Fun At Dollywood

Yesterday, I went with the kids to Dollywood for a while. We really just had a pretty great day! It warmed my heart to see Lillian attempting to ride some rides, JohnAlex LOVING the Scrambler and Aidan having the time of his life!!! It was just an overall great day, but kind of bittersweet as well! Lillian really struggled with her arthritis all day long. She had a lot of trouble with fatigue, being tired, swelling which we eventually had to put bandaids on her feet from the blisters it was making from the swelling. She tripped and fell several times and rode in a stroller a lot of the time except for riding or doing activities. It was the first time I have ever saw her just WANT to really ride in the stroller which broke my heart.

My parents became more aware of her struggles and her difficulties yesterday. They begin to say to put her in the stroller before I had even said anything as they watched her struggle to walk very far at all, trip, and walk very stiff. Despite that though, that has just become a daily challenge for us. I did her stretches with her to help a bit. All of the kids just LOVED riding on the train! They also REALLY enjoyed Shakonahey which is a show that is largely centered around the story of the Cherokee Indians and the Great Smoky Mountains. Shakonahey means "blue smoke" in Cherokee so we all got a little bit of school in as well.  For those of you that do not know, we homeschool so we do school on the road, in the doctor's office, at Dollywood, on field trips, at Nonny's house, just WHEREVER! Hands-on Learning is the BEST!!!

The kids rode the carousel as well. The first time that Lillian had gotten on it, she REFUSED to ride on ANY type of animal that moved while the other kids eagerly climbed on a horse. She finally was talked into sitting on a bench on the carousel and decided by the end of the ride that she would indeed ride on a moving horse. Everyone got back in line and she allowed my mom to lift her up onto.... A HORSE THAT MOVED alongisde her siblings! Inside, I was just jumping for joy! As I sat and watched her on a horse that actually moved (and cling to my mom... but she did stay ON the horse and by the end, was smiling!), I began to think back to when I was pregnant with JohnAlex. I brought Aidan and Lillian to Dollywood and got on the Carousel with Lillian (as I was the only one that could really hold her back then). She was SOOOO terrified of the carousel!!! I sat her on a horse and she screamed and cried for the ENTIRE RIDE! This was when she was almost a year old and I even got a picture of it. It reminded me of just how much PROGRESS she has made. She rode on this moving horse yesterday not liking it but she made herself do it and even smiled by the end. PROGRESS!!! Small progress, but with special needs, small progress is so much better than none and I am HAPPY with small progress!!!

Aidan did pretty well with Dollywood. He did have some episodes of small tics and repeating behaviors. He kept falling while we were there, but overall, MUCH MUCH better than I had expected!!!! JohnAlex was thrilled that he got to wear PULL UPS at Dollywood. They were actually Little Swimmers but I didn't have the heart to tell him that. haha

And now for some pictures of our time there......

Aidan with Sue at Dollywood

Lillian on the train

JohnAlex and Benjamin on train