Bruce and Shark-bait go to the Aquarium
On Saturday we packed the boys in the car and headed to Pigeon Forge for a weekend trip to Dollywood for Gran's birthday. Prior to leaving for the trip Gran dropped by with a few things to include in the suitcase. Gran had stocked up on really cute, coordinating outfits for the boys to wear; and I have to say that they looked precious every minute of the trip.
We intended to leave the house by no later than 10:00 a.m. I think that we may have made it out the door by noon. Finn opted to ride with Gran for the first leg of the trip; Sam rode with us. We stopped in Cookeville for lunch at Blue Coast Burrito. Finn ate black beans while Sam chew on his bottle of ice water (helped to soothe his teeth).
When I was finished I took Sam out to the car to "top him off" so to speak before starting the second leg of the journey.
Just prior to entering Pigeon Forge we stopped at a little gas station to let give Finn a "comfort break" as we say in Court and fill the stoller's tires up with air. Even after his nap and sitting in the car for hours Finn had a dry pullup. To reward him, Gran bought Finn a sucker. The stop was less fun for Michael. After filling the tires up, we discovered that we couldn't get the stroller back in the trunk. It probably took us 15 minutes to jam that stroller back into the trunk of the car.
At this stop Finn decided that he wanted to ride with us. In order to give Sam a change of scenery we strapped him into Gran's car. We arrived in Pigeon Forge around 4:00 Eastern time. The first thing we saw was wall to wall traffic moving at approximately 2 miles per hour. This was to be expected as it was a holiday weekend. While we can accept that as adults the boys were harder to appease. I turned a movie on for Finn to watch to keep him occupied through the traffic. He promptly turned it off and restarted it. I bet we heard the preview to "Monsters v. Aliens" 20 times. Midway down the strip we received a call from Gran informing us that Sam was having a hard time. Since we weren't moving very fast, I grabbed the diaper bag and walked back to Gran's car to feed Sam.
We arrived at our hotel around 5:00. The place was called the Timber Lodge and it was really neat. We had a loft room. Gran and Pa stayed upstairs while Michael, Finn, Sam and I shared the King sized bed. After we had checked in, we changed the boys into their aquarium gear.
Finn's little outfit had a shark on the bottom of the shirt as well as sharks on his shorts. For purposes of this blog Finn has been dubbed "shark-bait" and Sam "Bruce" as he has a very prominent shark on his shirt.
Next we headed to Gallatinburg to the Ripley's Aquarium. As expected, we hit a little traffic, but nothing too bad. This next picture was taken outside the aquarium.
In order to allow me to take better pictures Michael carried Sam. Even he was surprised at how heavy carrying a baby can get.
The aquarium was very impressive, to say the least. These pictures show just a smidgeon of what we experienced.
Both boys loved the "schooling fish." I was so excited about how much fun Sam had at the aquarium. He loved looking at the fish.
This was pretty neat - it is a huge tank full of sharks and other large sea life.
Directly under the large tank (same one pictured above) is a walkway/tunnel that winds through the building. When walking through you are surrounded on all side, and overhead by water. I love the expression on Finn's face.
Oh, Finn's view of the shark . . . that's what. The best part of this exhibit was threatening music. The scarier the music, the more scared Finn became.
Next we found our way to the children's play area where Finn captained a ship and dove for sea treasure.
Next, Finn and I braved the jaws of a prehistoric shark while Sam braved some sort of sea crab (I can't remember the name.)
Finn's favorite part of the aquarium was the shark learning/discovery area. He loved/feared this mechanical shark. After pulling the lever, the shark rises out of the hole and attempts to eat the wrecking ball hanging above.
We intended to leave the house by no later than 10:00 a.m. I think that we may have made it out the door by noon. Finn opted to ride with Gran for the first leg of the trip; Sam rode with us. We stopped in Cookeville for lunch at Blue Coast Burrito. Finn ate black beans while Sam chew on his bottle of ice water (helped to soothe his teeth).
Just prior to entering Pigeon Forge we stopped at a little gas station to let give Finn a "comfort break" as we say in Court and fill the stoller's tires up with air. Even after his nap and sitting in the car for hours Finn had a dry pullup. To reward him, Gran bought Finn a sucker. The stop was less fun for Michael. After filling the tires up, we discovered that we couldn't get the stroller back in the trunk. It probably took us 15 minutes to jam that stroller back into the trunk of the car.
At this stop Finn decided that he wanted to ride with us. In order to give Sam a change of scenery we strapped him into Gran's car. We arrived in Pigeon Forge around 4:00 Eastern time. The first thing we saw was wall to wall traffic moving at approximately 2 miles per hour. This was to be expected as it was a holiday weekend. While we can accept that as adults the boys were harder to appease. I turned a movie on for Finn to watch to keep him occupied through the traffic. He promptly turned it off and restarted it. I bet we heard the preview to "Monsters v. Aliens" 20 times. Midway down the strip we received a call from Gran informing us that Sam was having a hard time. Since we weren't moving very fast, I grabbed the diaper bag and walked back to Gran's car to feed Sam.
We arrived at our hotel around 5:00. The place was called the Timber Lodge and it was really neat. We had a loft room. Gran and Pa stayed upstairs while Michael, Finn, Sam and I shared the King sized bed. After we had checked in, we changed the boys into their aquarium gear.
The aquarium was very impressive, to say the least. These pictures show just a smidgeon of what we experienced.
What could he be looking at . . .
Let me just say that this was not easy to get in and out of.
"Jelly Man"
Attempting to touch the stingrays.
On our way out we stopped at the gift shop. While there we tried on silly glasses and Finn bought a squeaky souvenir shark.
We left the aquarium around 10:00 to discover that there had been a wreck in tunnel on the way back to Pigeon Forge and that all traffic had come to a complete stop. We opted to stay in Gatlinburg and eat supper at a Mexican joint right next to the aquarium. We met Pa there as well. Pa spent the whole day driving from Pennsylvania to met us in Gatlinburg. We had a great dinner - despite the late hour the boys were well behaved and calm.
On the way back to Pigeon Forge we must have hit the tail end of the traffic jam and ended up sitting in stand still traffic for over an hour. We made it back to the hotel around 2:00 a.m. Since the boys napped during the traffic jam they were ready to play. We did our best to get them into their pajamas and settled in for the night.
Great first day, but glad to be in bed!
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