Dollywood!

We packed up our bags and headed to Pigeon Forge for a long weekend of camping and Dollywood!

The first thing we checked out when we got to Dollywood was the carousel, which Olivia still didn't like. There is something about animal statues that frightens Olivia. The entire time she kept looking at the horses "chasing" behind her and freaked out. So, the first ride was not a hit.

But we were way excited to see that Olivia's favorite book, Llama Llama Red Pajama was playing!! She asks to read the "Llama book" every night before bed and at the end she always says "night, night Llama" and then gives the llama a good night kiss and then gives me a good night kiss.

We then headed for some fun in the carnival section where Olivia and I rode the elephants! She was a little afraid at first (again because of the animal statue thing) but once the ride started moving, she soon got into it, although she clung to me the entire time!

We had fun on the tea cups...

Then enjoyed riding around in the ducky...

With mommy in the back seat!

By this time, Olivia was really into the rides and pointed to the bumble bees to ride, saying "please bee" over and over again. I wasn't able to ride this with her, but luckily another little girl was nice enough to ride next to her since I was a bit paranoid of her riding this by herself. I thought Olivia would chicken out as we walked away after putting her in the seat, but she didn't!

Later in the day, we got some afternoon showers that luckily didn't start until just after the train ride so we didn't miss out on that! We found a store to stay dry in and Olivia entertained herself with a wooden train set.

The rain was great to cool things off, but at that time we were wishing for it to end. Who knew we'd be wishing for the rain again the next day!

A tired Olivia took a break from all the fun to get in a nap while daddy and I enjoyed some the rollercoasters!

Adventure Mountain was a lot of fun! We got to walk through all sorts of obstacles while being harnessed through the air. They also had an Adventure Mountain for trainers where Olivia practiced her skills with Nana while the rest of us did this.

There were also a lot of different play grounds and water features for younger kids to run around and play with. Olivia had the most fun running under the play gym!

The next morning, the dads woke up to gifts for Father's Day! Papa got a basketball hoop for him and Olivia to play basketball and a Papa Bear mug.

Daddy didn't get too much because his present (new outdoor chairs) was too big to bring along. But he did get to open an All Star Dad mug and a koozie that Olivia made for him in daycare.

We were glad we had another day at Dollywood because there was still so much to see! We started day 2 off with the Mystery Mine which was my favorite ride there! If you like rollercoasters and visit Dollywood, this ride is a must! And if the lines are nice and short like they were for us, you'll probably ride it again later in the day like we did!

While we were away, Olivia was busy herself climbing the rock wall! I can't believe how brave she is getting.

The rest of the day was spent exploring the house Dolly grew up in....

Posing for pictures...

Touring Dolly's tour bus...

Admiring a butterfly that was riding on Olivia's stoller...

Riding some of Olivia's favorite rides again...

This time Olivia rode the bumble bee all by herself!

After she rode the bee, we asked if she wanted to ride the ducky ride again but she wanted to ride the bee again so she did.

We also saw more shows. We saw Sha-Kon-O-Hey! Olivia really enjoyed this show and tried to repeat the dancing she saw which was a lot of arm movements so her arms were swinging everywhere during the show so Papa spent the show dodging her arms.

Since Olivia is so into shows, we also saw The Little Engine that Could, even though we haven't read the book yet. I guess that needs to be on my to-do list.

We also watched a 25th Anniversary Celebration show in which Olivia was far more entertaining than the show.

We had a great time in Dollywood and were more than impressed with everything there was to do and see. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for a vacation with children of all ages. When I asked Olivia on the ride home if she had fun at Dollywood she replied back "yes I did." We can't wait to go back!