Visit with the Silva Family - A Great Vacation!

Wow, after looking through all of our pictures from the past week and half I can't get over all that we have done as a family, so I think this blog will have to be split into two parts. This first part is of our mini-vacation/visit with our cousins the Silva's. They drove all the way from Canada to see us and we had a wonderful time with all of them. Both Emmie and Paige are suffering today from Heidi withdrawal, they both miss her already! For the first two days they were here we just hung out around the house and played with all of our toys.

Jay was trying his hardest to fit right in down here, he had his shirt off and did some wood chopping for Daddy!!!

After all the fun we had outside in our playhouse and pool we needed a bath. Check out this pic of the two of us in the bath, you almost can't tell who is who, Mommy and Erica kept saying how much the two of us look alike, I think it might be the hair!!!

You can't have bedtime with out some stories before hand and we were extra lucky because we had two daddy's to read to us, it was pretty funny listening to both of them read a Dr.Suess story!

On Monday morning we got all packed up and headed to the Smokies where we had a cabin and did tons of fun things. Heidi and I were so excited we couldn't wait to get going, we even got to ride in the car together with our Daddy's.

Our cabin was super nice, it was huge and beautiful. Since I am the older cousin I got a king size bed in the third bedroom and poor Heidi got a pack'n play in my bathroom...lol! This way our Mommy's and Daddy's didn't have to share their rooms with us. Baby Paige had to sleep in the same room as Mommy and Daddy and they put her in the closet, so glad I sleep in a bed now!!!

We played with play-doh, went swimming in a little pool on the balcony and even more exciting we saw two baby black bears and their momma. The cubs even considered coming up the stairs to see us but then they changed their minds!!!

One afternoon when Erica, Jay and Daddy were gone shopping at the outlets, Mommy let me play with the camera and take pictures of Heidi and Baby Paige, I think I did a pretty good job, what do you think?

I think one of the most exciting things we did was visit the Ripley's Aquarium, voted the #1 best aquarium inn America, it was spectacular, we all enjoyed it.

We saw so many different types of fish, including lots of different sharks and sting rays. There was actually a section of the aquarium where the fish were swimming all around you, including over top of us so we could see their bellies, it was so neat. We could also touch the sting rays, I tried too but wasn't able to reach it, maybe next time!

One of the coolest things to see was the Penguins, they had an entire playhouse where you could watch and interact with the Penguins, and they were super cute!

Baby Paige slept for most of the time when we were at the aquarium but when she finally woke up we got a few funny pics of her.

After our long day out and about we got to take a bath in a big whirlpool tub at the cabin, it was huge, Heidi and I loved swimming in it. Baby Paige even came in for a little bit, she isn't big enough yet to sit alone with us, so Mommy had to hold her.

On our last day at the cabin we took a few pics outside on the balcony before we headed out. We even got one of Erica showing off her small baby belly. We still can't believe there will be another little girl for all of us to play with, we certainly have lots of girls in our family!!!

On our way out of Pigeon Forge we got to stop at a kids playland and go on some amusement rides. This was Heidi's first time and she kept looking at me on the rides to see what I thought and as long as I looked like I was having fun, so did she! We went on a boat, a train, some spinny cups, a carousel and a plane, it was awesome. Baby Paige even got to go on the carousel for her first amusement ride ever.

Since I am a little bigger than Heidi I was able to go on my very first Go-Kart ride with daddy. Daddy, Jay and I went racing on the Go-Kart track, it was super fast and exciting.

Last night the Silva's had one more dinner with us and then they left to hit the road back to Canada around 7:30pm. During dinner Daddy decided that Baby Paige was ready to start trying some rice cereal, her very first time trying food. She seemed to really enjoy it but unfortunately for Mommy, she ended up being up all night, her little belly just isn't ready yet.

We were all sad when they had to leave because we had so much fun together. I am really going to miss Heidi, she was lots of fun to play with. We gave some hugs and kisses when they were getting ready to leave. We heard from them this morning and they got in around 7:30am so they did great time!!!

Well that is all for now, I know this was a big post but we just had so much to share. In a few days when we have some more free time we will get around to putting up the rest of the pictures from all the other stuff we have been up to. Enjoy your weekend!

Love y'all,

Emmie and Paige