Riley's Gymnastic Vlogs

Hello everyone! Melodie here! Today I asked Riley to post one of her Gymnastic Vlogs. Riley has been vlogging about gymnastics for ahwile now, but this is her first one at her new gym in TN. Her teamate and our friend Hazel Cookes guest-starred on her first episode. They made a video about their gymnastics practice.

Here is Riley's Gymnastic Vlogs: Episode 1

I hope you enjoyed this video. Please comment below if you would like to see more. If enough people liked this, Riley says she'll post one every week.

What did you think of the video, and would you like to see a new one weekly?

~Melodie

Guest-Post by Riley: My Trip to Pigeon Forge

Hello. This is Riley, guest-posting today. I can't believe it is already Christmas Break. I realized I had never given Meloide the photos for this post, and I'm so sorry about the delay. Here is my travel-journal of my trip to Pigeon Forge!

November 22, 2015 3:01 P.M. ET

Hello! This is my travel journal. I am going to record my adventures on this trip.

I guess I should begin by explaining why I decided to make a travel journal. My love for journaling started when I moved to Hungary with my parents. I really missed all of my friends, so I decided to make a journal that I would send to them monthly by email. I told them all about my new house, friends, and some of the fun things I did in Hungary.

One of my favorite things to write about was the trips I went on in Hungary. During the summer, my dad would take me places, and I would come home and write about it. I would also print pictures we took on the trip and put them in my journal.

So here I am now. Melodie and Morgan saw some of my old journal entries I sent to friends, and they really liked it. So, when I mentioned that I was going to keep one during my trip over Thanksgiving break, they asked if I might want to post it on their blog. They explained the "guest-post" idea to me, and of course I accepted.

We are going to Pigeon Forge, TN. Well, pretty close to there. We plan to go to the aquarium in Gatinburg, which is only twenty minutes away. I don't know what our plans are for the second day. We are going to be there for only two full days, but I'm still glad we get to go.

Oh, I almost forgot. Charlotte and Audrey are coming, too! They had planned to go on vacation in Pigeon Forge before we even met. When I was hanging out with them one day, Charlotte mentioned it, and I told her that we were planning to go there. So, we got the addresses from our moms, and we were only a few cabins apart! Charlotte and her family are going to the aquarium with us. I can't wait to get to know her better.

November 23, 2015   8:26 P.M. ET

Today was amazing. We went to the Ripley's Aquarium in the Smokies, and I got so many amazing photos. 

We got to the Aquarium and got our tickets. When we first walked in, there was a round tank with fish to greet us.

"Well, what do you girls want to do first?" my dad asked. I looked over his shoulder at the map.

"There's a Penguin Feeding in about twenty minutes, " I commented. "Could we go see that?"

"Sounds like a plan. So, how do we get there?" We all looked at the map. "I think we need to go this way." Dad pointed. "Shall we try to find those penguins?"

So we set off. We had to go through another exhibit, and I tried to get few pictures, but the lighting wasn't great. Finally we found the penguins, where I got a few photos with the better light. I also took a video of the feeding. The penguins were so silly.


Next, we went to the Stingray Tank. They, too, were about to have a feeding show, so we decided to watch that.

"Look, those are eagle rays!" Charlotte said excitedly.

"They're so big. I forgot how big they were." I took a few videos of the rays just swimming around. "I remember the eagle rays at SeaWorld in Orlando, but Lexi told me that there was only one left last time she went."

The stingrays were amazing. The diver talked about the rays, and the rays kept swimming on him to get his fish. After the dive show, the diver fed the rays near the touch tank so we could touch the rays. I actually touched an eagle ray. It was so cool.

After the rays, we went through the Shark tunnel. It is a large tunnel with a moving floor, and lots of shark. I took a video as we went through. It was so cool to see the nurse sharks, sawtooth shark, and other fish and sharks I don't remember the names of.

As we exited the sharks, Audrey commented that she was kind of hungry. we all agreeed, and so we bought and ice cream from one of the vendors. We also discussed what else we wanted to see. We had been through most of the big exhibits, and it was getting kind of late. We decided to hang around for a half hour, then go to Texas Roadhouse for dinner.

There were a few little tanks over by the ice cream, where I took some silly photos of a pufferfish. He looked straight at me, and I just had to get a picture.

We walked through another exhibit, but I didn't take any pictures due to the bad lighting. We left by the gift shop, but decided against buying anything. We drove to Texas Roadhouse, but the wait was really long. So, we went next door to McAllister's Deli. Melodie told me it was good, and I have to agree.

So that was our day. We actually spent the morning playing pool (the cabin has a pool table) and watching Food Network (the cabin also has cable). I can't wait for tomorrow. We plan to do something, but so far it's still a surprise to me. See you tomorrow!

November 24, 2015 10:30 A.M. ET

We have decided that we are going to spend the morning here at the cabin. I am going out to take some pictures after I finish this. We are going to go out for lunch, and then go to the Christmas Store, a whole shop dedicated to Christmas stuff. We want to find an ornament for our Christmas tree. Then, we are going to Hard Rock Cafe, a resturant filled with memorabilia of famous songwriters and music artists. Then, if that wasn't cool enough, we are going to go see the Terry Evanswood Magic Show! I can't wait for tonight!

9:37 P.M. ET

The magic show was amazing. And so was the Hard Rock Cafe and the Christmas Store. I had so much fun, but I didn't take any pictures. I did get some of Charlotte and I this morning on the deck of the cabin. Tomorrow we leave, so I had to pack up today. I'm sad to leave, but I'm really excited to see all my friends at home. I will blog tomorrow on the way home to highlight my trip.

November 25, 2015 11:32 A.M.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I'm so happy to be with my friends this Thanksgiving. I am also so thankful that I got to go on an amazing trip with my family.

My highlights of the trip would have to be the eagle rays at Ripley's Aquarium and the Terry Evanswood Magic Show. The eagle rays are so majestic and I loved getting to touch one. I texted Melodie yesterday and she told me Lexi had never even touched one before. Terry Evanswood is so funny, and he got the crowd involved in his act. I laughed so hard that I forgot we were leaving the next day.

So, now my trip is over and I'm headed home. It is so fun to get to share my vacation on Melodie's blog. Thanks Melodie and Morgan for letting me guest post.

This is Riley, signing out.

So that's my travel journal. Here are a few photos that didn't make it into the journal.

  

Thank you Melodie and Morgan for letting me post it.

What was your faortie part of my travels, and where do you like to go for vacation?

~Riley