Powers Family Golf Outing

This past weekend was the annual Powers Family Golf outing in Maquoketa, IA at the Country Club. There were 5 groups and then some swimmers. Abby warmed up at the putting green.






The 18 hole golfers; Duane Papke, Dan Kolk, Jim Powers, and Jim Black. Everyone else did 9 other than Pat Powers and Brett DeBlois who were bringing up the back of the pack.

Tim, Tim Kolk, Renae, and Alex Black

Renae made it about 6 holes and decided to swim. Abby was happy about that as she still wanted to swim and myself and Jessica were ready to be done. Plus Renae's swimsuit looked like a necklace so Abby was entertained.
As we left before church out on the farm the cows came up to say hi to Abby and she could hear some real "moos". She wasn't too excited about getting any closer to them as they are a little bigger in person than she is used to in books and movies.

It was a very nice weekend in Iowa, it went a little too quickly but it was great to see family again that we hadn't seen for almost a year.

#2 is on the way!

Yes it is true, the Schmidt Family is adding to the crew. Abby's little brother/sister is due around Valentines Day, the 17th is our actual due date.

All of our family was pretty excited to hear the news as most had wondered when Abby was going to get a sibling. Our first ultrasound went smoothly and the heartbeat was present and everything measured normal for this stage. I am lucky enough to be having some "Evening" sickness issues. Mostly it revolves around tooth brushing and dinner but I'm surviving. I'm hoping this phase will quickly end and be done and we can move one to bigger and better things. It's completely different from my experience with Abby so Tim is obviously hoping for a boy.

We sent our immediate family this photo to break the news to them. Some caught on to it quicker than others but everyone figured it out eventually.


We are currently 3 months along and my 3 month appointment went just fine. It's always reassuring to hear the heartbeat right away.

Vacation: Kids Country

Since Dollywood was such a success we decided to go to Kids Country to let Abby enjoy some different rides. Again she was having a blast and would just run to get in line from one ride to the next. She pretty much rode everything she was tall enough to take on.

On the swings.

Flying the plane - this one went higher than the Bees but she still liked it.

Having fun with the dump truck.

Even Tim got to go on a ride. Although they had electric governors on the cars and he got in trouble for doing a little "rubbing". No warnings like the good ol' days, now they just flip a switch. I think he enjoyed it though. There were too many go cart tracks for him not to ride one.

That pretty much ended our vacation other than some swimming and 4th of July festivities. Abby fell asleep before the fireworks and Tim and I went to bed early to get ready for our long drive back to Columbia.

Vacation: Smokey Mountain National Forest

On Thursday morning we took a driving tour of the Smokey Mountain National Forest. It was a nice scenic route. There were some cabins from the 1800s there and then of course our goal was to see some wildlife. We saw some deer of course, but we were really looking for the bears and we found some!

This picture is of a bear cub that had crossed the road. The Mom and other bear cub were on the other side of the road and I couldn't get a picture of them. I did see the huge black mass that was the mom move under some trees and that was good enough for me.

A nice scenic view stop. It was a beautiful day to be out and the forest was nice and cool to be in the shades. We took the Roaring Forks trail so there was the sound of creeks and waterfalls the whole trip. Very relaxing. If Abby would have been a little older I think we would have taken a couple of the trails, but the shortest was 2.7 miles one way and 30+ pounds is a lot to carry for that long. The driving tour was just fine.

Vacation: Tuesday - The Village

On Tuesday Tim and his Dad went fishing in the morning and in the afternoon we headed to a place in Gatlinburg called The Village. It's a small area that has a lot of shops and the oldest pancake house in TN called the Pancake Pantry, which we ate at Wednesday morning.


We did a little shopping and walked around. We also went to Pigeon Forge to a historical site called The Old Mill and ate at that restaurant Tuesday night. It's an old saw mill that's a restaurant that had good family style meals.

Vacation: Dollywood!!

Dollywood here we are!! We conveniently acquired some free tickets to Dollywood by listening to a timeshare spiel so Monday was our day to enjoy it. Abby had never been on any rides yet so we were a little hesitant on how she would do, she may look like a 3 year old but she's only 19 months! She of course loved all of them and really didn't want to get off.


Our first ride was a 50's car that was on a rail. I figured out it helped if I drove and it wasn't so bumpy. Abby isn't quite road ready yet.


We next tried the carousel and Abby was to have none of it! She was clinging to Tim before it even started. You could hear her crying as she came around the corner. She wasn't the only one though, there was a chorus of unhappy children on the ride.


As you can see Abby got over her carousel issue and took on the Lucky Duck ride. She loved it. There were buttons to play songs and she did a lot of steering. We rode this ride quite a few times.


Next was the Piggy Parade and as you can see Abby is waving to the crowd. I think Grandma is back there taking pictures. She was also blowing kisses which was too cute. She was quite the crowd pleaser.

Busy Bees was next. This was the first one that went up in to the air and she handled like she had been flying for years.

We were at Dollywood for almost 6 hours. It is a really fun place, and it's definitely a different experience with a toddler and kiddie rides. Abby had a great time and now asks to go on rides daily. We ended our evening with a ride on the Dollywood Express and headed back home.

Vacation: Saturday

We love playlands!! Our vacation actually started on Friday with us traveling from Columbia to Paducah, KY for the evening. Abby did really well for the trip. On Saturday we were finishing our trek to Gatlinburg, TN which ended up being a little farther. We had a lunch stop at a McDonalds that had a playland and that was a hit. We're not sure exactly what Abby did up there, but she came down, no one got hurt and she napped afterwards so a complete success in our book. With the time change we arrived at our vacation chalet around 5:30, unpacked, ate, grocery shopped and called it a day. Tim's parents arrived later that evening.