Spring Break ‘19

We started off spring break with an adult trip to Cincinnati with our friends Ryan & Kim. The kids spent the night at Nanny Pops and they were pumped. They started packing their bags on Wednesday. While we enjoyed a nice steak dinner and the casino, the kids enjoyed pancakes and sausages and lots of playtime at one of their favorite places. 

I met Bill Meck who was quietly reading a book at the bar while his wife was off gambling her heart out. 

Thanks to Philips blackjack strategies- winner winner chicken (steak) dinner.

We hung out in Gtown some; Tiffany and Harrison were in from GA. We watched UK lose in the NCAA tourney together - waahh waaahhh.





We took the kids to see WonderPark at the $5 movie & free popcorn day. 

Then we took a mini-trip to Dollywood with the Brownings and the Donovans  We left Wednesday morning and met up with them at “the island” which was like a mini amusement park in Pigeon Forge. We stopped for lunch on the way there where Parker gave himself a bloody nose by sticking a French fry in his nostril. 

We all rode the Ferris wheel and then each kid got to pick two rides. Parker wanted the froggy ride and Ainsley really wanted to do the “happy swing”. She did it by herself and i was very proud of her. 

Ainsley would not let go of Philip even though we were in an enclosed cage. 



We got checked into our hotel and 5 minutes into our stay Parker got his fingers stuck in the elevator on the way up to our room. Thankfully it was just bruised and no breaks but gave us all a scare. 

That night we ate at Paula Dean’s restaurant. It was family style eating which was appropriate for our large group. 

We had bunk beds in our hotel room and i swear this was Parker’s favorite part of the whole trip. He kept asking when he got to go back to the bunk beds. 

The next day was our park day at Dollywood. We rode the trolley from our resort to the park. Parker was the youngest and shortest kid there and was the only one not to measure into the “orange arm band” category. So all the other kids qualified for a lot more rides than he did. Luckily Hattox had no desire to do the bigger rides so he at least had a buddy. 

For some dumb reason we were talked into doing the water “rapid” ride. Ainsley was in the exact wrong spot on the raft and got enveloped in water at almost every dip, causing crying almost the entire ride. Parker got hit with a wave and chimed in and we had two miserable and unhappy soaked kids for a bit. 

Ainsley wasn’t very adventurous in her rides so we sent Philip off with Nick B to ride some bigger rides while the rest of us took the kids on the train around the park. Sitting down, combined with the movement of the train sent both my kids into dream land. 

Parker stayed asleep for awhile so i took A to the indoor pool. Then we ventured down to the road to a Mexican restaurant. Next to it was an alpine slide that was over 9 minutes of up, around and down a mountain. Ainsley and I rode together while the boys went to go carts. But it was so fun we called the boys and had them meet us there so they could do it too. This was probably the most favorite thing we did.

We made our home slowly on Friday, stopping to have brunch, Philip went to his knife store, and 3 of us napped on the drive home. 

I wouldn’t say it was relaxing but it was a lot of fun. We will wait until Parker grows a bit before we go back but would definitely like to go again!