Tag: 2013

New Year’s in Gatlinburg

After Christmas, we headed to Gatlinburg to celebrate Christmas and the New Year with the Mauters.  The weather was cloudy and cold, but we did see a little blue sky.

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I finally remembered to pick up some National Park passports so that we can begin tracking our National Parks.  Too bad I forgot to get them while at the Grand Canyon a few months ago…

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Overall, we had a great time, and even got to celebrate a 1st birthday!  Happy Birthday Wesley!

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And of course, with all the traffic/car issues we had while there, it wouldn’t be complete without a flat tire on the way home.  Nice.

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Christmas 2013

The girls didn’t ask for much this Christmas, so Ellie was showered with Rapunzel and princess gear.

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Samantha got a Rainbow Loom, and some headgear.  Both girls got luggage, which they love dragging through the house and packing up.

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Brian got a hot dog fork and some clothes.

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And I got a new bike (as seen behind Samantha above) and some new kitchen supplies.  Overall, we had a great morning!

Christmas Eve

We stayed at home on Christmas Eve and started our day making sugar cookies.  Samantha has been begging me to make some, so I thought we’d spend our day off making treats for our neighbors and for Santa!

Brian does a good job rolling out dough.  I always make it too dry.

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And I helped with the decorations.

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Then we took our Reindeer Food outside to sprinkle in the yard.  The girls LOVE doing this every year.  Luckily, they both came home with a pack from school.

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Now, we’re ready for Santa!

First Day of Christmas break

We spent our first official day of Christmas break at the McWane Center.  Our membership expires at the end of the year, so we figured we’d get in one more day.

Ellie wanted to ride the zip line this year.  She LOVED it!  What a thrill!  After seeing Ellie have such a great time, Samantha wanted to try too.  After some initial concern, she faced her fears and rode down the zip line too.  They had a blast!

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Of course, the trip would not be complete without going down the Ice Slide, petting the sharks, building with the big foam blocks, or digging for dinosaurs!

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