Pony Party for Eva

Syd's good friend, Eva, turned 3 a couple of weeks ago. She had a pony party and we had a blast. All the kids wore their best cowboy/cowgirl attire. We got to see some great friends that we don't see too often and the kids LOVED the pony rides! Here are some pics from the party.

Syd looked very cute in the cowgirl hat and pink cowboy boots. If you click on the link below, you'll see another incredibly cute kid in the same outfit :). It is actually Catherine's and she was nice enough to let us borrow it. THANKS again. It was seriously adorable :)

http://catherineandcarson.blogspot.com/2009/06/rabbit-and-pony.html

http://www.ponypartytn.com/party.html
Check out the cutie cowboy, Eden! The camera battery zonked out before we got a lot of pics, but Eva was adorable and we loved seeing baby Elizabeth again AND meeting baby West for the first time. Syd was also squeeling with excitement to see Allie, LeLe and B. We also loved seeing the grown ups too :)

Duck Races in Ktown

We enjoyed an afternoon at Volunteer Landing at the annual rubber duck race. http://www.knoxnews.com/photos/galleries/2009/aug/22/great-knoxville-rubber-duck-race/ Although our ducks didn't win, we had a great time watching them float down the river. Syd enjoyed the Kiddie activities (bounce houses and slides are always a sure crowd-pleaser).
She climbed up the big slide all by herself with no fear. Our baby is getting so big.

Visit with the Mills and a trip to Cades Cove and Congrats BECCA

Congrats Becca!!! You graduated and we are so proud of you. Good luck!
Last weekend, we were fortunate enough to get to spend some time with the M family. They live in DC and we don't see them often, so it was a real treat. THey were on their way to Alabama to see Becca graduate (again, GO Becca!). Syd enjoyed time with Katie. Can you tell Syd is excited?! Between the two of those girls, I'm not sure who has more energy. Syd loved it and it was great to have a moment with someone keeping my little busy body entertained. Sydney did all of her usual cute, smart kid tricks to keep them entertained--(cheerleading stunts, counting, singing the alphabet, etc).

The girls escaped for some girl time (sushi and shopping) and the boys did what boys do- enjoy sports. Given that Scott and Trace grew up together in Louisiana, they also had to make a pit stop for some Cajun food as well.
Over the weekend, we went to Cades Cove to enjoy the scenery and so what nature had to offer. It was beautiful. Sometimes you forget how pretty it is here.

On our short nature walk, we did see the signs noting that bears hang out there (in the woods), but we didn't really expect to see any. Needless to say, we were surprised when the hikers ahead of us told us to shhh and pointed to the baby bear just ahead. We watched with admiration, excitement and admittedly, a little fear! We were pretty close to this bear! And...being close to a bear in the wood is a little different than being close to a bear in a zoo, mostly because the wild strong animal is not in a cage. Anyway, it was certainly a highlight of the trip. The bear crossed the road in front of us and went to the other side to eat lunch and make bear surprises. We kept telling Sydney to "shhhhh" in hopes we wouldn't cause any bear concern. It was definitely a highlight of the trip! !

More posts coming soon. I have so many pics to download and so little time. Syd was a flower girl in a wedding a couple of weeks ago and went to a pony party the week before...again, more to blog on soon. Lauren- thanks for updating the cades cove pics on facebook