Our 1st Family Vacation

Daniel knew something was special every time mommy exclaimed, "Nos vamos a vacaciones!"

On short notice, we decided to take advantage of the fact  Claudia would be off on Martin Luther King's day and go on a long weekend vacation to Pigeon Forge & Gatlinburg, TN. We rented a cabin, packed the SUV and headed out on the three and a half hour drive.

Periodically we'd chant, "Nos vamos a vacaciones!" Daniel would smile from ear to ear and clap his hands.

If you've never been to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, then you are missing one of the country's great treasures. Nestled at the foothills of the Smokey Mountains, this area has a lot of Southern charm mixed in with Vegas-style show business. Instead of the a King's Arthur Court and buffet, there is a lumber jack duel show. Instead of the Blue Man Group, there is the Hatfield & McCoy's Family Feud and buffet. With almost 9 million tourist visiting each year, this area has a lot to offer families.

At about nine p.m. we opened the door to the cabin. Daniel acted as though he was in heaven. It was wonderful to see his excitement. He could barely contain himself. With a huge smile, he clapped his hands and yelled, "Yeaaaa!"

He saw the couch, and yelled again. He went into the bathroom and saw the jacuzzi tub and yelled again. He pulled us by the hand to show us his discovery. "Pool," he exclaimed.

Despite the holidays only being a few weeks ago, we needed a break after a hectic start to 2012. It was also our first vacation as a family. We've taken a few road trips to visit family, but nothing by ourselves.

On Saturday we took Daniel to Ripley's Believe It Or Not Aquarium in Gatlinburg. At first he was a little nervous because of all the people and the large building. He clung to my arm tightly, but after a few minutes he warmed up to all of the sea critters.

We've discovered Daniel really enjoys animals. I guess that makes him a normal boy. Seeing all of the different fish, jellies and sting rays was a lot of fun for him. We had fun just watching him. He especially enjoyed the penguins' exhibit.

By the time we left, it was late afternoon. Within five minutes of being outside, Daniel was asleep in the stroller. We, however, were starving and grabbed a quick lunch at the nearby Mellow Mushroom.

The next morning we ate breakfast at one of the many pancake house restaurants in the area. It was your traditional Southern cooking complete with fruit topped pancakes, omelets and grits. While eating we noticed there was a Rainforest Zoo close by. Since we came without an agenda, we thought it'd be a great place to take Daniel.

Once again, Daniel was surrounded by a variety of exotic animals. This time it was lizards, frogs, parrots, poisonous snakes and a couple of porcupines.

He would waddle his way from one window display to another. Standing on his toes, he'd peer inside and enthusiastically wave to the animals. During the afternoon animal show, he touched a snake, toad, lizard and a couple of other things.

That afternoon we took a long nap. Daniel in his pack-n-go, and Claudia and I on the couch. It was a great afternoon.

The most popular activity for the 9 million tourist is shopping. That's not something we enjoy doing frequently. So, like the amateur shoppers we were, we headed to the Tanger Five Oaks Outlet Mall around 5 p.m. without realizing it was Sunday and stores closed at 6 p.m.

We strolled through The Children's Place for a few minutes and then one other store before calling it quits. Tanger Five Oaks is Tennessee's most successful mall in terms of annual sales and we were there for less than one hour.

Each night we watched a Toy Story movie with Daniel before putting him to bed. When it was just Claudia and I, we watched a couple of episodes of El Cartel de Los Sapos season two. It's a Colombian-based show about a drug cartel and one of my favorite series.

When dawn came on Monday it was hard to believe the trip was essentially over. We packed, ate and headed back to Nashville. The trip will go down as one of my favorite vacations so far. No plan. No stress. Lot's of time with my family uninterrupted. Perfect.

Finally...Our Gotcha Day Video

How Quickly They Learn

As Abuelita settled into her car, Daniel looked on from the doorway.

"Bye-bye, ya'll,"said Daniel while waving his small hand back and forth.

Claudia and I did a double take and prompted him to say bye-bye again just to make sure we heard correctly the first time.

We did.

Our Colombian-born son who has been in the United States for only six months has already begun picking up true southern dialect. In his own child-like way, Daniel was definitely trying to say the Southern-most of Southern words: Ya'll.

For the past few weeks it has been impressive to notice everything Daniel is picking up cognitively. He has masted walking and continues making great strides eating independently. Now, his mental energies are focused on his vocabulary and communication skills.

Claudia will ask him to repeat several random words and he makes the cutest effort to repeat a lot of them. He is at a great stage where communicating with him is becoming easier, and even if he isn't getting the pronunciation correctly it is very cute to witness this learning process.

We are also now even more acutely aware of the challenge we face in raising Daniel to be bi-lingual. Claudia and her family are native Spanish speakers and I'm getting better with time. But the deluge of English Daniel hears daily either on television, radio or during day care overwhelms the few hours a day he hears Claudia and I speak Spanish.

Furthermore, my Spanish isn't perfect so I'm certain to be only adding to the confusion he must be experiencing while trying to learn both languages correctly. At least, I pray, I'm not permanently damaging his speaking skills.

People ask how everything is going with Daniel and many times I don't know where to begin. Parenthood has been one of the most immeasurably, wonderfully unexpected joys in our lives! Most of the time, I can only describe it as awesome.

Watching this little person become more aware of his environment and world is a great experience. You get to re-live life again through your child's eyes. Sticks, rocks and specks of dust are all just as new to him as a clear blue sky.

The next time you see our son, he may just have a Southern drawl to go with that, "Ya'll."

God bless,