Its just a Dollywood Birthday

For my birthday Dom, Francesca and I went to East TN to stay with Missy & Greg & go to DOLLYWOOD, America's Theme park.
Dom had the weekend off so when he got home on Friday afternoon we headed out. Dom and Francesca were both asleep before we hit the interstate. The drive over took us around 6 hours after getting stuck in traffic and having to stop to eat and give Francesca a break.
That night Francesca had a really rough time. She fell asleep not to long after arriving at Missy's but she woke up screaming. Nothing I could do would calm her down. Finally I went out onto the porch area and we watched the fish tank. She would fall back asleep if I was holding her, but if I put her down the screaming would start again. Finally I was able to lay down with her on my chest around 2am.
Saturday morning Francesca and I went with Missy & Greg to Aaron's cross country meet. Dom stayed behind to catch up on sleep, he was getting off of night shift and hadn't adjusted his sleep patterns yet. I loved getting to see a cross country meet and it brought back so many memories of my time running in high school. The course was 2 laps through a great park and there were a lot of places to stand and cheer them on. Aaron did really well. I was so proud of him, I even got a little tear in my eye when he ran by. I guess being a mom brings out emotions I use to not have, but it was a great morning. That afternoon Sam B was in town for Booms Day and we went to the mall and spent an hour or so with him before we headed over to Maryville College to see Sam Howell's dorm and school. He gave us the tour around his dorm and the college. It seems like so long ago that I was living the care free college life.
Sunday was Dollywood day!!!! I've been wanting to go to Dollywood for some time and Missy, who has a season pass, got 2 free guest passes. Greg decided to go with us which was really exciting. Missy planned on watching Francesca while the rest of us stood in line and rode roller coasters. The TN tornado was my favorite. We waited extra to go in the front, my thought is that if you are going to ride a coaster, ride it from the best seat available. So tracks it makes a big difference to sit in the front and others it really doesn't, but this one was worth the little bit of extra wait. It was probably the fastest track I've ever been on. It was really intense. Francesca spent most of her time pushing her stroller around. Francesca rode her first carousel with Dom. I didn't ride b/c someone needed to take pictures, and they make me sick. Lunch was a highly reccommended turkey leg. Sam H. told me we had to get one, when I told him we had tried one at Disney he said "yeah, Disney's can't be that good, we know how to fix them up here in TN." And I do agree with him, it was quite tasty, and the meat fell right off the bone. While Francesca slept Dom & I were able to catch a show. We watched a gospel quartet sing. We figured since we skipped church this would make up for it. Overall the day was great. There are plenty of rides to keep you busy and entertained and a ton of shows that could fill in the rest of the time. I highly recommend it. Like Dom's friend said "It's not Disney and they don't try to be Disney."