Rock Island State Park - Rock Island, TN

We spent the afternoon exploring Rock Island State Park.

It was a little stormy here and there, but Trillian and Logan were racing against Mother Nature to build a "shelter" out of driftwood before the sky fell out.

Although they had a blast, the final score was

Mother Nature - 1
Logan and Trillian - 0

 

Sugarlands - Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Trillian was pretty happy to FINALLY earn her Junior Ranger Badge at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We've started this badge program probably 4 or 5 times over the years, but never finished. It's a tougher one!

But, YAY! We finally got it!

Cades Cove - Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN

We've been super busy enjoying the warmer Spring weather and getting out and about in the Great State of Tennessee...

I just haven't had much time to go through real pictures, make many posts, or add to the blog.

I will come back and add more, though, promise!

Here is Ribby enjoying the creek at the Cable Homestead in Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park!

Pickett State Park - Jamestown, TN

Just another fun day at Pickett State Park in Jamestown, Tennessee...

We took Ribby to play on the playground while Logan and Trillian rode their bikes and scooters.

Then we had a picnic alongside the lake.

Which sounds nice, but the reality of it looked more like us sitting ON the picnic table trying to keep the geese at bay!

VTech Disney Doc McStuffins Discover and Learn Big Book of Boo-Boos

Based solely upon exterior physical appearances of this toy, it is absolutely gorgeous. Half of my 19 month old daughter's bedroom is a highly detailed doctor's office, and I just knew this would be a perfect addition to all her medical equipment and accessories. After all, every budding doctor needs a Big Book of Boo-Boos, right?

Um?

This is more of a Big Book of Doc's Interior Decorating.

 The first page in the book is doctor-themed. You've got a stethoscope, otoscope, thermometer, magnifying glass, microscope, syringe, tweezers, and scissors. All of that is great. In each different mode, you can explore the words, learn about the beginning letters of each word, or just make musical sounds. A little simpler than I would have preferred for a VTech product, but she's 1, so that wasn't the biggest disappointment.

My main critique, is that when you turn the page, your word choices include things like rug and drawing. Page three has choices such as curtains and poster. Page four contains photo, cushion, and vase. Page five has the likes of plant, sandbox, and swing. None of this is doctor related. None of this has anything to do with a Big Book of Boo Boos.

If you are just looking to learn simple words, this might work for you. But if you were hoping for doctor-related stuff, like maybe Doc examining and diagnosing her patients, perhaps some x-rays, or some cute little medicines... Even just giving a little love to mend a broken heart... You aren't going to find it here.

I visualized my daughter lining up her ailing stuffed animals, flipping through the book, and determining a diagnosis. But, even at 19 months old, she isn't very excited about this toy. She'll tote it around with her, but I may as well not even keep the batteries in it, because it never gets turned on for the electronic aspect of it.

If you are interested in simple word exploration, the book does have a great touch sensitivity to it. It does feel like it's made well, with high quality materials.

 Mine was shipped with a dead battery, which was a bit of a disappointment; but thankfully it was only the battery, and after a replacement, it worked just fine.

 So, in my final diagnosis, this toy is probably functional as a language development tool, but it's definitely a disappointment if you were hoping for something to enable a doctor-themed play experience for your child.

  

  




All in all, we give this toy 3 stars for our purposes. For language development, many do indeed give it 5 stars. Check out more information at the Affiliate Link below:

 

Le Toy Van Honeybake Collection - Carlo's Gelato Playset

As soon as I saw this precious toy, I knew it had to be a part of Ribby's bakery-slash-sweet-shoppe-themed play room.

Le Toy Van has a GREAT reputation for producing bright, beautiful, high-quality creative toys. And this toy is definitely at the top of their offerings.

While it's not huge, it's definitely not too small. I've included some pictures of this toy in play with a few stuffed animals, including regular sized Build-a-Bear animals for your size reference.

The description here says you get 3 ice creams. We've always considered the third one more of a cupcake, but I suppose it could have been designed to serve as ice cream in a cup instead of a cone. I suppose that makes more sense figuring it is a gelato set, but I just let the kids use it as they choose to perceive it. And for us, that usually makes it a cupcake!

This set comes with:

Two ice cream cones, each made of 3 pieces. One is a cone, a scoop of pink raspberry colored ice cream, and then an orange layer with a cherry on top. The other is a cone, a chocolate scoop, and then a mint chocolate scoop. They are all interchangeable.

You also get the ice cream in a cup/cupcake, that is also 3 pieces. It has a green bottom with two pink layers, one with a yellow top.

Also included are two bottles of sauce, one chocolate and one raspberry. 

And a spoon. (Which is not shown in my pics)

All of these pieces slide on and off wooden pegs like little shape stackers and are interchangeable, although they do tend to fit together better the way they were intended. I think the company could have made a little more effort to make them function fully when the pieces are mixed and matched, but there is definitely room to be creative.

All together, the pieces fit onto the festively-colored wooden dessert tier. And when they do, the entire thing is just as cute as it can be! 

Whether your child has a play kitchen, or just adores food-themed toys, this one is a top-quality piece that is sure to please! As beautiful as it is sweet, you'll be glad you added this to your collection!

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Enjoy your new toys!

That Day You Realize...

Of all the millions of miles we've logged, and all the really awesome places we've seen with our own eyes, I can't believe I'd never realized how magical our own backyard was the whole time...

For my birthday, my daughter cleared a path through part of our yard. We set up a table and chairs, and even celebrated Ogie's NERFday party down in our new special spot.

But, today, the kids took me farther along the path, and I discovered we actually have small caves, boulder gardens, and a gorgeous rock wall that runs half the length of the backyard itself.

These are the same kinds of things we've traveled great distances to enjoy, but who knew we had such beautiful formations of our own all along!

Surely there is an important life lesson to be learned!

This photo doesn't do it justice, but this is SOOO awesome!

 

A Brand New Day!

I'm so excited that I finally finished up the albums from our Florida 2011 vacation!

That journey took us down the Gulf Coast of Florida, across the deepest parts of the Everglades, all the way into the Florida Keys, including 3 days in the Dry Tortugas; and then back up the Atlantic Coast of Florida and into Savannah, Georgia before we headed home.

I logged a total of about 95 posts on this trip. At this moment, it's mostly photography, but I still add more commentary, anecdotes, and reviews to these same posts as often as I can.


These posts can be found by clicking here:  Both Florida Coasts, The Keys, and the Dry Tortugas

Or cut right to the chase with:     Key West with Kids   *   The Dry Tortugas   *   The Florida Keys


I might eventually take a stab at writing in an article format; but I just want to make sure any articles I author would be fun and inspirational, and not coming across as bossy and limiting. I'm here to share our stories, but I'm not the type that wants to tell you how you MUST create your own adventures.  It's all about letting YOUR path lead YOU as you feel moved!


In the mean time, the next round of posts I'm adding are from a 7 week cross-country adventure into Southern Utah, and then over to San Diego and back to Tennessee.  There are some fun things along that journey, for sure, so I hope you will check back on our progress as we get those up for your viewing pleasure.

Follow these posts as they are added at: 7 Weeks Out to Southern Utah, San Diego, and Back!


I've got some medical procedures over the next few weeks that are going to prevent a whole lot of real time travels from happening and being posted; but I'll work as steady as I can at filling in some awesome adventures we've already logged.

And by Spring or Summer, hopefully we'll be geared up for another awesome extended "vacation" on which you all can join us!

I'm so excited to be picking up so many readers, and from so many different countries!

Thank you all for checking out Trips 'n Toys!

Subscribe, bookmark, or just check back often!

Safe travels to you all!

Happy Early Valentine's Day!

Happy Early Valentine's Day!

I've got some medical procedures coming up that prevent us from celebrating on Valentine's Day itself, so we decided to go ahead and celebrate tonight.

I'd say we did pretty well!

We all decided to get Ribby a giant teddy after she fell in love with Bear's larger-than-life furry friend on Christmas. Bear's Christmas gift was a 6 foot tall bear from Vermont Teddy Bear. Ribby's new friend is a 48 inch bear hailing from more humble beginnings, but he is still adorable and she showered him with enough hugs and kisses to say he's a welcome addition to our family!

Any excuse for a holiday means Ogie adds another NERF gun to the arsenal. Today's score was a NERF Mega Bigshock. It's basically the NERF Jolt, but for Mega darts. It packs a pretty mean punch for such a compact blaster!

Add a couple balloons, some singing cards, and CHOCOLATE!!!

And I'd say Valentine's Day 2016 was a success!

A Day Off?

I think we're taking a day off today.

It feels like a sit-in-our-pajamas-and-eat-bacon kind of day.


In the mean time, make sure you check out our older blog posts, too. I haven't written a great deal of commentary yet on the older posts, but there are tons of cool photos going up every day from our adventures past.

Most of what I've been uploading lately are shots from our Florida 2011 Trip. This includes a jaunt down the West Coast of Florida, across the Everglades, and then down into the Keys. We camped for a few nights in the Dry Tortugas, which was a MAJOR bucket list item for me.

Join us on our off day for a little bit of clicking, and a whole lot of adventure sharing.

If you feel inclined, feel free to introduce yourself in a comment.

We look forward to getting to meet some of our followers!

And, as always, HAVE A BEAUTIFUL WEEKEND!