Our Ski Trip

John and I decided to take a ski trip to Ober Gatlinburg. I have been wanting to take John skiing for a while since he had never been before and since it has been about 9 years since I have snow skied. It worked out for us to go this past week up to Gatlinburg, and we were both very excited about a little vacation! On Tuesday when we got to Ober John enrolled in ski school while I went on a few different slopes to see how well I remembered what to do. Ober has eight slopes, and I went on all of them at least once (except for one slope). After John graduated ski school, we practiced going down CubWay, a green slope, for most of the rest of the day Tuesday. Then Wednesday when we went back to the slopes I convinced John he was ready to go down Alpine Way, a blue. After going down Alpine once together though he decided he enjoyed CubWay much better. We spent a lot of time on CubWay, but I did ski down a black diamond a few times along with several blue slopes. John did great for his first time skiing! We had a great time on the slopes. Since Wednesday was our last day to ski we decided to do twilight skiing that day too (which is when we took the pictures below), which was fun but the snow was slightly icy for night skiing.
Also, while we were in Gatlinburg for a couple of days we made time to go to a few outlets to shop, eat dinner at The Peddler on the river (yum! what a treat!), and relax! We had a great time in Gatlinburg, but we missed Dawson A LOT!
So if you're wondering what Dawson did while we skied (no, he didn't get to go skiing), he stayed in Maryville with his Nana and Grandad (John's parents). Between his Nana, Grandad, Aunt Emily, and Cousin Drew, I think he got undivided attention from the moment we left! I know Dawson had a good time and loved all the attention he was given. He did well being away from John and me for a little over 48 hours, other than completely refusing to take a bottle or sippy cup. We are very grateful for Dawson's Nana and Grandad keeping him so we could take a little vacation, and we knew he was in good hands. My parents kept Bentley for us while we went skiing. I think Bentley was happy to relax with Lolly who was recovering from the flu.
We returned home to Alabama late Thursday evening and are back to our usual routines, but it was nice to take a vacation in February!
In other Dawson news...
Friday, January 29th Dawson officially started crawling! He has been semi-crawling for a while, but on the 29th he actually started crawling moving his knees and hands...watch out Bentley! He loves the fact he can actually get to things that he has apparently been eying for the past 8 1/2 months, and it's funny to see the things he is interested in crawling around to check out! John and I are also quickly realizing that you can't take your eye off of him for more than a second because not only is he crawling, but he's FAST!
Click, click, click. Last Sunday Dawson started making a click noise with his mouth, and now he clicks constantly. John and I think it's funny and so we click back at him which he thinks is hilarious.
In the past couple of weeks Dawson has also started yelling, and I don't just mean he's talking loudly. He did it for the first time when we were visiting our friends in Asheville and has continued since then. It is like he has realized that he can control the volume of his voice, and he prefers to be loud. So in between clicking Dawson is yelling jibberish at the top of his lungs!
Dawson has now tried four meats (turkey, pork, chicken, and beef), and while he wasn't crazy about them at first due to the texture he now likes the meat. The beef is his favorite. He tried blueberries last week and alternates between liking them and hating them. Then last night he tried cantaloupe for the first time, and he didn't really like it but it was just the first feeding of that fruit. In the next few weeks he will be trying watermelon, kiwi, and honeydew.
In a couple of weeks Dawson will be going to the doctor for his nine month check-up, and John and I can't wait because we're interested to see how much he has grown since he hasn't been to the doctor since he was 6 months in November.
He still has a toothless grin, but continues to bite everything he gets his hands on, so John and I continue to think that his first tooth is just around the corner.
Enjoy the pictures below...

Above: John and I at the bottom of the slope during

Twilight Skiing at Ober Gatlinburg.
Above: Me skiing at Ober Gatlinburg.

Above: Dawson taking a break from crawling

at his Nana and Grandad's house.

Above: Dawson playing with a new toy he got while

John and I were gone. (Yes, he has a little scratch on

his face where I scratched him :( on accident.)

Above: He was happy to see us when we

got back to pick him up!

Above: Dawson playing with his Nana.