Joel's First Vacation

Last week we went to Tennessee with my family for five days in Gatlinburg. This was Joel's first vacation, and he was wonderful! He travelled really well and hardly fussed at all in the car on the way there. Thank goodness Daddy insisted on buying the portable DVD player for the car.....it was a Godsend! We took him to Ober Gatlinburg and the Dixie Stampede. He really liked the animals at Ober Gatlinburg, but I think he was a tad overstimulated at the Dixie Stampede. He was a trooper, though! One day we took a bad detour and spent 10 hours in the car. He was better about that than his Mommy was! On our last full day there, my friend Megan who lives there came and babysat for Joel while we went to the new Titanic museum. She loves spoiling him and he loves being spoiled so it worked out well! We took tons of pictures, and I have posted a few of the good ones here. On the way home, Joel was not quite as cooperative and fussed quite a bit the last couple of hours. I couldn't blame him though. He is such an easy-going little guy and very flexible it seems. Maybe we'll do another trip next year.....? Anyway, Joel is doing great in general. He is not yet walking alone but does stand and walk if you hold his hand. It won't be long before he is off and running! He is very vocal and very, VERY busy all day....crawling around and getting into everything he can possibly find. He keeps us busy! We are all definitely ready for bed at night! We fall in love with him more every day, and we have to try really hard not to spoil him completely rotten. He fell asleep on Rob tonight, and went to bed without any trouble, so that was a beautiful thing. More later....Oops...I almost forgot. Joel starts his "swimming lessons" with Daddy at the YMCA this coming week. I'm going aong as the offical photographer. We can't wait!