November 2-5, 2012
Every year, we travel up to Gatlinburg, TN with Jeremy's Dad's family. His grandfather rents a huge cabin in between G'burg and Pigeon Forge and it is lots of fun! Minus the driveway...it is literally straight up and kinda scary. After getting stuck mid way up last year, I no longer drive that thing. It has become a yearly tradition that we look forward to. Some of the family members, we only see here once a year! We get out and do lots of fun things around town and relax and visit at the cabin too. This trip has become such a tradition that we even have regular scheduled meals: 1st night is soups and 2nd night is "Thanksgiving" then the 3rd night is left overs or fend for yourself! Take a look at what we enoyed this year:
On Friday, Jeremy worked 1/2 day while Mommy and kids got ready and packed. He got home just in time to help us load the car and grab a bite to eat...it timed out great because it was almost nap time and the kids napped for a good bit of the drive. (about 3.5 hours) Once we got into Pigeon Forge, it was dinner time, so we decided to stop at Johnny Carinos, a favorite, and eat before heading to the cabin. Caleb was a little upset to stop because he was SO excited to see Addison. But once he realized he was getting pizza for dinner, he reluctantly sat through dinner, but was so happy to be getting back in the car and heading for the cabin. Once we arrived, we visited for a few minutes then quickly unpacked and got beds together because it was already past bedtime for our two little kiddos. They needed lots of rest for a big Saturday!
Kailyn was glad to be out of the car and get some play time in before bed!
Caleb loved the fire place- he called it his stage and put on many "rock star" shows for us.
Caleb and Addison were beyond excited to see each other and got so wound up playing.
On Saturday, we woke up and started getting ready for the day. We needed to be ready to go before Kailyn was ready for her morning nap! We ate a yummy breakfast cooked by Jeremy's Aunt Donna and others, then packed up diaper bags and headed for Gatlinburg. This was an extra special day because Jeremy's Pepaw agreed to go out with us ALL day! He loves watching the little ones play, can't blame him there :) Our first stop was the Aquarium to visit the fish. Then we ate a quick lunch and headed to the trails for a family hike. Mommy was especially looking foward to the hike because it was the same one we did last year, on the bridge, where we took some great family photos. We got some good shots again this year :) After our hike, we headed back to the cabin to help prepare the Thanksgiving dinner and rest. After the kids went to bed, everyone enjoyed watching Alabama beat LSU in the last few seconds of the game- ROLL TIDE!!!
The Aquarium:
And of course, the exit of the Aquarium is through the gift shop! So Caleb and Addison fell in love with these huge Nemo fish...thankfully we were able to talk them down a few sizes. Now Nemo sleeps with Caleb every night!
After lunch, we enjoyed hiking...here are a few of our favorite pictures! We even found the bridge that we took pictures on last year- yay! I think I was the only one excited about it, haha :)
Sunday was another full day for The Gilmore's! Again, once we got up, we got dressed and ready so that Kailyn could nap in the car on our way to our first stop for the day. After breakfast, we headed to the local Outlet mall for shopping. We didn't find a whole lot, but got a few things there. Mommy found a cute sweater and Daddy got a new pair of shoes and some dressy ankle socks- don't ask! And of course, Caleb spotted the Disney store and got a little surprise too. It won't be long until we have to start buying Kailyn little surprises too...right now she is just happy if you give her some puffs :) After shopping, we could not decide what to do next, continue having fun and go to lunch and go carts or to head back so the kids could get good, solid naps. Well, we felt like we should be good parents, so we ran through Burger King and took lunch back to the cabin to eat before laying the kids down for naps. After nap time, we all got ready and headed to The Dixie Stampede dinner show! It was the highlight of the trip. Caleb's favorite, for sure! They had horses...enough said!! Addison got a special treat and was asked to go down on the floor and chase some chickens. She did the cutest thing though- when the host asked her what her name was, she replied, "Chicken!" Hillariously adorable :) It was a fun night, and by the end, Kailyn was exhausted and passed out on Daddy for a little cat nap.
On Monday, we sadly had to get up and pack our things. It was time to head home. We decided that since we had the whole day, we should make the best of it and do a few things before leaving town. We were on our way to do go carts, when we pulled up right behind Josh/Jessica/Addison (who had left the cabin about 1hr before us) on the main highway. We honked and then called each other. They had went to breakfast and were heading out, but decided to stop for some last minute fun with us. Caleb was so excited about the go carts...until they cranked them up. They were loud, and Caleb has an issue with loud things right now. So we ended up watching the others ride, then headed over to do a few kiddie rides with our remaining tickets. The only ride Caleb was interested in was the Carousel, so he did that and enjoyed it. Then we stopped by the Christmas store to get our annual Christmas ornaments- another yearly tradition :) Lastly, on our way out of town, we stopped for lunch at Joe's Crab Shack.
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