my house in less than 15 minutes).  Luckily, after cleaning the wounds, it wasn't near as bad as it first looked.

However, the three minor head wounds and the bruising - well, let's just say we won't be doing her 1 year pictures anytime soon!

~Lone Butterfly  )i(

Cutie-Patootie in PIGTAILS!

I was so excited!  Today, I was finally able to get GO's hair into pigtails!  It was perfect for her second trip to the specialist downtown.

So first - lots of adorable photos of GO and her pigtails.

 

Second - the news...GO gained less than 100 grams, which is basically nothing.  Her allergy test came back negative, so she's clear of all the food allergies.  The next step is to test her and make sure her body is absorbing the fat that she is eating.  If she isn't, there are three things they will check for: liver function, pancreas function and cystic fibrosis.

Please keep her in your prayers, we need to find a resolution to this so we can move forward with the solution.  I am praying for patience and for wisdom for the doctors.

Many thanks,
Lone Butterfly  )i(

Catch-Up

Someday soon, I will catch up my blog.  Right now, there are over 500 pictures trapped on my digital camera (what on earth did I DO before digital cameras?).

Bear with me, please - GO had her 11 month doctor's appt and still has gained no weight (14 lbs 6 oz).  If you find a spare moment, say a prayer - her second specialist appointment is tomorrow afternoon.

~Lone Butterfly  )i(