Baby L: Vacation with Pappaw in Tennessee

Pappaw Dan invited all of us to share a vacation with him this year, which was delightful. We all voted and decided someplace we could drive to would be best...considering we have so much stuff to tote around these days. So, Crossville, Tennessee was the winner. We landed just between Nashville and Knoxville on I-40 where the tourist destinations were plentiful! Along the way, we had to make a few stops to keep everyone happy during the 6-hours of driving time.

Our last stop was Dale Hollow to show Pappaw and Vivi the dam. This is where Uncle Mark's family has a place and mommy, daddy and I went a couple summers ago before Vivi was born. It was a beautiful day and a great place for a quick break. I even went all the way down to the bottom of the dam with Pappaw, Mark and Daddy. It sure was a long way down and a little spooky.

Mommy, Kari and Vivi stayed at the top.

Our first full day was spent at the pool. Vivi turned 10 months old today!! Can you believe it?

She tried raisins for the first time and really liked them a lot.

I had a popsicle to cool off even though it was a little breezy on this day.

We picked up some brochures from the condo offices, and realized that there were lots and lots of caves around. Daddy thought this would be a fun family adventure, so mommy, daddy, Vivi and I drove a couple hours to the Cumberland Caverns.

We really had a fun time at the caves and Vivi and I did great! There were over 300 stairs to climb inside that were all carved out of rock and it was a bit slippery so we had to be extra careful.

Happy girl back at the condo.

Uncle Mark and Pappaw... can you find Austin??

Catching up...

Pappaw in his souvenir Tennessee t-shirt.

What a bunch of sillies!

Ok, back at the pool. This time Austin, Matt and Susan were with us. They didn't arrive until a day after us because they had something going on the day we left.

Uncle Mark and Uncle Matt sat in the shade.

Kari and Mark could only stay through Wednesday morning before they had to head back to work on Thursday.

We went on a walk around the golf course one beautiful evening. The paths were great and we even saw bats in the trees as the sun set!

Chilling with Pappaw, Austin and Aunt Susan on the couch.

Good morning!

Today, we drove to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. The Smokey Mountains were so pretty!! We went to Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum which turned out to be a huge waste of money...the coolest things to see were in the entryway to the museum that you could see before going in. Oh well! This was a huge marble ball that turned.

This giant chair was about the coolest thing in the actual museum!

There was free moonshine tasting that Pappaw and daddy tried.

Posing by a cool old car in Gatlinburg. Austin did not want to take a picture!

We made it all the way back after a long day of driving and exploring. Now time to relax before bed!

There was a great beach on Lake Tansi where we stayed. They had lots of pretty sand, a playground and really clean water. We could even see the fishies when they swam up next to our feet. Pappaw helped us build a sand fort that we filled with water. He sure is a good builder.

Vivi liked playing in the sand when she wasn't sticking it in her mouth.

I did a really good job swimming with my arm floaties and Austin did great in his swim ring!

On our last night, we went out to eat at a nice place down the street from where we stayed. We heard from someone at the beach that this place was really good....and it didn't disappoint! Vivi was such a good girl and ate a lot! She especially loved the green beans and mashed potatoes.