As you can tell, it has been awhile since I have posted anything on this blog. With work and all I have been busy and just too tired to type anything out for awhile.
For a birthday gift, Rob created me my own domain for me to post pictures, blogs, and whatever else I want on the site. From now on please follow me over at: www.amyrschumaker.com. I am still learning what I can and can not do on that site as it is more advanced than what Blogger.com has to offer. So just give me a bit, but I would love for you to still know what I am doing. There is a way to follow my site with the RSS Feed, and I have added a "Follow Me" widget to the site as well. One though has to add each posting possibly. I am not too sure how that works. I was hoping to find something where one could register their name an be able to follow the entire site with one click.
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
Seven...
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| Kaylee celebrating with her friends for birthday #5 (2009) |
Seven years ago today I had been up all night sitting in a hospital bed doing what women know best. A bit of yelling, laughing, watching cooking shows, trying not to get annoyed from people and oh ya...HAVING A BABY!! Today, seven years ago I became a mom. One thing that no one can ever take away from me. I pushed every 2 minutes for 2.5 hours straight to be able to hold a five pound four ounce baby girl in my arms for the first time. I will never forget that night for as long as I will live. I couldn't believe what had happened, as if it was a dream. I do then remember looking up at this baby girl's adoptive mom and saying, "well mom what is her name?" She said, "How about Kaylee Rae?" And so be it...I was holding the cutest little Kaylee Rae in my arms. No one could even start to prepare me for the emotions that I would have with seeing her for the first time. You can read all the books and try to be prepared, but it is something that every woman who has given birth can only understand with out words.
I try to do something special each year when Kaylee's birthday comes around. Last year I blogged about how I was going to spend the day and so forth. Since I am doing the Daily Joys each day, I figured my blog should be something centered around that since Miss Kaylee's birthday is a joyous occasion!!
1. I cherish her hand drawn pictures, craft projects, and school photographs that are sent to me a couple times a year.
2. I see her on a yearly basis when I head home to Oregon.
3. I am loving how she gives me a call every so often to either wish me a good day or to tell me about her loosing a tooth at recess.
4. I can not ask 2 better people to raise my child!
5. I try and tell people in a positive way how adoption has affected my life
6. I have been blessed with some of the most amazing women who all share the same emotions I deal with on a yearly basis
7. I look forward to the many years to come and developing a close relationship with Kaylee as she gets older.
I am sure I could go on and on about mindless things...but I truly am loving her birthday this year. I hope that each birthday gets better!!!
Happy birthday my Lil Miss Kaylee!!
I hope that you had a wonderful day!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
21 with 9 years of Experience
Sunday was my birthday and I am finally finding some time to sit down and blog about it. I wanted to blog it yesterday but well life got in the way, and I had to upload the pictures from the camera to the computer. *I must say that I do love the digital era where you have pictures instantly!!*
Anyways...I turned the big dreaded 3-0 on Sunday. Happy Birthday to me, right?! So how does it feel to be this number?? Well it's just a number right? At least that is what us women say when it comes to a dress size. Buy what feels comfortable and if you don't like the number then rip it out. So that is what I am doing with my age. I don't like the number so I am just ripping it out until well next year. People have told me (who are well into their 30's) that my life is just beginning now that I am turning 30. What does that mean? Does it mean that I will become more wise and have the knowledge that people wished they could have?? Or is it just that I will stop caring about what people think and just be myself. I think it is the last one of all of those. Well it would be nice to be wiser and have the knowledge that most people will want, but I think that I will just be gaining the wisdom and knowledge of mindless stuff that people will say, "How do you know what?!"
My birthday was a lot of fun though. It started out a bit crappy to say the least since I came home from work after midnight to find a Cindy-dog poo surprise for Rob and I to clean up. *sigh when will she learn?!* We didn't get to bed until about 2:30am. The alarm clock on my phone rang about 5 hours later and I was wondering why I agreed to go an early breakfast. So I got up and pulled some clothes on to myself decent for the whole world could see. Andrew and Mike were going to be at the house around 9am so that we could head out to Chip's diner. Remember that old post about pancakes well that is where we were going again for breakfast. Rob was going to go but since it looked like Cindy was still not feeling well he stayed home so that we didn't come home again to a mess.
While waiting for the boys to arrive I opened my presents that were sent by my mom. Mom made the majority of the gifts which gave it the extra touch of home. Thanks mom for your thoughtfulness!! She made me some greeting cards while using some of my little brother's photography, a little note pad with the same picture on it as the cards, then she sent some fun and bright socks to wear, a fun solar powered key chain that blinks my name, one of those stainless steel canteens that people all have now with a hand cut out template of a flower and a message on it, then to top it off she sent me some new fun body wash by Philosophy.
Breakfast was fun and entertaining with Andrew and Mike. They told the server that it was my birthday and so that lead to the server bringing out my breakfast with a lit candle and a happy birthday song. It was fun as I have not had people sing happy birthday to me at an eating place for a long time.
After breakfast we went to the grocery store so that I could pick out my birthday cake (I was going to make my own but since I didn't get much sleep the night before I really didn't have the energy to bake one) and a few other things that were needed. I was just going to have the bakery put "Happy 30th, Amy" on the cake but the boys didn't think that was sufficient. So with that being said the final quote that was decided on was, "21 with 9 years experience". Hey why not?! :) While shopping for the other items, Andrew went off and bought me Happy Birthday Balloons and put them on my car before I got back out the car. I laughed at the whole ordeal. Hey at least the balloons didn't end up in my hair!
My mom called me later in the afternoon and I caught her up briefly on everything since I hadn't spoken to her in a week or so. I thanked her for the yummy smelling body wash and rest of the gifts that she sent. She asked what Rob had got me and I told her that he gave me some quirky items. One was a set of post-it notes that are in the shape of the 10 Commandments, then a cookbook that is titled 101 ideas to cook with canned biscuits, then a little book that is about everything that a woman should know about, a menu planner pad (which will come in handy!), and then a pick me up type of pad that says, "ways to make me happy" and you check off the little boxes for people to read.
Around 5pm the rest of my friends started showing up for dinner. We were going over to Kobis Japanese Steakhouse for some Hibachi! Rob and I went there once before on a date and I knew exactly from that moment that is where I wanted to celebrate my birthday at. My two other friends arrived and away we went for dinner. What a fun experience to have with some friends who are not afraid to have some fun and a little bit of crazy at dinner. I had steak and shrimp for my meats. Everything is good and so it was hard to choose what to do. I had a strawberry margarita with my dinner in celebration for this new maturity I was suppose to be gaining.
After dinner we went back to my house and pretty much hung out. We had cake and played a board game called "Would you Rather...". We didn't really use the actual board game but more passed around the cards and read the questions to one another. I found that to be more fun than trying to play some game of it. :)
So overall I had a good birthday and birthday party. Thank you for all who came out for my party and I will remember this birthday for a long time!!
Cheers to the 3-0!
Saturday, May 1, 2010
May Day & Happy Birthday Denise Johnson!
As a young girl, I would always look forward to the first of May. Back then it was because I had just over a month until my birthday. I knew that Spring has pretty much really came and I could look forward to warm weather and the ending of school. I remember my mom telling us kids stories about what she and her friends would do on May Day. They would collect flowers, leave them on someone's door step, ring the bell and run away. I just recently went and looked this up and this was one of the old traditions that was done here in the states on the first of May. The tradition states though that if the person who received the flowers on the step could catch who left them, then the leaver would receive a kiss. Other countries have May Day traditions, too. England (and eventually the United States) prop up Maypoles and wrap the pole with long ribbons or flowers.
In modern days though, it seems that May Day is for protesting of all sorts. I do not really care for May Day now. I get tired of hearing about all the protests in each large city and or state. I mean, people protest all the time, but it seems like the only time all of these protests really count are on May 1st. I understand that other countries in the past...May 1st was used for this. But can't we go back to the flowers and Maypoles??
I will say that my dear friend, Denise Johnson, was born on today and is celebrating her 29 plus 4 years birthday, so I can't hate this day too much!! I hope to see her sometime next month and we can celebrate both of our birthdays the perfect way with lots of laughs, good food, and baskets from Longaberger!
I will say that my dear friend, Denise Johnson, was born on today and is celebrating her 29 plus 4 years birthday, so I can't hate this day too much!! I hope to see her sometime next month and we can celebrate both of our birthdays the perfect way with lots of laughs, good food, and baskets from Longaberger!
(Denise & I back in August of 2008 at her Indiana house)
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Happy Saturday...
hello to all of you. hopefully you are having or have had a good saturday. I had to work which is nothing special. It was pretty slow for the morning and did pick up slightly...but it just seemed to drag on for quite awhile. I had the oppertunity to watch the movie Precious, but I didn't take up on it as Rob went to work with me today and so I would have had to arrange for someone to let our dogs out to pee because we would have been away from the house way too long. I heard though Precious is coming to dvd on March 9th. So I will wait then and rent it. I have heard mixed reviews on it and how it has a sad ending, but I still want to see it.
Hard to believe that tomorrow will be the last day of this month!! Where did the time go?? I am looking forward to March though. I am thinking March will be a good month. Monday, Sparky-dog turns 9 years old. What an old dog. He will be pampered with a trip to McDonald's or some place for lunch, then a trip to the park (weather permitting), then a trip to PetsMart, and then dinner out somewhere as well. Yes we treat our dogs as if they were children. We will have to find a small cake for him as well. haha In addition to Monday being Sparky's birthday, Monday is "HAPPY AMY DAY!" What is this day?? Well it marks the monthly anniversary since Rob and I were matched on Eharmony. This was all Rob's idea. So I will be taken out with Sparky to do all things Sparky does, too. No....ok...maybe not exactly all of that...but I get to pick the places that we go and where we eat. :) Rob has a phone interview on Tuesday (March 2nd) with Minot State University which is located way way up in Minot, North Dakota. Yes people do live way up there. haha. Tuesday also marks the first day of Spring Trimester for Iona. It will be my last term at Iona. We also have a campus interview in the middle of March up in Minneapolis, MN and by the sounds of it, Rob may have a campus interview at Cleveland State as well if the cards keep playing like they are.
So that is me...hope you are well, too. :)
Hard to believe that tomorrow will be the last day of this month!! Where did the time go?? I am looking forward to March though. I am thinking March will be a good month. Monday, Sparky-dog turns 9 years old. What an old dog. He will be pampered with a trip to McDonald's or some place for lunch, then a trip to the park (weather permitting), then a trip to PetsMart, and then dinner out somewhere as well. Yes we treat our dogs as if they were children. We will have to find a small cake for him as well. haha In addition to Monday being Sparky's birthday, Monday is "HAPPY AMY DAY!" What is this day?? Well it marks the monthly anniversary since Rob and I were matched on Eharmony. This was all Rob's idea. So I will be taken out with Sparky to do all things Sparky does, too. No....ok...maybe not exactly all of that...but I get to pick the places that we go and where we eat. :) Rob has a phone interview on Tuesday (March 2nd) with Minot State University which is located way way up in Minot, North Dakota. Yes people do live way up there. haha. Tuesday also marks the first day of Spring Trimester for Iona. It will be my last term at Iona. We also have a campus interview in the middle of March up in Minneapolis, MN and by the sounds of it, Rob may have a campus interview at Cleveland State as well if the cards keep playing like they are.
So that is me...hope you are well, too. :)
Friday, February 12, 2010
New Movies for weekend of FEBRUARY 12, 2010
Ok first off...Happy Birthday to my little sister. She turned 28 today. Just two more years and she will be the one turning 30 like I will be this year. Here...lets get down to business. Today was busy at the theatre since the public schools in Connecticut had no school due to a Teacher In-service day, so this made my life busier at the theatre than normal for a Friday. It gave me a better feel on what movies will be busy this weekend though. Here is what is new at my theatre. :)
The Wolfman - Rated: R - Stars: Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt - The Plot: Nobleman Lawrence Talbot (Del Toro) returns to his ancestral homeland, where his brother has gone missing and villagers are being killed by a nightmarish beast. The search reunites him with his estranged father (Hopkins) and draws him near to his brother's fiancée (Blunt), however, Talbot's lager concern is the discovery of a side to himself which he never could have imagined existed. **This movie was popular for adults today. I heard that it is pretty gruesome, so if you are into that...then you may like this movie.**
Valentine's Day - Rated PG-13 - Stars: Julia Roberts, Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway, and many more! - The Plot: Intertwining couples and singles in Los Angeles break-up and make-up based on the pressures and expectations of Valentine's Day. **This movie looks extremely cute and it was one of the popular movies for today. I really want to see this one, but hope that it is not a let down like "He's just not that into you" that came out last year about this time. So time will tell. I love most of the people who are in this movie. :)**
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Theif - Rated PG - Stars: Logan Lerman, Kevin McKidd, Steve Coogan - The Plot: Life changes in an instant for troubled 12-year-old Percy Jackson (Lerman) when he learns his birth father is the god Poseidon and he's looped in on a cross-country mission to settle a feud between his dad, Zeus, and Hades. **This was the popular family friendly movie today. I have not heard if it is good or not, but based on how popular one would think that it may be ok. Kind of find it fitting for this movie to come out as tonight is the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Game Olympics.**
So there you have it. What comes out next week? Shutter Island and The Ghost Writer.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Happy Birthday, Christy!
My very best friend turns the bit 3-0 today. When I think of this...I realize that I now have less than four months until my own 3-0 birthday. Eeek!! I think back of all of the birthdays that she and I have celebrated over the years and other nonsense stuff we have done together. I love the friendship that she and I have.
Back in high school, we were friends, probably good friends, but not best friends. We hung out with the same group and did all the same stuff together. After high school we would hang out probably every weekend together. At one point we had seen just about every movie that was playing in the theatres.
You know how there are certain stories that you will never forget that happen between you and your best friend...well there are a few that come to mind for Christy and I. One of them was a couple years after high school and we were walking back to her car from watching a late movie. A creepy van was parked next to her car and I was getting really creeped out. So I get in her car, glance back in the backseat and freaked!! I litterally thought someone was laying in the backseat of her car. Her barn coat was positioned just right where it looked like someone was there. She and I laughed and laughed about that and called it the "man in the backseat" story.
Another story was when I was sick in the hospital ten years ago. I had a rare allergic reaction to an antibiotic that put me in the hospital for almost a week. Anyways Christy would come visit me and one time in particular I had been given potassium to increase my levels in addition to some benadryl (sp?) to help with the red rash I had all over my body from a reaction that I had from the cat scan juice. Anyways...the reaction to both injections at the same time made me pretty loopy. Christy was teasing me that she was going to start playing with the levers at the end of the hospital bed to see what they would do. I said, "no...because with my luck you will press one of buttons and it will make me go flying into the wall." we sat and laughed and thought about how funny but awful that would be all at the same time.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Kaylee, Happy 6th Birthday!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LIL MISS KAYLEE!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!
Six years ago today a little 5lb 4oz girl was born and placed into my arms. That day was one of the greatest day of my life. I can not believe that just six years ago she was born. It really feels as if it was yesterday!!! Today is bittersweet for me now though. I love birthday but then my mind wanders over to the "Well look what you have missed! Look what you could have had!" I then remind myself of what she has done in the past six years and what I have done in the past six years.
For her birthday this year, I actually put her gift in the mail BEFORE her birthday. That is pretty good for me! The past couple of years I have sent her stuff late and it was more of a valentine's day gift or even late as an Easter gift. So this year I was determined to get the stuff in the mail early. What did I get her?? She is still really into Princess stuff, and was having a Princess themed birthday party. I got her a $15 Target gift card, a Princess & the Frog coloring book (she loves to draw and color), and a Disney Princess reading book. With out even thinking until I got home I looked and the gift card that I picked out was in the shape of the frog...so it goes with the whole Princess theme. :) I sent her at Christmas time a Target gift card as well and she loved it, because she got to pick out stuff with money. It was cute to hear what she bought. Yes it was barbie princess stuff. :)
Today I will go and have breakfast at Chips and get the birthday pancakes. Then I will have to come home and work on a Psych. paper that I have been putting off way too long. Hopefully dinner I will be able to try a new Japenese place that I have not tried yet. So I will make it a good day. I wanted to leave you with a poem that a birthmom friend wrote a couple years ago when her own birthdaughter had a birthday. She is not the only one who feels the way she does in the poem.
Birthday Pain
By: Krissy Mitchell
Birthmommy to Rylee Renee
My baby girl turns four today
My heart is aching
There is so much pain
Just four short years ago
I held her in my arms
I was her "Mommy"
Her very First
I was the first to kiss
Her soft little head
To cuddle her close
To my heart so dead
Tears would drip
On her little face so pure
How can I let go of
My daughter so dear
Four years gone by
My heart is still numb
I think of that day
When I was her "First Mom"
Birthmommy to Rylee Renee
My baby girl turns four today
My heart is aching
There is so much pain
Just four short years ago
I held her in my arms
I was her "Mommy"
Her very First
I was the first to kiss
Her soft little head
To cuddle her close
To my heart so dead
Tears would drip
On her little face so pure
How can I let go of
My daughter so dear
Four years gone by
My heart is still numb
I think of that day
When I was her "First Mom"
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Birthday Trip
For my 29th birthday, Rob surprised me and asked me if I would like to go down to Eastern Tennessee, rather than going through with my own plans of going down to NYC for the day for an art exhibition and an afternoon spent in Central Park. I decided that his plans sounded a little bit more fun, as I had never been to Tennessee. Thursday though I started feeling pretty ill with s
ome kind of flu/cold stuff going on. By Saturday morning, I was really feeling like crud but where we had already booked the plane tickets, I just had to make it work. The alarm went off Saturday morning at 2am. Yes, it was very early as our flight left at 10 minutes till 6am. We live about an hour and a half drive from the airport, so you can see why we had to get up at 2am and leave by 3am. Once we were all checked in, we stopped at the McDonald's there inside security and I had my birthday breakfast. We had to change plans in Cincinnati, OH for our little puddle jumper flight down to Knoxville, TN. Once landed in TN we went down to pick up our rental car. The Avis lady tried to upsell us to the 2009 Chevy Camero. As tempting as it was we chose to stay with the car that we had originally booked, which was a 2009 Ford Focus. Cute little car...but nothing that I would own as my next car. After getting in the car we headed down to Pigeon Forge, TN, which is about an hour from Knoxville. We were staying in Seiverville, TN which is next to PF. Since we landed at 10am it was too early to be checking into the hotel. Rob thought we would drive up through the Smokey Mountains and head on up to Clingman's Dome. Clingman's Dome is the 2nd highest point on the eastern seaboard. Mt. Washington is the first which I believe is in New Hampshire. Before heading up to CD we stopped in PF for my birthday lunch at SONIC. After eating lunch we stopped in Gatlinburg which I guess use to be a little cute village tucked away in the Smokey Mountains. Now it is a tourist trap with nowhere to park. We did find a spot to park and we walked into some of the little shops. I had forgot to pack one of my ballcaps and so I was in need of a hat to help shield my face from the sun. I found a sun straw hat in one of the shops for a very reasonable price! After a few more shops we got back in the car and headed up to CD. CD is a very steep climb, for only being half of a mile. If one makes it to the top they will be able to see 7 different states on a clear day. Saturday, however, was not a clear day. We hiked all the way up even though I thought dieing would be easier as I was still feeling pretty cruddy from whatever I had. We reached the top and I said, "this is it?" I was clearly not impressed and didn't see the beauty in what i should be seeing. All i could think about was how crappy i felt, how tired i was, and how much i now needed to pee. so we hiked back down to find the restroom. We then headed back to the car to go find our hotel. Our hotel was off the beaten path which was nice as we were away from all of the busy touristy stuff that is in Pigeon Forge and Sieverville. Once checked in I put myself to bed for an hour or so. I needed to rest. Waking up from my nap I felt even worse. When Rob asked me what I wanted to do for dinner I really considered just calling Domino's and asking for a pizza. For those of you who know me, know that I really do not like Domino's Pizza. So after great debate on where we were going to go for my birthday dinner, I told rob for us to just get in the car, find the first fast food restraunt and call it dinner. He could not believe that he was hearing that from me on my own birthday. I told him that if i really got to choose i would have skipped dinner all together and stayed in bed until morning. We ended up at McDonald's. Some dinner meal on my birthday huh? It was my idea to stop there. After dinner we went back to the hotel, I took a shower, and finally took some cold medicine. i finally started to feel better.
Sunday morning we woke up and had breakfast downstairs at the continental breakfast there at the La Quinta. I was feeling actually pretty good Sunday morning, and had a feeling it was going to be a good day. After eating we headed out to Dollywood! Dollywood is the Dolly Parton's theme park. I have always wanted to go there and Rob had been there several times. We found parking and took the tram down to the front gates. Dolly's logo for Dollywood is a butterfly, so you see butterfly things all over the place. I found it very cute. I almost felt at home there at Dollywood. Wierd...I know, but that is ho
w I felt. We walked around for a bit, found some shops to go into and took a steam engine ride around the whole theme park. We then went and found lunch at Grandma Ogle's restaurant which Rob has to eat at every time he visits the park. The food was good, but I am sure if I was feeling 100% I would have liked it more. During lunch we listened to the country music show that was going on next door. After lunch we headed over to a Birds of Prey type of show. The show had owls, hawks, vultures, and then an eagle. After that show we booked it across the theme park to another show which was called, "Dolly's Family Reunion." This was a music show with Dolly's friends and even some family that was going to perform some of Dolly's hits. I loved loved that show!!! A few of Dolly's uncles and cousins were there and all performed. It was just awesome. Dolly's first cousin sang, "I will always love you". This song has a
lways held a special place in my heart as a song that represents how I feel about Kaylee. Since I was already feeling a bit emotional, the song just opened the tear gates. I sat there and just wiped my eyes and enjoyed the moment. After the show I was able to go up and meet Dolly's first cousin. I got to get a picture taken with her. As we were walking away, Rob said, "You probably didn't notice, but you made her cry while she was singing and had to turn away after the song to wipe hear eyes." After that we walked more around the park to the little areas. Dollywood has different themed areas kind of like any of the Disney parks...but not so much that you are totally changing into a different world. Dollywood areas seem to just blend all together, which is what I really liked. There is one area though that is set up in the 50s. We noticed that there was a quartet show just starting and so we stepped in to see the show. It felt nice to be sitting in a dark and very cool A/C. This quartet was called Kingdom Heirs, and was one of the top TN Gospel Quartets! They sang manly older style music that you would hear maybe in the "Traditional" service of any church. Boy were they good. I was just amazed! After the concert we headed down the road a little bit and found that we could tour Dolly's tour bus. This was her last tour bus. She now has a bus that is about twice as big and is a little bit more homey. Dolly rarely ever flies and tends to be on the bus more than any other music artist. She loves to cook for her crew and so the new bus had to be equipped with a little bit more adequet stuff. Once we were done with looking inside the bus we headed over for one more show before headed home. This show was called Sho-Kan-a-hey. It was a short little stage musical about a family who had to move west but didn't want to. The title of the musical is Cherokee for "Blue Smoke" which is what the clouds look like around the mountains. Hence the reason they are named Smokey Mountains. The show was cute, geared a little bit more for families with younger kids. After that we headed out to do some last minute shopping at the gift shop before heading to the car. All in all I had a great time at Dollywood and can not wait until I can get back there. Hopefully next time I will be feeling 100% better and want to ride some of the rides! We found dinner at a BBQ place which on the sign said that they had the best ribs in town. Eh...I do not know about having the "best" but they were good. I have had better, for sure. We then stopped at one of the run-down tshirt shops. The reason why I bring this up is because, Rob said growing up and being down here all he would see were crappy little tshirt open air shops, and each shop had the same stuff as the last. We went and played a round of mini-golf before heading back to the hotel for the night. All-in all, I had a great day.
Monday, we woke up and got things packed up. I woke up feeling like poo again. I think I may have over done it the day before, since I felt so good. I tried taking some medicine but for some reason it just was not helping anything thing time around. We walked through the world's largest "As Seen on Tv Store". I was so not impressed, but yet again I was just really wanting to sit and rest. We then stopped at a huge Christmas store that had anything you can think of in christmas items. After that we took a drive over to Cherokee, NC as I just wanted to sit and do nothing. I had no energy to walk around and/or deal with the heat and humidity. Cherokee is a little Indian Reservation town. Looked like a run-down type of place, and I was definately not impressed. After that we decided it was time to head back up to Knoxville and out to the airport. Once we got to the airport and checked in, I realized that I had an ear infection (my ear finally hurt enough for me to realize). So, I was happy we were headed home so that I could go to the doctor on Tuesday to get some medicine.
A quick birthday trip...and it was overall fun. I wished that I could have felt normal, so that I could have enjoyed it more...but hey....not much you can do!
ome kind of flu/cold stuff going on. By Saturday morning, I was really feeling like crud but where we had already booked the plane tickets, I just had to make it work. The alarm went off Saturday morning at 2am. Yes, it was very early as our flight left at 10 minutes till 6am. We live about an hour and a half drive from the airport, so you can see why we had to get up at 2am and leave by 3am. Once we were all checked in, we stopped at the McDonald's there inside security and I had my birthday breakfast. We had to change plans in Cincinnati, OH for our little puddle jumper flight down to Knoxville, TN. Once landed in TN we went down to pick up our rental car. The Avis lady tried to upsell us to the 2009 Chevy Camero. As tempting as it was we chose to stay with the car that we had originally booked, which was a 2009 Ford Focus. Cute little car...but nothing that I would own as my next car. After getting in the car we headed down to Pigeon Forge, TN, which is about an hour from Knoxville. We were staying in Seiverville, TN which is next to PF. Since we landed at 10am it was too early to be checking into the hotel. Rob thought we would drive up through the Smokey Mountains and head on up to Clingman's Dome. Clingman's Dome is the 2nd highest point on the eastern seaboard. Mt. Washington is the first which I believe is in New Hampshire. Before heading up to CD we stopped in PF for my birthday lunch at SONIC. After eating lunch we stopped in Gatlinburg which I guess use to be a little cute village tucked away in the Smokey Mountains. Now it is a tourist trap with nowhere to park. We did find a spot to park and we walked into some of the little shops. I had forgot to pack one of my ballcaps and so I was in need of a hat to help shield my face from the sun. I found a sun straw hat in one of the shops for a very reasonable price! After a few more shops we got back in the car and headed up to CD. CD is a very steep climb, for only being half of a mile. If one makes it to the top they will be able to see 7 different states on a clear day. Saturday, however, was not a clear day. We hiked all the way up even though I thought dieing would be easier as I was still feeling pretty cruddy from whatever I had. We reached the top and I said, "this is it?" I was clearly not impressed and didn't see the beauty in what i should be seeing. All i could think about was how crappy i felt, how tired i was, and how much i now needed to pee. so we hiked back down to find the restroom. We then headed back to the car to go find our hotel. Our hotel was off the beaten path which was nice as we were away from all of the busy touristy stuff that is in Pigeon Forge and Sieverville. Once checked in I put myself to bed for an hour or so. I needed to rest. Waking up from my nap I felt even worse. When Rob asked me what I wanted to do for dinner I really considered just calling Domino's and asking for a pizza. For those of you who know me, know that I really do not like Domino's Pizza. So after great debate on where we were going to go for my birthday dinner, I told rob for us to just get in the car, find the first fast food restraunt and call it dinner. He could not believe that he was hearing that from me on my own birthday. I told him that if i really got to choose i would have skipped dinner all together and stayed in bed until morning. We ended up at McDonald's. Some dinner meal on my birthday huh? It was my idea to stop there. After dinner we went back to the hotel, I took a shower, and finally took some cold medicine. i finally started to feel better.Sunday morning we woke up and had breakfast downstairs at the continental breakfast there at the La Quinta. I was feeling actually pretty good Sunday morning, and had a feeling it was going to be a good day. After eating we headed out to Dollywood! Dollywood is the Dolly Parton's theme park. I have always wanted to go there and Rob had been there several times. We found parking and took the tram down to the front gates. Dolly's logo for Dollywood is a butterfly, so you see butterfly things all over the place. I found it very cute. I almost felt at home there at Dollywood. Wierd...I know, but that is ho
w I felt. We walked around for a bit, found some shops to go into and took a steam engine ride around the whole theme park. We then went and found lunch at Grandma Ogle's restaurant which Rob has to eat at every time he visits the park. The food was good, but I am sure if I was feeling 100% I would have liked it more. During lunch we listened to the country music show that was going on next door. After lunch we headed over to a Birds of Prey type of show. The show had owls, hawks, vultures, and then an eagle. After that show we booked it across the theme park to another show which was called, "Dolly's Family Reunion." This was a music show with Dolly's friends and even some family that was going to perform some of Dolly's hits. I loved loved that show!!! A few of Dolly's uncles and cousins were there and all performed. It was just awesome. Dolly's first cousin sang, "I will always love you". This song has a
lways held a special place in my heart as a song that represents how I feel about Kaylee. Since I was already feeling a bit emotional, the song just opened the tear gates. I sat there and just wiped my eyes and enjoyed the moment. After the show I was able to go up and meet Dolly's first cousin. I got to get a picture taken with her. As we were walking away, Rob said, "You probably didn't notice, but you made her cry while she was singing and had to turn away after the song to wipe hear eyes." After that we walked more around the park to the little areas. Dollywood has different themed areas kind of like any of the Disney parks...but not so much that you are totally changing into a different world. Dollywood areas seem to just blend all together, which is what I really liked. There is one area though that is set up in the 50s. We noticed that there was a quartet show just starting and so we stepped in to see the show. It felt nice to be sitting in a dark and very cool A/C. This quartet was called Kingdom Heirs, and was one of the top TN Gospel Quartets! They sang manly older style music that you would hear maybe in the "Traditional" service of any church. Boy were they good. I was just amazed! After the concert we headed down the road a little bit and found that we could tour Dolly's tour bus. This was her last tour bus. She now has a bus that is about twice as big and is a little bit more homey. Dolly rarely ever flies and tends to be on the bus more than any other music artist. She loves to cook for her crew and so the new bus had to be equipped with a little bit more adequet stuff. Once we were done with looking inside the bus we headed over for one more show before headed home. This show was called Sho-Kan-a-hey. It was a short little stage musical about a family who had to move west but didn't want to. The title of the musical is Cherokee for "Blue Smoke" which is what the clouds look like around the mountains. Hence the reason they are named Smokey Mountains. The show was cute, geared a little bit more for families with younger kids. After that we headed out to do some last minute shopping at the gift shop before heading to the car. All in all I had a great time at Dollywood and can not wait until I can get back there. Hopefully next time I will be feeling 100% better and want to ride some of the rides! We found dinner at a BBQ place which on the sign said that they had the best ribs in town. Eh...I do not know about having the "best" but they were good. I have had better, for sure. We then stopped at one of the run-down tshirt shops. The reason why I bring this up is because, Rob said growing up and being down here all he would see were crappy little tshirt open air shops, and each shop had the same stuff as the last. We went and played a round of mini-golf before heading back to the hotel for the night. All-in all, I had a great day.Monday, we woke up and got things packed up. I woke up feeling like poo again. I think I may have over done it the day before, since I felt so good. I tried taking some medicine but for some reason it just was not helping anything thing time around. We walked through the world's largest "As Seen on Tv Store". I was so not impressed, but yet again I was just really wanting to sit and rest. We then stopped at a huge Christmas store that had anything you can think of in christmas items. After that we took a drive over to Cherokee, NC as I just wanted to sit and do nothing. I had no energy to walk around and/or deal with the heat and humidity. Cherokee is a little Indian Reservation town. Looked like a run-down type of place, and I was definately not impressed. After that we decided it was time to head back up to Knoxville and out to the airport. Once we got to the airport and checked in, I realized that I had an ear infection (my ear finally hurt enough for me to realize). So, I was happy we were headed home so that I could go to the doctor on Tuesday to get some medicine.
A quick birthday trip...and it was overall fun. I wished that I could have felt normal, so that I could have enjoyed it more...but hey....not much you can do!
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