A busy April!

Addyson had her first dentist appointment while mom had her checkup. She did a really good job and was so proud of the bag of goodies the dentist gave her. She received a tootbrush, toothpaste, and a coupon for Apple Slices at McDonalds. And showed everyone in the office while she was waiting on mom. All in all it was a pretty good first visit.

Look at all the things Addy brought home from the dentist. A very excited little girl.
The week prior to Easter we had the Brand Easter at Spring Hill in Versailles, Addy enjoyed the egg hunt with all the other Brand Kids. Her first egg hunt was a little rough -- not too sure what it was all about. However after she found out the eggs had surprises in them, she was all about hunting for eggs! She became a pro by the time Easter came along.
Showing us her bag of eggs, very excited.
We took a trip over Easter weekend to Gatlinburg, TN with the Brand Clan. We stayed in a cabin in the smokey mountains. It was a great getaway for all of us. And miracously the sun shined pretty much the whole weekend -- unlike the rainy weather that was occuring in Ohio!
The Easter Bunny came to see us all the way in Tennesee. Addy was excited to look for eggs, I think she finally gets what they are, and more importantly what is IN them! CANDY!!
Nice picture of the Reed's on the porch of the cabin.
On Saturday we explored the Cades Cove area which was beautiful. It was also great getting outside to explore nature with Addyson. Dad was able to borrow a pack to carry Addy in, which helped a lot for the longer hikes. However, Dad still thought they were long walks carrying around an extra 25lbs. (Don't worry moms -- I reminded him that I too was carrying some extra weight and not complaining!! ;) )

All four Reed's posing for pictures on our hike. This was a small creek by a historic house on our hike. Addy likes her sunglasses.
Addy and Aunt Mal-Mal splashing water in the creek - Addy was very excited to feel the cold water.
Addy was out running in this large grassy pasture, she looked so little out there in the distance, so we zoomed in for this picture of her running through the tall grass.

There was a black bear that came by our cabin, and this was Addy watching from in the house. She kept calling it a Polar Bear, and was asking about it all weekend and wondering when it was going to come back. Thankfully the bear only came to visit once!

And yes a black bear actually did visit us while we were at the cabin. Thankfully most of us (Addyson included) were inside when he came for a visit. Funny story, we looked out across the Smokies and thought it would be cool to see a bear while we were here. We no more than finished the conversation, turned around and a bear was walking up the road to our cabin. He came up, tried to get into the trash, which was closed inside a large, locked cage. He was unsuccessful and proceeded to the next house. It was pretty cool -- the guys were on the porch and were probably 10ft from him at one point. The girls were all inside looking through the window!

Another picture of the bear meandring around the cabin.

Oh the bubbles with Uncle Steve were a big hit!! Lots of bubbles in the mouth at first, but finally figured out they don't taste so great. Good times, thanks Steve.

On Easter Sunday we took it easy -- we were all a little wore out from Saturday. After going to church we rode a Tram to the top of the mountain in downtown Gatlinburg. The tram took us to a small amusement park which had a carousel. Jeff took Addyson on the ride and didn't realize until the ride started that Addy was on a stationary horse (the only stationary horse on the ride!!). Addy did mind though -- still made Dad feel good by telling the horse to Giddy-up.

Addy opening up presents on Easter morning. You can also see her little black bear that we got for her after the Bear sighting. This little bear says "raaaaar!!"