Gatlinburg

Every year my Dad, Stepmom, Brother, his wife and two kids and our family all go to Gatlinburg for a family trip. This is a picture of the boys two years ago, my how times have changed! I can't believe Grant is now 3 and we have another addition to the family!

This year Grant rode up early with his Papa and DeeDee to get an extra day in with his cousins and WOW did he have fun! They started off with a ride around Gatlinburg where they saw some baby cubs! Then they went out to eat and back to the condo for some night swimming!

There were two twin beds in one room so they pulled a coffee table in the between the two beds and put the couch cushions on it to make a third bed and naturally the boys fought over who got to sleep on the coffee table, silly boys.

The next morning they packed up and drove to Cade's Cove and got to get out and run around a little bit.
I love this picture, if you click on it you can see big tears in Grant's eyes. Uncle Tol put him in the tree and Grant does NOT like to do stuff like that! But he managed to muster out a half smile anyways!
Then, I could NOT BELIEVE what they said they did next. Grant is everything BUT a dare devil. He is somewhat timid and very cautious. The other boys wanted to ride go-carts and I never in a million years dreamed Grant would ever want to ride one muchness drive one by himself! You had to be 4 to drive but they never questioned his age! He absolutely loved it! They sd he hit the rails a few times and would crash in to the side because he'd get so excited and start waving at everyone!
After he drove by himself he went on a fast track with Papa!
After Cade's Cove and go-carts they piled back in the Uncle Tol's truck. Tol and Dad sd that both boys sd they were not at all tired and then one by one they slowly passed out. This might be my new all time favorite picture of all the boys!

That afternoon Franklin, Cole and I came up just in time to watch some football and go grab a bite to eat!

We found a little dive to watch the game and grab some pizza (the best I've ever had I might add) but the problem was.. the service was TERRIBLE. It took almost 2 hours to get our food but luckily the manager was great and kept giving the boys money to "play pool"!
Cole tried hard to hang in but it didn't last long!
After the long awaited dinner we came back to the condo and put the boys to bed!
I love these next few pictures.. esp if you compare it to the first picture!



Sunday morning we started off with a delicious pancake breakfast and then we hit the Aquarium!
They had a new penguin exhibit and the entire experience was so much fun! I only posted a few of the pics.. I could really do a post just on our time there!

Is this dude not a CREEP? Its the bottom of a sawfish!


These tanks were neat.. you could crawl up under them and it made you feel like you were in the tank!

We had a great visit! Unfortunately Tol, Kelly and the boys had to go home because little Tol had school, but we sure enjoyed letting the cousins be together!
The next morning I got up and made sausage rolls.. I had an assistant!

After breakfast we got up and headed to the Applebarn, one of my faves!
Franklin and Grant's favorite part is the ice-cream store! He had his very first taste of ice cream at the Apple Barn!
So I felt it would only be fitting for me to share mine with Cole!

He LOVED IT! He would kick his little legs and twirl his hands and smile and squeal for more!

After our Applebarn stop we headed back to Gatlinburg and found a campsite that Dad and Franklin wanted to check out. We grabbed some hotdogs and buns and grilled out and let Grant check out the creek!
For some weird reason I had Grant's Handy Manny tent in my car and he had a blast "camping out"!

Cole literally sat on this blanket and played with leaves for 45 minutes, it was hilarious, he just laughed and crunched them up, all the while big brother poked his head in and out of the tent a million times!!! It was so fun watching them enjoy the beauty of nature!

After our lunch, we headed down to ... uh... um... well crap I can't think of the name of it.. its an Arts and Crafts area, but every year we stop here. There is a couple that plays music and you can sit in a rocking chair and have root beer and popcorn, so fun!
Tues morning we had to start packing up and head out but we realized we hadn't even walked the streets of Gatlinburg so we thought that might make the boys good and tired!


We had an awesome trip and Gatlinburg never gets old! Cant wait to go back next year!