We have had such an amazing couple of weeks! So fun, that it is hard to be back in "reality" and the reason I'm like a week later than I wanted to be getting this published.....
We reached 100 days of quarantine and then after several weeks of prepping, we traveled to Gatlinburg & Pigeon Forge, TN with Andy, Amy & Daxton and had the BEST time! I did pretty a good job taking pictures so I will explain those in detail. We will forever have some amazing memories and we're already planning the next trip!
Before leaving for TN, I took a trip to Hobby Lobby and did a little decorating...
...Mellany joined me for one of my morning walks...
...the kids stole my phone for some selfies...
....I enjoyed a sunrise...
....and the kids got haircuts (they did such a good job wearing their masks!)...
Then we headed out for Gatlinburg!!!! Winston stayed behind with a family friend who came to hang out with him at our house.
As soon as we pulled into the driveway and headed in the door to our cabin, we spotted 2 bears on the porch of the house next to us and then another running through woods....it was CRAZY! It terrified the kids (Johnny especially) and definitely made John and I a bit nervous so we mostly unloaded the car and headed back out for groceries. When we got back they were gone and we could unload the rest of our stuff.
Our first day! We relaxed at the cabin most of the day and made plans for the week. We had another bear visitor and then went out that evening for dinner, arcade games and some shopping.
On our second day, we watched the "Pirates Voyage" show and it was incredible. After that we walked next door to ride go-carts, bumper cars, etc and play more arcade games.
Our third day was the day the guys were most excited about....we rented 2 razors to drive through Smoky Mountain National Park. It was probably the absolute best way to drive through the park. We stopped at a picnic area for lunch and some swimming and then drove through Cade's Cove. We didn't see any wildlife at Cade's Cove except for some horses and we even ended up at a standstill at one point which got old real fast. But it was still an awesome experience and the day was perfect!
On our last day, we decided to get Nana an Old Time Photo, we went to Ober Gatlinburg to ride the tram, mountain coaster and go tubing and then took a family picture in front of the National Park sign.
On our way out of town, we stopped at the knife store so John could find a couple things.
We stopped for lunch and because most of the restaurants are open for drive thru only, we parked in an empty lot to eat. The boys started running around and Charlie fell and scraped himself up pretty good....he needed several bandaids and cried for quite a while. He still has some pretty ugly bruises even.
Our Gatlinburg trip was such a fun time and would definitely do it again!! It was so nice to spend several days with family and do some exploring. Our cabin was in the perfect location and there was so much to do, but it was relaxing at the same time!! There wasn't much social distancing or mask wearing happening for most of the area we were in (except for the drive back home where everything seemed partially closed), which was honestly nice because things felt pretty close to normal.
