Bad weather and an impromptu vacation

So Wednesday April 27 2011 Alabama and the rest of the South East of the United States were hit by a Massive severe storm that brought Hundreds of Tornados to our area. Many people had their homes destroyed and many lives were lost. Our family was very very lucky, we had no damage to the house or the people in it. My parents were also untouched by the storms. We were so blessed! Due to the storm, All power in Northern Alabama was out, for 5+ days. Some people are still without power a full week after the storms.
Nana and Grandpa were supposed to take Ella to Tennessee on Thursday to visit the Dolly Wood theme park there. Since they already had reservations and tickets, and Pidgeon Forge was unhit by the storms, they decided to go anyway. Since we didn't have any power, and Jon couldn't go to work since there was no gas, Mom and Dad invited the rest of us to go with them. We were so lucky to get out of the area and have a nice safe, powered place to go. Most of the people I know also fled the state to family in other parts of the US. We drove up to TN on Thursday and got there a few hours before the park closed so we went to the park for 2ish hours and then had dinner and checked in to the hotel. On Friday we spent the whole day in the park. Wesley and Ella LOVED it!! Wes' favorite ride was the Car ride. He was so excited to "Drive BIG CAR" and asked to do it over and over again. It was so cute! Ella's favorite ride was the "Down Down Down SPLASH" (trans: Log flume) I think we went on it a total of 5 or 6 times over our visit. Ella also really liked the Adventure Mountain ropes course. We went on all 3 courses and she was such a brave daring girl. All the "hosts" were very impressed with her, She almost always chose the hardest of the options and handled them all like a pro, even if she couldn't reach the hand holds. Since Mom wasn't interested in going on the course, and Wes was too small, they stayed on the ground and Wes went on the Jr. Mountain, which was a ground level ropes course. he LOVED it and made Nana take him around again and again. As soon as he finished the course he would BOLT back to the beginning yelling "Wesley do it AGAIN" over his shoulder. Nana was WORN out by the time we got done with our trek so grandpa took over and let him go around a bazillion more times before we moved on. On Saturday we went the whole day again, with a short break in the middle for naps at the hotel. We were all WORN out! Wesley also liked riding on the real steam engine, although he said the whistle was "too loud!" After Dollywood closed on Saturday we returned for one more night at the hotel before heading home on Sunday. We got home in the early afternoon and about 2 hours after we arrived Mom and Dad got power back, so we stayed away just long enough! We didn't get power untill around 11:30 sunday night, so we only had a few hours without.

Jon and I had a great time at Dollywood too, Mom and Dad watched the kids for us a few times so that we could ride all the roller coasters. I love roller coasters! It was a fabulous trip and we all had a ton of fun, the only bad part is the reason we had to go!