Gatlinburg Family Vacation

We decided to head out of town on our short Mardi Gras Holiday to get away and let the kids have a little fun. Barrett and I decided to go to Gatlinburg. The kids haven't been since we evacuated for Ike right after Landon was born so they don't really remember anything. We got a room in the mountains just oustide of town. Of course I waited until the last minute to pack so I stayed awake Friday after work and packed up while Barrett and Landon went to sleep. We had plans of leaving around 1am. Elena stayed awake and helped me pack and get everything ready. Of course Landon got a virus and an ear infection that day as well so after we were all packed and ready to go Elena and I ran to Walgreens to pick up his prescriptions and get last minute juices and things like that. I ended up finally finishing packing and showering and dressing right at midnight. I woke Barrett around 12.30, he got dressed then we loaded the babies in the car and headed out. We must have picked an awful time to leave. The weather was terrible. It rained the entire ride up there. Must have followed us the whole way. The kids woke up when we stopped for gas which was around 5.30. They stayed awake until breakfast around 8 then crashed again until we got there. Once we got there and got checked in, we went ahead and drove into the mountains to have a picnic lunch. After our picnic lunch we went into downtown Gatlinburg and just walked around and did some sightseeing. The kids were all tired so we just let the play at the hotel that night and fall asleep whenever they did. Sunday morning when we woke up it was so cold. We all curled up in bed and stayed a little longer than we normally would. Then Barrett got up and opened the curtains and thats when we saw it.....the snow. Before we left home of course I checked the weather. It never called for snow. It said weather between 40-60. Thats how I packed. But the kids were so excited to see the snow. Landon immediately jumped up, threw on a jacket and shoes and ran outside with Barrett. He stood out there forever trying to catch snowflakes. Now it wasn't that cold where we were so the snow wasn't sticking to the ground but it was falling faster than I've ever seen snow fall at home. We spent the morning between swimming and playing outside and then after lunch we decided to get dressed as warm as we could and head into the mountains. Maybe the snow was sticking up there. Boy were we right. There was snow everywhere. It was at least to the kids ankles if not higher. They certainly weren't dressed for this kind of weather but they were loving it. We stopped every couple miles to let them play in it and then we'd get back in the van and drive a little further to warm up. We played in the mountains for a couple hours. They had so much fun. When we got back into town we stopped and had dinner and then let the kids buy candy at the candy store and headed back to the room. Monday morning we woke up bright and early and ready to go. We were going to Cherokee this day. Elena learned about Native Americans in art class one day and she's been dying to meet one. So our goal was cherokee so hopefully she'd get to see one. As we were driving through the mountains we couldn't help but stop and play and take more pictures. Even though the snow wasn't falling, it was still on the ground and it was gorgeous. When we got to Cherokee it was a ghost town. Evidentally this was off season for this town. We drove all around and only found one Indian out in full costume. Elena and Landon took their picture with him and loved it. After we did some souvenir shopping and headed back. We stopped in the mountains to have a picnic lunch by the river. After lunch the kids crashed in the car on the way back to the room. Once in the room, we started getting dressed. We had reservations to eat at Dixie Stampede this night. I was so excited. I haven't been in years and I knew the kids would love this show. I was right. I don't think either one of them blinked the entire night. They loved it. They were so wired after the show they must have played for hours before finally crashing in bed. Tuesday was our last day so we decided to just spend the time in the mountains. We decided to head to Cade's Cove to maybe see some animals now that the weather had warmed up a little bit. On the way we stopped at Laurel Falls. Its a 1.5 mile hike from the car to the water fall. The kids loved it. They stopped all along the way to rock climb and play. Of course Landon had to be packed halfway through it but its not a hard walk. Once at the top we took some pics and started heading back. They were hungry at this point so we stopped halfway back down and had some snacks that Barrett packed up with him. Once in the car we rode a little ways until we found a good picnic spot. I think picnicking was one of the kids favorite things to do on this trip. They got to pick whatever they wanted out of the cooler and it always came with chips and snacks. After the picnic we drove into Cade's Cove. The kids climbed out of their carseats here and rode on my lap since its a closed loop and we were only doing like 5mph. They watched for everything. We got out and played at some of the old settlements and down by the river. As soon as they buckled back into their seats outside of Cade's Cove they were out. Barrett and I rode around a little longer and then headed back to the room. We ordered a pizza for dinner and started packing. We decided instead of leaving the next day we would leave around 2am. So after we were packed and the car loaded, we all curled up into bed together and fell asleep. We woke up, put the kids in the car and headed off. Our ride home was much like our ride up there. Rainy rainy rainy. Actually very stormy. The weather was terrible. Other than the weather, our ride home was uneventful. The kids were great. They played or slept the entire way. We were home before lunchtime. This was a great trip. Our kids had so much fun. They are so used to vacations like Disney where its go go go the whole time I was afraid this one would be no fun but they didn't want to come home. I'll post pictures in the next post.

Gatlinburg Pictures

Landon's Big Boy Bed

A few months ago we converted Landon's crib into a toddler bed with the bed rails still on it. Since this time, my son has slept on the floor more than his bed. In this little bed, if his toes happened to fall onto the floor in middle of the night, he simply slid out of bed and onto the floor and stayed there. Barrett and I decided he could not continue sleeping like this. There was no way he could be getting good sleep on the floor every single night. So Saturday we decided to venture out and get him a big boy bed. Our paperwork for the crib assured us that his bed would convert to a full size bed using the headboard and footboard. So we bought rails and a new mattress. Took it home ready to put in and of course it couldn't be that easy. It did convert but you needed to purchase their special equipment to make it happen. Since we hadn't thought to check into that before we tore his bed apart, we simply made do. Barrett drilled some holes in the right spots and used some boards along with the newly purchased rails and voila, new big boy bed. This thing looks huge compared to my little man but he accepts all challenges. He climbs into this thing like a mountain climber. He never hesitates or looks like it is going to be too hard. He just pulls up and climbs right in. Now its only been since Saturday but thats been 2 nights and he hasn't ended up on the floor yet so maybe this was the key to a good night sleep for my little man.