Ripley's Believe It Or Not!

We were able to see a few of the Ripley's Museums! Not sure why I didn't take more pictures of the oddities, but here is what we got! The biggest chair EVER!!

It certainly would cut down of how much furniture you'd need!

The biggest Gun EVER! Ian really thought it was cool!

We also went through a mirror maze! Lots of fun! We spent quite a while wondering around in it. Near the end, we were trying to find Dad (Me and Rowan). Well he (Dad) thought it funny to stand around a corner and trick us into thinking he was just straight down the hall. Rowan really thought he was just straight ahead and therefore took off running toward him. Well, it turns out it was just a mirror image! Poor Rowan smacked right into the mirror! After that it wasn't fun anymore! Although the rest of us got a pretty good laugh at his expense!

Driving through the Great Smokey Mountain National Park!

All through out the Park there were small water falls along the road. I had to take a picture of at least one! It was really beautiful! The first time through it was really foggy and we could barely see where we were driving. But on our way back we couldn't have asked for better weather!

Stopping to toss pebbles into the river!

The sign said this was one of the most photograhed sites in the US. So naturally we had to get out and snap a photograph or two! :)

Our trip to Gatlinburg, TN: Ripley's Aquarium

If I would have thought about it a bit more before starting to upload pictures on here I would have remembered they upload backwards. So here is the end of the acquarium to the start! We had so much fun. I know there is a lot of pictures, but everything was so exciting it's hard to choose which ones get included and which ones don't!


There was a very cool Manta Ray and Sting Ray exhibit here! And if weren't cool enough, they threw in a couple of Tiger sharks and some other small sharks! Very eerie when they were flying right toward you! But surprisingly peaceful too.

My camera blurred a little on this one, I thought it made it look like a ghost!

My kids were attacked by a giant Jelly fish!!

Hannah and I were watching some fish when all of the sudden I guess it was dinner time cause a bunch of fish parts was dropped in and it turned into a very chaotic feeding frenzy. This is what Hannah thought of it!

I forget the name of this critter. What we all do remember is that it was poisonous and it had an extra set of jaws that would pop out of its' mouth to grab what ever it was trying to eat. Very Alien- ish! Seriously, who ever has seen the Alien movies just think of that and it's just like it!!

Of course we had to get a picture of Nemo!!

The Cuttle Fish were Jeff's favorite! They had a cool striped look going on, but would change it now and then into these spots. They were really neat! Up close and personal with a Cuttle Fish!

Cute little sea horses. Of course Hannah loved them!

These are Dragon Fish. They were in the same tank as the sea horses. They looked a lot alike, but had these branch looking appendages hanging off them. Very prehistoric/fantasy looking!

This is a Giant Spider Crab. It was huge!! I'm pretty sure it could've eaten my kids given the chance. It was probably about their size!

I don't remember the name of this fish, but it had me wondering if he got made fun of in the fish world. His buck teeth hanging out had me laughing!

I loved the Jellyfish. Their colors were very impressive!
And these were taken through the glass with no flash! I really liked watching them!

This is a stone fish. Very odd looking. I don't think I'd mess with him if I were a fish.

There was a small play area the kids had fun in.

I was on the outside of the tank taking the picture, the kids had to crawl under the tank and then they could stand up inside it!

Rowan had a staring contest with this little guy. He thought it was really cool! We had a very hard time trying to get him out of here!

This tank had a spot in the center where the kids could crawl under and see the tank from the inside, it was lots of fun!

A Blowfish or Porquipine fish! This was my favorite, I think I could have hung out at this tank all day. These little guys would keep swimming up to me and it looked like they were smiling. They'd check me out and then swim off and then come right back like they expected me to play with them. They were so cute!!

Rowan thought this fish was the coolest one!

We got to play with some horseshoe crabs! The kids really enjoyed this. Mom on the other hand opted out. I did try to touch the manta rays later on though!

Just riding the moving sidewalk through the shark tunnel!

These guys looked so funny underneath!

When we first entered the Shark Tunnel, Jeff was priveledged to watch a shark eat a fish, no diver was there feeding them, he was just swimming along and suddenly snatched a fish up and swallowed it! We were too late and therefore had to take his word for it! :) Guess he just wanted a snack! Further on in the tunnel they had a sign posted on the tunnel glass where a shark had tried attacking/biting the glass. There were some pretty mean looking scratches there. I think I would have had a heart attack had I been there when it happened! Look at all those teeth! Both Jeff and I were humming the Jaws theme song at this point!

The Saw Fish Sharks (Don't remember the correct name) was a favorite! They looked like they were smiling from beneath! It was funny just how soft and squishy their under bellies looked! This particular shark liked to just lay on the tunnel ceiling and hang out. I wonder if he was hoping someone would scratch it's belly? :)

They had the shark pools open from the top and also had a tunnel going under the pool, so we got to see them from both sides! Really cool! It surprised me to find out that I was more nervous not having that sheet of glass between us! Especially when they would break the surface! Creepy!!

I think this was a flounder. The types of fish whose eyes first start out on each side of their head but then pushes through to one side. Sounds like a painful process, but neat looking fish!! Can you find it hidding in the sand?

We had so much fun at this aquarium! They really did an awesome job in putting it together! The kids really liked the shark tunnel. Me too, although I did get startled when a shark laid down on the tunnel right above my head and I didn't see it til I happened to look up and Bam! There he was! The kids thought it was pretty funny!

Happy Easter!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter! This year we took a trip to Gatlinburg, TN. There is a wonderful Aquarium and lots of Ripley's Believe it or Not Stuff to see. It's a cute little touristy town, we had lots of fun! Our children were relieved to find that the Easter Bunny still managed to make it to our home even though we weren't there. Granted mom and dad left everything to the last minute and had to scramble around hiding things before the kids made it inside! :) Easter made it's way around a bit faster than we realized this year.

~Interview with a 5 and 7 year old~

I read this off a friend's blog and thought it would be funny to find out just what my kids would say about their mom. So here are their responses.  Dad's interview is still in the works, so stay tuned!! :)

1.  What is something mom always says to you?

Ian: Go to school! Clean up your room!

Hannah: I love you!

2. What makes mom happy?

Ian: listening to her!

Hannah: Say nice words to her!

3. What makes mom sad?

Ian: Not listening.

Hannah:  Not saying nice words.

4. How does your make you laugh?

Ian and Hannah: Tickling us and telling us good jokes!

5. What was your mom like as a child?

Ian: Crazy and coocoo!

Hannah: Just like me!

6. How old is your mom?

Ian: 29. (Funny you choose to listen for that!:)

Hannah: 2026

7. How tall is your mom?

Ian: 30

Hannah: 10 feet, no 5 feet, no 7 feet....  (still to be determined)

8. What is her favorite thing to do?

Ian: Play with us kids!

Hannah: Write words and tickle us.

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?

Ian: Mom worries when she doesn't know where to find us. (We've had incidences where they've gotten into huge amounts of trouble by not telling me where they were gonna be)

Hannah: She thinks about us!

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?

Ian: She'll be the world's famous football player.  (I have absolutely no idea where this came from, I don't play football.  Other than tossing it back and forth to Ian.  But apparently I'm pretty darn smooth!!)

Hannah: By giving money to poor people!  

11. What is your mom really good at?

Ian: Being a personal trainer. (awww, you're so sweet honey!)

Hannah: Playing sports. (again, my sports playing is limited to playing them with the kids! But the NFL, and NBA, etc.. better watch out!!)

12. What is your mom not very good at?

Ian: Guitar Hero! (He's right, he kicks my heiney all the time!)

Hannah: Picking up the fridge. 

13. What does your mom do for a job?

Ian: She works at the YMCA doing personal training. (such a smarty pants)

Hannah: She does what her boss says.

14. What is your mom's favorite food?

Ian and Hannah: Spagetti and shrimp. (I think they were thinking of their own favorite food) lol!

15. What makes you proud of your mom?

Ian: Starting personal training.

Hannah: Doing sports really good!

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?

Ian: Squidward

Hannah: Sandy  (You have to know Spongebob square pants to know who these characters are)

17. What do you and your mom do together?

Ian: Read together at night.

Hannah: Play polly pockets!

18. How are you and your mom different?

Ian: She's a girl! (again, smarty pants!)

Hannah: We don't wear the same clothes or necklaces. I don't wear a watch.

19. How are you and your mom the same?

Ian: We have the same hair and eye color.

Hannah: We have brown hair and eyes, and we have the same cheeks!

20. How do you know your mom loves you?

Ian: Because she's cute. 

Hannah: Because I'm your daughter!!  ( I guess I'm automatically obligated to love her because she's my daughter! I mean seriously! :) )

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?

Ian: The store! (He groans every time I mention I need to go to the store.)

Hannah: The YMCA. (she's having a rough time dealing with me working and being at the Y so much)