Dollywood 2009 family photo at the front Picture Spot. It was hot again today. The park had lots more people today without the rain. The kids thought the lines were going to be short like yesterday, but they had plenty of rides anyway.

Dinner was at Mel's Diner, followed by three hours of swimming.

A Day at Dollywood

The rain early in the day drove us to the pool instead of the park. But the kids finally had an opportunity to ride in the afternoon. Meredith and Nate rode the Shooting Star just before the rain closed the rides for a bit. They're on the left. We only had about four hours there today, but the kids managed to ride their favorites.

After the park, we cooled off in the lazy river for a couple of hours. Dinner was take-out from Taco Bell. I'm up waiting for that to settle down.

Looks like it was fun day at work too. Probably the busiest day ever for the website. Nagios kept me up to date with the slowness of the websites. If it weren't for the kids, vacations with SMS alerts would suck.

Florida 2008 - Indian Rocks Beach

We were lucky enough to have good beach weather on Monday. We ran down US 19 to Clearwater, only to find that all of the parking lots were full. We followed the causeway a bit farther to Indian Rocks Beach. The kids were glad that we found a less crowed beach where we weren't shoulder to shoulder with everyone else. Tried some belly surfing as the tide came in, Meredith is starting to get the hang of it.

Florida 2008 - Swimming into the sunset.

The after dinner swim means we get to watch the sun set as we enjoy a 84 degree swim.

Florida 2008 - Pool Time

The kids and I spent each evening in the pool. It has a great view of the river as it empties into the Gulf of Mexico.

Florida 2008 - Transit

We have returned from the 2008 Florida trip. Transit time for the kids has improved thanks to Leapsters, Gameboy and DVD players in the second and third rows. Nate is even learning to multi-task.

We still have puzzle books and coloring boards, for when the batteries have worn down.

Family Day Out

We went to John Bryan state park today as a family. The leaves are still turning and the river is running enough to appreciate the water flowing through the gorge. We spent most of our time in the Clifton Gorge area. Scott and Nate were there this past spring, it was Meredith's first time. I'm hoping to build the kids up to ride the Little Miami bike trail up there in the next couple of years.

We hiked around the rim and then descended into the gorge for the walk back. The kids were hungry so we ran up route 68 afterwards to Young's Dairy. Black Raspberry was this week's flavor, so I had two. The kids had time to ride the farm train and feed the goats.

We stopped at the Sonic in Hamilton on the way home so everyone could eat in a drive-in. They still roller-skate out with the order. The kids loved it. I don't think Mindy and I have been to a drive-in since high school.