January 2010

Here's a few more pictures and that should finish up January. I'll catch up one day!!

Tanner loves Mallory's car. He stayed in there forever at playgroup!!

Tanner loves to play with his game from Cracker Barrel. Every time we eat there he plays this with Daddy!! (After he's had his fill of the rocking chairs, of course!!)

Playing with Little People one morning.

He loves to sit IN his toy baskets!!

Watching a show with Leo. Could be Barney, Little Einstiens or Horton!!
Tanner's gotten to be such a big help around the house. He can follow simple directions, but the best is when he helps without being asked!! Don't worry. I'm not wearing rose colored glasses...I know it won't last!! He's a BOY!!!
He got really quiet one day and when I went to look for him, he was rocking with Leo and reading a story!! How cute!!
This was one of the first days we had when it was warm enough to go outside so we took advantage of it. He loves to ride his 4-wheeler, but up until this point he'd been having to do it inside. Not as fun as being in the wild outdoors!!

Davarka Family Vacay

The Davis's + The Kacarka's + Gatlinburg = The Davarka Family Vacay 2010

At the end of January we took a vacation with our friends Aaron & Jennifer and their two boys, Ryan & Brayden. Aaron's dad had a great deal on a Gatlinburg timeshare so we tagged along and we had a blast!!! I got really sick just before we left (and stayed sick the entire trip) so I didn't take pictures of everything. Yes, I know I'm a slacker, but don't worry this will still probably be one of the longest posts you've ever read!! We were coming from Tupelo and they were coming from Jackson so we met up at Cracker Barrel (my fave) right on the other side of Birmingham and caravanned from there. I'll try to remember to tell about things we did that I didn't get pics of (sad face). Hope you enjoy cause we sure did!!

Because I started getting sick before the trip, I started packing pretty early. And it was so much less stressful that way. Note to self: Do that before every trip!!! While I was packing Tanner's stuff, he decided to have a seat in his toy basket.

Then when Daddy got home he wanted to swing in his dirty clothes basket.

Then he decided to help me put it all in the suitcase!!

One day while we were in G'burg we went to Ripley's Aquarium and omg if you ever get the chance to go, you definitely should!!

Getting ready to go inside.

Iguana's. You can ask Tanner what a lizard does and he'll stick out his tounge. (Thanks Ava!!)That's exactly what he did when he saw these!!

Watching a school of fish.

He was very into all the exhibits!!

Ryan & Brayden

Tanner "adjusting the water pressure" for the Aquarium!!

Ready for more fish!!

We almost lost a boot here!!

Trying to touch the stingray's through the glass!!

My most favorite fish in the whole Aquarium!!

Looking in a huge tank!!

On the conveyor belt that takes you through the tank!!

Nope....It would not be fun if the glass busted.

Tanner & Daddy touched stingrays and I was so grossed out by it, but....

They made me do it anyway!!

Ryan, Brayden & Tanner playing in the treasure chest.

Arrrrr Matey!!

Here's some shots of the ocean life we saw.

That's the sweetest piece of fish food I've ever seen!!

We found some more stingrays!!

All bundled up and ready to walk the strip!!

A beautiful (but cold) Gatlinburg night!!

My mom made Tanner this blanket and I'm so glad we brought it!! I think he was the warmest one of the bunch!!

Chocolate fit for a Doctor!!

Coloring a pretty picture while waiting on our food at T.G.I.Friday's!!

The Apple Barn is one of our favorite places in Gatlinburg. Here we are with our apple donut, apple fritter, and apple cider!! (We went back another day and got apple pie!!) Me and Jennifer bought some fresh apples and made our own apple pie for all the boys one night!! I'd say we did pretty good!! We went home with some apple butter and yummy popcorn!!

But nothin's sweeter than my little apple dumplin!!!

Brayden, Jennifer, Aaron & Ryan

I love this picture of them!!

Tanner, where's your bread basket?

There was a rock slide on the Spur (the road that connects Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge) so traffic was kinda heavy at times.

Riding the tram to Obergatlinburg. Not a fan of all the swaying it did!!!

What a view!!

This is The Barbie House. It's an exact replica of the toy and Matel owns it!! You can see it from the tram!! That's where I wanna stay next, but considering I'm outnumbered 2-1 by boys in my family....the chances are slim!!

Another awesome view from the tram.

The whole reason for going to Obergatlinburg was so Scotty and Aaron could ski (night ski, that is). Me and Jennifer on the other hand had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We went early so the guys could see the kids play in the snow. Gatlingburg is a great place any time of the year, but when you're taking kids in the winter, there's not as much for them to do. And up on the mountain, there's even less!!

The snow covered slopes.

Posing for a picture in the frigid weather!!

Me & Jenn!!

Our brave and adventurous men!!

The 3 cutest mountain men in all of Gatlinburg!!

We love to snuggle up when it's chilly outside!!

Looking over the ice skating rink.

My cute hubby!! He could be an Olympic skier....not even kiddin!!!

Scotty's trying to teach Aaron a few things before getting on the lift. Apparently they had a great time. You should hear the stories they tell!!!

The guys wanted us to watch them ski down so we waited at the base of the mountain. IN THE SNOW!!! With 3 freezing, miserable little boys!!! It literally took 40 minutes for them to get down the mountain!! It was probably the worst decision I've ever made as a mom!! All of our hands were stinging from the cold and me and Jenn felt horrible!! We were getting ready to leave (and just tell the guys why later) when all of a sudden we spotted them!! We took some quick pics, waved bye and took the boys to get dinner and back to the condo!! Scotty and Aaron hadn't been skiing very long when the lift started having some kind of electrical problems and they had to shut everything down. The resort comped everybody a night of skiing and so they went back the next night!! While they were giving it a go for the 2nd time, we took the kids to eat hibachi and made our apple pie!! (That would be what I didn't get pics of!!)

The next day we went to Cade's Cove and had a blast!! We made several stops along the way to take pictures!! Who'da thought?

Ryan throwing a rock over his shoulder!!

When the water's low we love to climb down the retainer walls and get as close to the river as possible!! It's an adrenaline booster!!

The tour guides leading us on our journey through the Smokey Mountains!!

Tanner found a rock on one of our first stops and carried it home as a souvenier!!

John Oliver was one of the first settlers in the Smokey Mountains and this is his cabin!! How cool is it that this has been around since the 1800s?!?!

Our family

I could live smack dab in the middle of this park!! (Maybe)

Tanner playing in the Primitive Baptist Church. I love this picture because I used to play here as a little girl when we would visit on our family vactions.

Rev. Scott likes to quote Titus.... quite a bit!!!

Tanner was great at spotting deer all through the park. He would point and say "Dee-ah"!! And you can get so close to them here!! I guess they're used to being gawked at!!

Playing on the bank of a mountain stream. This was another favorite spot when I was little!!

On the way out of Cade's Cove

After a day in the Cove we went to Black Bear Jamboree for a dinner show!!! Loved it!!

Because there was such an age difference in the boys, the next day we split up for a few hours so Ryan and Brayden could do some fun things that Tanner was just too young to do. They went to Wonder Works (which is sooo much fun) while we went shopping and went back to the Apple Barn to get some fresh apple pie!! We met back up for dinner and another show that night!!

Here's Ryan getting ready for some grub at Huck Finn's!! Doesn't he look like a little model?

Brayden and some yummy hush puppies!! We lost count of how many he actually had!!

Tanner was exhausted from such a busy day, but don't worry he eventually woke up for some popcorn shrimp!!

Mom, would you please stop taking pictures? I'm tryin' to eat here!!!

After dinner at Huck Finn's we caught a show at the Comedy Barn and it was so much fun!! If you're looking for good, clean fun for the whole family, this is the place to go!!!

Tanner had a great view on Daddy's shoulders!!

Aaron got to go up on stage and be a "helper"!!! It was hilarious!!

Ryan & Brayden did too!! I honestly can't tell you how hysterical they were!! Brayden stole the show and had the whole place cracking up!! He kept spanking the man in the overalls!! Too funny!!

We had to leave the next day, but we really didn't want to!! They predicted a huge snow storm so we were hoping to get "stuck" on vacation because a week was just not long enough!! We didn't get snowed in, but it made for a beautiful trip home!!

Some of the pictures were out of order. This was from the 2nd day. We just hung around the condo and went with Scotty over to the Activities Center so he could get some work done and then we took to kids to the indoor swimming pool!!

Coloring a picture for Daddy.

Tanner playing pool with Daddy!!

Like father like son!!! (Tanner's watching a show on Scotty's iphone if you can't tell!!)

Tanner being silly in our room one morning.

Again!!

This is our breakfast spot. Each trip we take to Gatlinburg, we always have breakfast here a few times during the week!! Love it!!

Playing in the gift shop at Flapjack's.

Not ready to go home =(

On the drive home....what's the first thing Tanner does? Loses the shoes & socks!!

Helping unpack...He doesn't waist time getting back into a routine at home.

We had so much fun with our friends and can't wait for the next Davarka Family Vacay!!