B-day Weekend

It's Sunday night...very tired from a weekend of celebrating our daughter turning two! It was a busy weekend, so I'll try to just hit the highlights:


My parents came in from Greenville on Friday afternoon. So they were able to have some extra time with her before the big party day started. Saturday morning they took her to a park while we started getting food ready for later in the day. My dad came back with some great photos, so I'll start by sharing some of those.

Photo Album: Fountain City Park

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Our plan for the birthday party was to have it at Adair park at 2:30pm, about a mile from our house. It's never over crowded and it's a pretty place to be on a nice day. The only problem was...thunderstorms in the afternoon. We have had beautiful weather for days and days in a row, and then of course it rains when we want to throw this outdoor party.

We changed locations to our house, which was fine since we have a good party house. It turned out to be a lot of fun - kids running through the house and all :). Erin had a great time playing with her friends.

Photo Album: Erin's 2nd Birthday Party

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My parents went home this afternoon, so we had some more time to hang out this morning. After church we had lunch at Cracker Barrel. When we got home we set up Erin's pool and let her run around for a while. We got some great pictures, including ones in her new pink dress.

Photo Album: Playing in the backyard

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Erin didn't want to take her nap when it was time, so after my parents left we thought about just getting in the car and driving so she would fall asleep. Gatlinburg is just about an hour and a half away - a great length for a nap - so we packed a few things and headed out. We knew of a very short paved trail just beyond the Smokey Mountain visitor center that partly goes along a small river. We all enjoyed the walk and then spend just a little time on the Gatlinburg main strip before having dinner there.

Photo Album: Walking the trail in Gatlinburg/Smokey Mountains

The ride home wasn't as peaceful as the ride there, but we kept her happy by singing songs and having her tell us what sounds certain animals make (it was all we could think of in response to her crying "I want to see animals").

Luckily she went right to sleep when we got home (not too far off from her normal bedtime). Now I am just looking forward to my own bedtime very soon. I am worn out...

Happy Birthday, Erin!