I usually edit my files to resize them and/or fix lighting, etc. But, these are as-is from my camera, so they aren’t perfect, but anyway, here they are…
Here is what our yard looked like on Sunday:
Yes, our yard is under all that water, along with the road. But, despite that, we were off on Monday morning to Pigeon Forge for a family vacation. My mom and my sister came along with us as well.
Monday.
We left at around 11:00. Actually, it wasn’t “around,” it was exactly 11:00. With 2 families, and 2 babies, I’m thinking that has to be a record. (to leave exactly on time).
Anyway, here is Caeden, excited to go on his trip.
We arrived at Smoky Mountain Christian Villiage with excitement. We were pleasantly surprised at the room. We got a GREAT deal! They had a special going–Buy 2 weeknights, get 2 weeknights free. So, we st, stayed there, in a room that could have accomodated up to 16 people, for only $224 Monday-Friday! It was super nice, full kitchen, washer & dryer, even a ping-pong table! And, there was a laminated paper with a really sweet prayer waiting for us when we arrived!
We ate some yummy Domino’s for supper and I got to work on my finals for grad school. Yes, I had to do homework on vacation, which was a downer, BUT the plus side to that is that I had hubby, my sister Marsha, and my mom to help with the babies.
Tuesday:
Sadly, no pictures to commemorate this day. I was boring for most of the day, working on homework while Chad and Marsha took Caeden to the arcade to give me some semi-quiet time. I had major issues with my projects–my flash project had kinks that I couldn’t figure out, and my response papers for another class got erased and I had to completely re-do them. So, my homework aspect of the trip was even more stressful.
Tuesday evening, we went to the Dixie Stampede. Forgot my camera. Overall, I was underimpressed. I thought it was kind of neat, and Caeden LOVED it. But, after seeing other shows, it kind of lost it’s luster for me. Considering the price and customer service, it was my least favorite event that we went to.
Wednesday:
Dinosaur walk museum. Caeden really enjoyed this.
Here we are in the middle of the Dinosaur walk museum. That wrap is a life-saver! We had the stroller as well, but the wrap comes in so handy. I use it for shopping and everything. Great to have 2 free hands.
After seeing the dinosaurs, we went to the Rainforest zoo. They had some exotic animals (which I failed to get pics of), and they also had some goats that we could feed. So, Chad fed the goats. caeden was way to timid.
That evening we went to “Magic Beyond Belief.” It was a great show that we all loved, even the babies! First of all, in this group of shows, kids get in FREE (1 child per paying adult). And, we were on the front row, which was really neat. And, I’m not one for magic shows usually, but the magician was a Christian and he made sure to state that it is performance art, and only that. He even stated that if you want a real miracle, you have to look to Christ. I just thought it was really neat, and he even stayed on at the end of the show to chat, sign autographs, etc. And, again…forgot my camera! ugh. But, it was a great show that I felt good about going to 
Thursday
Again, I forgot my camera–do you see a trend??? We went into Gatlinburg to Ripley’s Aquarium. It was neat, but it was expensive and ridiculously crowded. Caeden is so timid and gets stressed in crowded situations so it wasn’t really all that I had hoped it would be, but it was neat and he did warm up and start looking and enjoying the fish and everything eventually.
That night we went to the Black Bear Jamboree. This was another dinner show that I would definitely recommend. We all loved it, and it’s with the same group of shows that the magic show was in, so the kids got in for free and got their own seat and all that (Caeden was free for Dixie Stampede, but only if he sat in our lap and didn’t get his own plate).
Even Logan enjoyed the show!
Caeden loved the singing and dancing!
And, who wouldn’t. It was a really neat show that we all enjoyed. Here is a pic from the 50′s.
Here is Caeden, being a ham. He loved that bear! As soon as we came out of the show, he went straight back to it.
And, after the show we thought we needed some more fun, and I just happened to notice a little play area on our way back to the lodge! How cool is that? Caeden thought it was really cool.
And, here is Logan being a snuggle bear. My kids are so darn cute!
And, while we were there, Chad made use of our jack to go help change a tire for someone who hit a fire hydrant and blew his. I love that man! I am so proud to be married to him. There he goes.
(In true Tennessee fashion, the people standing beside us were smoking right beside a “No smoking within 25 feet of play area” sign, and laughing at the guy who blew his tire.)
Friday:
Time to check out and go home. We had originally planned to visit the Smoky Mountain National Park, but then decided it was too long a drive, so we saved that for another trip (because we had so much fun that we’re already planning to make it an annual thing)…We settled for a couple of pics taken from a little area created on the side of the road:
So, we were trying to think of one last thing to do, and settled on a visit to the Three Bears General Store. This was a huge score. The babies were less in love with this, but we adults thought it was a pretty neat place to be. I bought a cute purse and a really cute insulated picnic basket (I know, goodbye frugal with that one, but it was just so cute!). There were some neat things in the store area. There was also an arcade where Chad and I played air hockey (I won)
Then, we played basketball. (I won).
He may or may not have beaten me at every single game of ping pong we played at the lodge. There are no pics to document that.
And, Caeden got to see some bears as well.
Finally, he was tuckered out from his “trip”…so tuckered that he fell asleep in daddy’s arms while eating lunch at Texas Roadhouse.
When we got home, he didn’t want to come to our house, he wanted to go back to the other house. So apparently he wants to live at Smoky Mountain Christian Village from now on. (He may or may not have locked himself in the bedroom twice resulting in a call to the staff there to please come and get him out)
And, if you’re wondering, somewhere in there I finally did finish my final stuff for school. We came back to the lodge for a few hours each afternoon, which worked perfectly to let us all relax a bit, and let the babies relax as well. For me, it was time to work on homework.
All in all, it was a wonderful vacation. We just all had the best time. It was so family friendly and faith friendly and I just loved it.
