Vay-Cay-She-Own

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.



I can't really think of any better way to sum it up. Let's start with the worst...



The worst of times revolved around Emma. Because that poor, poor girl could NOT SLEEP. We were nervous going into it about how she'd sleep and it was evident from the get-go that she did not like being away from her own room and her own bed. Pack and play wasn't cutting it, and no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't do enough to cover up the ginormous windows in our room to make it dark enough for her. So that was a bummer. She rarely napped, and when she did they were very short (30-40 minute range). At night time she was waking up at least twice a night, and on the bad nights she was up 4-5 times and just not being able to get back to sleep. And then she decided to get up for the day anywhere from 5:45 - 6:30 am. When she usually gets up between 7:30 and 8:30. So that was just brutal. She was also nursing 10-12 times in a 24 hour period, when she normally nurses 4-5 times, because that was the ONLY thing that would calm her down. All the sleeplessness and constant nursing sent me into a state of emotional breakdown. I was able to hide it pretty well (maybe??) until the end of the week, when I went into meltdown mode because I was pretty sure I was going to have to miss the girls day out, because I had nothing left in me, to leave a bottle behind for Mike. But, this is where the worst of times started to turn up, because my Mom and Mike convinced me that I should go on the girls day out anyway, and that Mike would go get some formula for Emma. And MIRACLE OF MIRACLES, she took it! We had tried several times before to get her to take formula, and she just absolutely refused, so I was just amazed and thankful that she took it on vacation. Also, while we were gone, Mike discovered that she had a new tooth. In fact, she got TWO new teeth. So, that explained a lot. I'm not sure if any other mothers feel this way, but just knowing WHAT was causing her freak outs made it a lot easier to cope. So, anyway, yeah, the worst of times was pretty much just the sleepless thing. I caught myself saying "Had I known, I just would have stayed home!" a number of times, but looking back, there's no way I would have missed this!



So, onto the best of times!



Saturday: Arrival at the Lodge. The place was freakin gorgeous! It was high up in the Smoky Mountains. So high, I am pretty sure many of us thought we weren't going to make it up the driveway. Especially the gravel part way up at the top. We got ourselves unloaded and just hung out with the fam as everyone drifted in.



Sunday: Another chill day. Mike and I missed the waterfall hike, because it just got started too late in the day, and Emma had barely slept, and we didn't want to get back toooooo late after her bedtime. So, we had some time to just chill at the lodge.



Monday: The Lazy River Tubing! Mike is not a fan of tubing, so he stayed back with Emma. Just about everybody else came tubing. It was fun! There was this sweet, sweet spot that had a rope swing. I did the swing once, but it was more fun watching others (Karl) take the plunge.



Tuesday: Free day, nothing planned. So Mike, Emma and I went to the Ripleys Aquarium of the Smokies. It was pretty sweet. There were TONS of sharks, and this cool underwater tunnel. I love aquariums, and if I can say it, on my list of favorites this one ranks JUST BEHIND the Maui Ocean Center.

Tuesday Night: Iron Chef: Kilgore. Secret Ingredients, Fruit and Cream. I made some stellar apple dumplings, topped with fresh whipped cream (which I totally bogard-ed from Sara). Kendra won with her real, southern Peach Cobbler, though. I am pretty sure that she could have made Brussel Sprout Cobbler and still won, because dang that syrup and crusty topping was just heaven in my mouth. Although I didn't win the overall competition, I did win eaters favorite:)



Wednesday: Dudes played golf in the morning. They all said it was brutal, so I'm glad I didn't go. I was playing around with the idea, but by Wednesday I just wanted to SLEEP. After the dudes got back, we went to The Sinks. It was this awesome swimming hole, with giant rocks to jump off of. It was seriously a blast!! When I get my waterproof camera finished and developed, I'll scan some pics and post them.



Thursday: Girls day out. Had my public emotional breakdown in the morning. Girls Day Out followed. We went into Gatlinburg to do some shopping. Found some sweet deals, bought Mike some Jalapeno Death Sauce, had a bangin' smoothie. Came home feeling much, MUCH better.



Thursday Night: Kilgore Karaoke Idol. It was the best. thing. ever. This might top my list of favorite events of the whole darn reunion. It was a treat to hear Taylor sing for seriously, because usually when we are singing we are being silly and goofy. But she sang LET IT BE by the Beatles, and totally rocked it. I sang HEAVEN by Bryan Adams. I was a lil frustrated because I didn't really know any of the songs that were available. You know how it goes, you know the chorus, but none of the verses... so I settled for this one (well, ok, Jerry said "just do this one, really you know it!" and he was right, I knew the chorus!!) and did just so-so. But I really didn't care because watching OTHERS do the karaoke was far better than doing it myself. Like, for instance, Anna's rendition of R-E-S-P-E-C-T, and WE BUILT THIS CITY. Birds version of SITTING ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY and BIG GIRLS DON'T CRY. Dad sang ON THE ROAD AGAIN by Willie Nelson and mom did NEW YORK NEW YORK. Scott stole the show for a while with JOY TO THE WORLD, and then got censored doing SUPER FREAK, because hey, he's super freaky. (And 8 year old Lydia was in the room!!) Then Bird stole the show again with LOVE SHACK. It was just freakin' amazing. Anna managed to wipe away her tears long enough to do back up vocals, and the result was nothing short of perfect. So yeah, best night ever.

Friday: Free day. Most of the group went to Ober Gatlinburg, but with Emma we just decided to keep things low key. We went into Gatlinburg and did some more of the shops and had a nice sit down lunch, and just walked around with Emma in the Beco. Later, Mike and I went to the Sinks to join up with the rest of the crew who went straight from Ober Gatlinburg. Mom was kind enough to watch Emma for a while, and wouldn't you know it, she had an amazing 1.5 hour nap while we were gone!! Anyway, sinks were awesome. Mike did a sweet Cannon Ball, and I just jumped and jumped and jumped. It was so much fun just playing in the water, hanging out with Mike, Bird, Taylor, Tyler and Lydia (and everyone else, of course!). My brave little niece Gaby (6) had the guts to jump off the big cliff with us, and her lil brother Owen (3) jumped off a 5 foot cliff. Zach (6) jumped off a cliff about 8-10 feet high with his dad (my bro Scott). So the little ones were having a blast, too. The little ones who didn't jump had a nice shallow spot to play in the water and lick logs:) Oh, and right before we were leaving, Dad decided to jump in!! I was so ticked, because I was up there with him, and he said YOU GO AHEAD AND GO, so I did, and he jumped so quickly after me that I wasn't even above water yet. So I missed watching him jump! Hope someone has that on film

Friday Night: White Chili and cupcakes. Anna and Chase cooked. Enough Said. Also, too on Friday night, another favorite moment was the impromptu jam session after dinner. Jerry got his guitar out, and we just passed it around and played a bunch of different songs and sang all together. It was a serious Kumbaya moment, and I liked it. Especially when Carl chimed in with his deep Southern drawl, to Lightning Crashes.

Saturday: Departure. Of course, OF COURSE Emma picked the last night of our vacation to actually sleep through the night. Not that I'm complaining, but it figures:) So, we got to sleep in til 7:30, then we got up, packed up, said our goodbyes, and were on the road by 9:30. Unfortunately, Emma did not appreciate being in her car seat all day. If she wasn't asleep, she was pissed. And she didn.t sleep much. So, ya know.

Ok, a few other items.

Game time. I love Scattegories and Catchphrase. And we got to play both!! The lodge also had this sweet arcade game, and I totally destroyed Taylor in Mortal Kombat. Mike and I also had fun playing Photo Hunt. Good times were had eating, chilling in the hot tub, hanging out on any of the 6 decks, watching the sun set behind the mountains, holding my breath and trying not to puke while coming up the very very steep part of the gravel driveway, listening to Jerry and Chase have a pseudo-intellectual conversation (repeatedly throughout the week) about Ayn Rand, Having a fist fight with Chase over Catch Phrase (not really, but could you tell I was a little cranky by the end of the week?) watching Lydia be fearless over and over again, watching Emma playing with her cousins and get loved on by her aunts and uncles, sleeping in a king size bed, waking up to that beautiful sunrise, and spending time with my family.

In case you haven't noticed, my family is better than your family. In every way possible. I might be biased, but I really don't think I am. Well, maybe.

Um, I have to end with two quotes from Drew, because I could have peed my pants from laughing.

#1. I was having a relaxing soak in the hot tub while everyone else was eating dinner, because I was nursing a giant headache. Soon, Lydi came and was dipping her feet and we were talking quietly. Then Drew came in, and asked if I was trying to relax. I said yes, so he promised not to splash. A few minutes later Cam (5) came in the hot tub. As he got in, Drew said,
"Cameron, no splashing, ok! Aunt lyss is having her big girl time. Her very VERY big girl time!"

Hahaha, why yes, I am a very VERY big girl! Toooooooo funny.

# 2. Emma and I were sitting on the couch just before it was time to pack up and go on Saturday morning. Drew came and sat with us and was playing with Emma. He had set down his deodorant on the couch, and I said "Drew you might want to move that deodorant, or Emma will try to eat it!" And he replied,

"Yeah, I'm at that age now where I have to wear deodorant. You know, puberty. It sucks."