We woke up on the last day of our vacation and cleaned and packed up the cabin. Rebecca and I left the daddy's to keep track of the kids while we did the cleaning and packing. It's just easier that way. The boys were pretty lazy all morning which helped to control the cleanliness while we were packing everything up.
We gave the babies a bath before we headed out to
Tweetsie! All of the adults had been to Tweetsie before but it was way back in the 80's when we were kids so we didn't really remember too much about it. It's not like most theme parks where there are big and small rides and attractions for all ages. This one is geared strictly towards the kids. At least that's my opinion after spending the day there. It is also my opinion that Tweetsie is behind the times, like they close at 6pm every day of the week, EVEN IN THE SUMMER! At 5:30 we were corralled towards the exit so they could start cleaning up after us. Some of the attractions closed down earlier so we missed them {like the gem panning that TJ & Austin wanted to do so badly}. But overall, the kids had a blast and that's all that matters.
It's pretty much mandatory that you take the train ride as soon as you get to the park. The train ride is a 3 mile trip that goes around the entire park and through the mountains. The train stops periodically and there are park "actors" {if that what you want to call them?} that put on little skits along the ride. Indians pretend to attack and cowboys get shot.
I'm pretty sure that when I was little, the Indians actually climbed aboard the train and scared the living daylights out of all of the kids on it. This time around it was sooo not scary. Not even to the kids. The Indians don't hide in the woods and I doubt any of the "actors" will be on Broadway or the big screen anytime soon. They were more like locals who were making $8/hour to wear hot cowboy/indian garb all day long and would much rather be hanging out in the saloon drinking a tall boy instead. But again, the kids liked it. And Deuce absolutely loved the train ride. Something about being outdoors that this kids absolutely loves. In all fairness, the scenery is beautiful!
After the not-so-scary train ride, we took the boys over to the rides. There were 3 rides that were operating at Tweetsie. They were like any ol' ride at the state fair but they were perfect for TJ & Austin. They got on the thing that is like the orbiter first. TJ & Austin are side by side at the top.
Then they got on the Tweetsie version of the Drop Zone. I think this was their favorite. They rode it over and over and over again. They rode it long enough for me & Deuce to go to another section of the park to catch the terrible Can-Can girls perform some routine where they were singing and attempting to dance without a smile on their face. I think the people in there were just watching because it was indoors and there were seats. We stayed long enough for Deuce to get about 5 minutes of jiggy-ness in before we headed back to the rides.
Then we walked down to the go-carts. These may have been the most putt-puttin' go carts I've ever seen and they were so slow that the boys got to drive them so that was cool with them. They were big timin'... Just check out Rebecca's face and you can tell how excited she was!
Oooooh...a shot of me & Ed. The only picture of me from the weekend...
After the boys were done with the rides, we got on the chairlift and headed up to Miner's Mountain. That might have been
my favorite part of the park. It was so peaceful and serene riding up the mountain and I had Deuce in my lap and he was "ooh"-ing "hi"-ing as we passed other people on their way down. At the top of Miner's Mountain is a playground and a petting zoo and the gem mining. As I mentioned earlier, we missed the petting zoo and the gem panning. But we convinced the boys that if they dug through some of the troughs they might could find something somebody accidentally left behind. I think they scoured every inch of every trough and came up empty handed.
Deuce just wanted to play in the water and I had to pull him away kicking and screaming because he was trying to climb in the troughs. We went to the playground instead.
And to finalize our trip to Tweetsie, the boys
had to pose for a picture on the horses at the entrance. Somewhere, there exists a picture of me on the horses with my grandparents from the last time I was there, close to 30 years ago, but not quite because I'm still 29! {Did I
really just say 30 years ago? WOW}
We had such a good time on our trip to the mountains and I think that we are going to make it a yearly tradition to go with the Smith's. Next year we will have to venture to some state parks and sliding rock & Grandfather Mountain and Linville Falls & Blowing Rock and the Blueridge Parkway... oh, there is so much to do up there! But it was time to get back to the daily grind...
Deuce Update: After going to the doctor yesterday, the newest conclusion is that Deuce has some sort of contact dermatitis, which has caused the inflammation of the hair follicles and the folliculitis. He was prescribed a steroid cream this time so he is now on that cream, the oral antibiotic & ibuprofen. If it is not getting better by Thursday, Dr. Davis already wrote him a prescription for an oral steroid antibiotic that I can go have filled without having to go back to see him. This will probably take a few weeks to clear up. Also, his pigment cells have more than likely been temporarily damaged (much like from his eczema) and will be a lighter shade that his healthy skin. This is obviously more noticeable in a biracial child. It may take around 6 months for the pigment cells to recover but by then it will be winter and he'll be covered up anyway so I'm not worried. We are also putting neosporin on the places that he has been scratching. The oral antibiotic causes him to use the bathroom alot so he's got one heck of a diaper rash too. So we are taking oatmeal baths every night and spending lots of $$ on Aquaphor. That stuff works miracles though! Oh! He's got 3 teeth coming in too! Poor little dude.... Mommy is sooo ready for this to pass.
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