Summer: Week 6 / Vacation with Mimi & Granddad

On Sunday, we dropped Jake off at Robbie's parents (Mimi & Granddad). They were taking him & his cousin Jackson (age 12) on vacation to Gatlinburg for a few days. Jake was beyond excited. This boy adores his grandparents & his cousins so they could sit in a padded room & Jake would think it's the greatest day ever. But the fact they were going on vacation, staying in a hotel, doing fun things and pesky mom & dad wouldn't be tagging along with all their rules, meant double the fun. The Bush's & Jake headed up to Chattanooga Sunday afternoon & spent the night with Robbie's sister & her family. On Monday morning, Mimi, Granddad, Jackson & Jake all headed up to Gatlinburg. 

The Bush's sweetly put all their pictures on a disk for me. Jake & I went through them, and Jake gave me commentary and his opinion on all of them. 

First stop was a visit to the aquarium. Jake said his favorite part of the aquarium were the penguins.  

Jake & Jackson

Jake thought the sharks were very neat but very scary

I love Jake's facial expression in this picture

Jake informed me he really wasn't wearing this suit.
It was just a body with its head cut off.

Monday night, Jake called us to tell us about his day. He had a lot of fun at the aquarium, but was most excited to tell us that they were staying in a hotel & it even had a TV in the room. And they had pizza for supper. He told us that no fewer than 5 times while on our 15 minute phone call. And each day after that when we would talk to him, he would mention the hotel room that had a TV and pizza. So Rob & I decided to scrap the plans to take Jake to Disney World, we'll just take him to a Motel 6 & grab some pizza. Best vacation ever according to Jake. 

Tuesday morning, they went for a swim at the resort's pool. Jake's favorite thing was jumping in doing cannon balls with Jackson.

Tuesday afternoon, they went to Dollywood. This was Jake's favorite part of the vacation (other than the hotel with a TV). We had looked up some of the rides before he left & he was most excited to ride the ferris wheel and a roller coaster. (Yes, this child that is deathly scared of all animals, even butterflies, is not scared of roller coasters. I do not get it sometimes.)

Riding the ferris wheel with Granddad

Wednesday morning, they headed back over to Dollywood.

Jake said the cars didn't go fast enough

This was a ride that would raise you in the air, then drop you suddenly. Jake said it was also one of his favorites.

I love the expression on his face
He is having such a great time

Jake was disappointed he was not tall enough to drive the bumper cars
He didn't feel like Jackson bumped enough people

Jake swears they rode this roller coaster.
I need to confirm with Mimi & Granddad

Wednesday afternoon, they headed back to Chattanooga & spent the night. They spent Thursday at the lake* with Aunt Andrea & Uncle Johnathan.

Mimi, Andrea, Jake & Jackson

Jumping in!

They went for a boat ride

And they went tubing**

Uncle Johnathan letting Jake drive the boat

*I love the water, but I am not a lake person. I've spent a lot of time at pools & beaches, but not really lakes. Lakes scare me & make me especially nervous with children. So I was nervous about Jake spending the day at the lake, but especially since neither Rob nor I would be there. I appreciate so much Chuck, Judy, Andrea & Johnathan for being so sweet and accommodating of my 1,000 fears & requests for Jake. I requested that Jake wear a life vest anytime he was on the pier or near the water. (Which Jake told me he didn't like wearing the life vest all day, sorry kid, your mom is crazy.) I appreciate Robbie's family for making me feel so comfortable and reassured. I knew he was in excellent hands which reassured this worried mama's heart. 

**Thankfully, I didn't see these pictures until after we got up to Chattanooga.

Thursday after work, Robbie & I headed up to Chattanooga. We stopped by the lake to pick up Jake and then headed over to spend the 4th of July weekend with our good friends the S family. (Weekend recap coming later this week.)

I want to thank Jackson for being such a sweet cousin. There are not a lot of 12-year-olds that would have the patience to spend 4 days with a 5-year-old. Jackson is so sweet with Jake and Jake looks up to Jackson so much. Anything Jackson does, Jake thinks is the neatest, greatest thing. Jake is lucky to have such a sweet kind older cousin that doesn't mind hanging out with his little cousin. I am thankful to Andrea & Johnathan for sharing their lake house with Jake and taking such good care of him. And I'm especially thankful to Chuck & Judy for being such great grandparents. This was a trip Jake will never forget and I'm so glad for the memories he made with his Mimi, Granddad & cousin Jackson.