Vacation!!! - part 2

 I wish I was still here . . .

Alas, I am back in the real world and I can't complain!  I do love being home :)  It's nice that we live between the beach and the mountains.  We don't have to drive very far to get to either of them.

Random thought about my last post . . . I know that when I take pictures of my kids and family when we are at the beach, or anywhere really, that there will be times when other people that I don't know will be in my pictures.  I just want to say that if you are those other people that are in my pictures, I apologize!  I also want to say that I realize I am probably in beach pictures that other people take and I would also like to apologize for that.  I would hate for anyone that have a picture of me in a bathing suit.  Jeez.

Moving on!

Beautiful NC mountains

For for part 2 of our vacation, we went to Tweetsie Railroad.  It was so much fun!  My parents took me and my sister to Tweetise a few times when we were little and I couldn't wait to share the experience with my girls.  We had perfect weather for our visit!

The first thing I wanted to do was to make sure I got a picture of them sitting on these "horses".  Somewhere, in my Mom's house, there is a picture of me and my sister on these same two horses!  I have got to find that picture and when I do, you best believe I'm scanning it and putting it on my blog!!!

There are things like this Teepee and wagon all around the park that you can get in and pose for pictures :)  You know the momarazzi has to have tons of photo ops!

We took the chair lift to Miner's Mountain . . .

Me and Adrianna!  See Aaron and Ava in the chair behind us?

It doesn't look like it's so far up but it in some places it is!  Adrianna rode with me the first time and I'm surprised she didn't puke as hard as I had my arm pressing across her body - in fear that she would slip out of the chair.

At the top of Miner's Mountain you can pan for gold or gems . . .

 

 And feed the Goats, Deer, Emu, Llamas, Burrows, Miniature Horses and Pot Bellied Pigs at Deer Park. . .

 

Even Aaron had fun feeding the animals :)  The baby Pygmy Goats were out of the fences and ran right up to you as soon as you walked in.  Soon we had a following of little goats trailing behind us.
The little Pygmy goat in the picture above stuck with me for a little bit.  I think he just wanted his picture taken.  I was surprised that it took Adrianna, our animal lover, a while to warm up to actually feeding the goats.  She would hold her hand out then snatch it back as soon as the goats would come up.  Finally, she let them eat out of her hand and realized it wasn't that bad!

After we left the Deer Park we rode the Mouse Train.  The Mouse Train takes you on a short trip around Miner's Mountain and through the Cheese Mine where you see some Mice mining cheese . . .  Well, my girls were entertained more by the black light in the tunnel than the singing mice. 

Adrianna even took her shoes off so we could see her socks "glow".

There were some other rides on Miner's Mountain that the kids weren't interested in riding so we made our way back down to the Country Fair.

The girls rode the Carousel.  I have to say that the Carousel at Burlington City Park in still me favorite Carousel ever.  I could be a little partial, though.

I faced a fear of mine and rode my first Ferris Wheel!!  In Adrianna's words I was skerd!! 

Ava rode with Aaron and Adrianna rode with me.  I had my hand on her little leg in a death grip about the whole time.  I'm not sure if it was because I felt like she was safer and wouldn't fall out if I held onto her or if it was because of my fear of being on that swinging contraption so high up in the air. 

I was really worried that Ava would be scared and freak out during the Ferris wheel ride but she did great and wanted to ride again! 

Bumper cars were up next!  They weren't actually "bumper cars" I guess.  You just drove around a one lane track.  No bumping.  Unless you count when we were parking, the girl behind us rammed into us so hard that our heads snapped back and the attendant came to check to see if we were OK.  That was a bump.

Ava rode with me and Adrianna rode with Aaron. . .

That's Aaron and Adrianna in front of us!

 I let Ava steer . . .

 The girl cannot drive straight! 

 Next up was a ride on the big train!

If you go to Tweetsie, watch where you stand and which way the wind blows when the train is passing by!  You will get soot from the coal-fired steam engine on you.  Well, you'll probably get a little on you when you ride the train,  so just expect it!

While we were waiting for the next train the girls took the opportunity to pose in a few more of the wagons and on some more horses . . .

 Oh yeah, we put the kids in jail.  A few times . . .

I took a lot of pictures in the train ride but I won't bore you with all of those!  Here are just a few.  The train ride is actually a little western adventure complete with Cowboys, Indians, and train robbers.  It's a really fun show that they do with a lot of humor but the guns are kinda loud. 

Oh yeah, real horses :)  Adrianna loved that part!

After the train ride we saw a show at the Palace with the Can-Can dancers.  It was really cute.  They sang and danced.  I didn't get very good pictures because all I had with me was my iPhone. 

Ignore the blur and this man's head . . .

Adrianna cleaned up the feathers on the floor from the dancers feather boas that they danced with:)  After the show, the Can-Can girls posed for a picture with Ava and Adrianna.

We met up with some friends of ours to ride some more rides.  Aaron and Adrianna rode the Tilt-a-whirl with them.  Ava was going to ride but decided at the last minute that she didn't want to.  She doesn't do so well on those types of rides.  I don't either.  Everyone enjoyed the ride and lined up to do it again.  After Ava saw how much fun they had she decided she would ride.  She loved it!  I have no idea why I don't have those pictures but for some reason I can't find them.  I know I took several!

Aaron wanted me to ride this thing with him.  The Round-up.  It starts off flat then starts spinning around and raises up.  Yeah, right.   Never fear, he was able to ride with our friend that we were hanging out with!

We rode the train again for the last ride of the day.  This time the "show" was a little different.  As we were boarding the train there was quite a commotion out on the main street.  An Indian stole one of the Can-Can girls and the Cowboys hopped on the train with us to go save her!

Needless to say, the Cowboys saved the day and rescued the Can-Can dancer. 

This Cowboy ripped the seam of his pants!  Totally not in the script!  It was really funny and he was very good natured about it and covered it well - I don't think anyone saw anything untoward except his cowboy friend who realized the mishap.  Afterwards at the Sunset show, where several entertainers and the Can-Can girls do one last performance, this cowboy was spotted wearing a pair of one of the  Can-Can dancers' bloomers over his ripped pants.  It was funny for the people who were on that last train ride!

We had a blast at Tweetsie Railroad!  I can't wait to go back next year :)  After we left, we went to dinner with our friends then hit the rode for the ride back home.

Here are a few more instagram and picframe pics . . .

The kids are in jail again!

OK, so I was able to fulfill a childhood dream . . . I know it sounds silly but I have always wanted to have one of these old timey photos made!  So we did!  Well, the girls and I did.  Aaron wouldn't do it.  Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a saloon girl (not a real one!) in one of these photos.  The girls wanted to be Indians so I was an Indian, too!  Sorry for the horrible photo of the photo!

Next time, Aaron is going to be in the picture, too.  Yes, there will be a next time!

Well, I hope you enjoyed my vacation pics! 


Natalie

The pictures in this post we all taken with my iPhone.