Tennessee Day 5

Our fifth day in Tennessee we decided we would spend the majority of the day in Gatlinburg. We have never stayed in Gatlinburg before. Therefore, we have never spent much time there. Well we were told about this park called Anakeesta that was on top of a mountain. You even had to ride a ski lift to get to it. We decided to do that. Well we waited in line just to get in the park for about 45 minutes. Once we finally got on the ski lift we were excited. The ride up was probably the most exciting thing! Anyway we arrived and we went first to the Mining Area. The kids loved doing that! Afterwards we went to check out the Tree bridges. We spent about 30 minutes climbing those. Well after that we were all getting hot and hungry so we went to find some lunch. The park wasn't very big so there weren't many options. Since it took us so long to get up we debated staying and having lunch there. We checked in with the restaurant though and they told us it would be a 45 min wait. We decided to skip out and just head back down the mountain. The ride down was fun. We went back to the cabin for lunch. We had leftovers and such to eat there. I was kinda glad we made this choice. We spent a couple hours just relaxing and hanging out. That afternoon we went back out and promised the kids we would play Putt-putt. We had a great time doing that! Afterwards we went and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant. It was really yummy. Afterwards we weren't ready to go back to the cabin though so we just did some driving around. Once we got in though it was Friday night so we let the kids stay up and watch a movie. We also enjoyed playing pool! Anyway it was another great day! 

Tennessee Day 4

So on day 4 which was Thursday, we had to get up and get going fairly early. We had tickets to the Titanic museum for 10. We had breakfast and all got dressed. We got into Pigeon Forge and arrived just in time for our tour. We loved the museum. This was our second time to go. Last time we loved it too, but Lindsay was 4 and she did not love it! Well this time she was totally into it too! After the tour we weren't quite ready for lunch yet and the kids had been wanting to do a mountain coaster so we decided to find one of those! OMG it was so much fun! Colby and Austin rode together and Lindsay and I partnered up! I was really surprised at how fast that thing got going!! After riding the coaster we went and found a Firehouse for lunch. We had a quick lunch then went back to the cabin to rest a bit. This was the earliest we really got back to just hang out. The day before we were gone all day and the other days we would be gone about all day as well. We got to the cabin to relax and rest. My friend Wendy called me and I chatted with her for about 30 minutes. I had missed her so! She had been in Tennessee herself for about 2 weeks and then we left. Plus she and her daughter were taking care of things around our house. Anyway we got up and cleaned up about 4 and headed out for an early dinner at the Old Mill. We only had to wait about 10 minutes. It was a yummy dinner and we just enjoyed the family time. After we shopped and found some souvenirs in the store. We then drove back into Gatlinburg and walked around some there. We then retreated back to the cabin for our usually resting and hanging out before bed. 

Tennessee Day 3

So day 3 was our first full day in the mountains. We decided to use this day to go ahead out to Cade's Cove. Lindsay has been asking about riding horses for years! I think the last time we went she was too young. Anyway there was a slight chance of rain, but we decided to go ahead and risk it. It was about an hour's drive from our cabin to Cade's Cove. So I think we got there around 10:30 or so. We went right to the riding stables and got signed up and pretty much jumped on a tour right away. I must admit I was a little nervous. I don't think I have been on a horse since I was a young child! I ended up loving it though! Colby was also nervous, but he loved it as well. We went on about an hour ride through the woods. We saw a bear, a deer, and a coyote! Anyway watching Lindsay she was a complete natural on a horse. I was so glad we could make this dream come true for her! It was about an hour ride. Once we got back to the stables it started to rain! It was perfect timing. We hopped in the car so we could continue our tour of Cade's Cove. There was terrible traffic so it was really slow going. We got out at the first Baptist church and then decided to eat our lunch in the car. We skipped several cabins b/c of the rain. We did hike out to one. There was a lot of bear out! I think we saw 6 total. We really didn't get out the car as much as I would have liked, but between the rain, traffic, and the hour horse ride, we were all kind of tired. We did enjoy the few stops we made though. On the drive back to the cabin we stopped at a place so the kids could get out and wade in the creek. They loved this! They found some river rocks to bring home as souvenirs. Since we spent most of our day outside and we were all pretty spent when we finally got back to the cabin...which was near 5 or so. We decided to order pizza and have a night in. It was nice to chill out and just hang out. We also watched church. Colby also did YouTube and Zoom with the youth. While he did that I read my book and Lindsay and Austin got in the hot tub again. The evenings were about the same every night...the kids would shower and then crawl in bed and watch tv and Austin and I would watch tv downstairs. It was nice and peaceful! It felt good resting up for another busy day ahead! 

Tennessee Day 2

Tuesday we were up bright and early to get on the road. We stopped and got Chickfila for breakfast and ate in the car. We stopped a couple times between Meridian and Tennessee for bathroom breaks. We got to the TN state line and decided we would get Subway sandwiches and take them to the Rest Stop to eat them. It was a nice sweet picnic lunch. After that we were well on our way again. We decided to take the scenic route. We stopped in an outside town at a Walmart to get our groceries for the week. We then had about an hour left until we got to our cabin. We got to the cabin around 4. We unpacked and got settled in and started cooking dinner. The first time we had chicken tenders, mac n cheese, green beans, and cookies for dessert. It was quite yummy. After dinner we took a walk around to check out the cabin community then Austin and the kids got in the hot tub. The kids had a blast in the evenings playing upstairs in the cabin. The cabin was nice and spacious. They had the entire upstairs to themselves. There was a pool table and game system so they had plenty to do. That night we were pretty tired so we got settled and went to bed so we would be read for our first full day in the mountains! 

Tennessee Trip Day 1

So we just got home from a family vacation to Tennessee. The last time we were there was 4 years ago. It was neat to return with the kids being much older now. Colby has been 4 times and now Lindsay 2. Anyway we left last Monday. We left actually in the midst of a tropical storm. That Sunday a tropical storm made landfall in Louisiana. We stayed in all that day and worked on getting packed. The weather was never really all that bad, but then on Monday when we got ready to leave came a HUGE downpour. We didn't leave until around lunch which was nice to have the morning to get ourselves together. With flying we usually leave at the crack of dawn so it was nice to not be up early. We picked up Subway for lunch and ate a quick bite before hitting the road. We had to stop by my parent's house to bring the kid's special stuffed friends to leave at their house. We then drove to Hattiesburg to drop off Ruby with Austin's mom. It was nice to stop and stretch a bit. We visited for about 30 minutes and got Ruby settled then we were well on our way again. We drove to Meridian, MS. This is where we would be spending our first night. We had some good friends recently move there. Andrea and Beau Bredow we have known since before we were married. They have 2 boys around Colby and Lindsay's age as well. They have lived in Florida though since Colby and Blake were both 1. We had connected with them a couple times in Disney World and probably seen them a few times when they passed through NOLA. Anyway we stopped and checked into our hotel first. It was a super nice Fairfield Inn. We cleaned up and went to Mugshots to meet them for dinner. We probably stayed and visited about 2 hours. It was so great catching up! After dinner we tried to stop to walk off dinner, but everything closes early there. So we just went back to the hotel and watched some tv then turned in early. 

Graduation Drive By

Well this year concluded with some graduation Drive By's. Wendy and I had planned on going to see Kindergarten after our last East Drive By's b/c we had so much fun. So Wednesday morning came. She and I planned to drive together. We originally thought it might just be us, but the whole school or most of it ended up turning out which was fun. 
I left my house at 8 to go pick her up. It was nice that the kids had spent the night out and I could get ready and leave without a whole lot of extra stuff to do. Anyway we decorated my van while we were at her house. We got up to the school around 8:45 and met up with everyone else. We got the rest of the cars decorated and loaded up. She and I were the lead of our caravan. It was nice spending the day together and catching up. I feel like we never run out of things to say! Our first stop was in Waggaman so we had about a 45 minute drive over there. The first one we saw was Ja'Sani. It was sweet seeing her. It was hard not to cry! Between being surrounded by all the teachers and the music! Anyway after that our next stop was Delvin who was in the same area so it was a quick trip. We then stopped at Micah's, Kylie's and Guilian's They were all in about the same area of town. After that it was lunch time. I had offered our house as a stopping point. I knew from the time Wendy and I went at Easter we would need a break. This time we were running about an hour or more early then we were the last time! It was still nice to take a pause. It ended up being myself, Wendy, Heidi, Marsha, and Rebecca who came here. We aren't quite sure what happened to the others. Anyway we had a nice visit for about an hour and lunch and potty break! 
From there we went to see London, then Denver, Shechem, Arden, Noah and finally ending with Kaladin. Well we lost a good bit of our caravan after Noah then everyone after Kaladin. We had planned to go see my first graders after we lost everyone else. We stopped at Gavin's and Marina's house. It was so bittersweet seeing them! Anyway after we finished at Marina's it was about 3:45 and we were so DONE! We had planned margaritas and chips n salsa after. Well it was a night and experience I don't think either of us will soon forget! We had 2 medium margaritas and I'll leave it there. Somethings are better left unsaid. We were there from about 4 and I got home sometime after 8:30. Anyway it was a LONG day and I didn't feel the best over that night. 
Woke up the next morning ok but not super, but decided to go ahead and do the 8th grade drive by. Wendy actually got dropped off at my house around 10:30. Emily stayed here with Colby and Lindsay. I was so glad to not have to drag them along. We got up to the church and touched up the car decorations and met up with everyone. There were only 4 8th Graders but 2 lived in Algiers and the other 2 lived out towards Laffite. So it still took a couple hours. Even though we had literally been together 12 hours the day before I don't think we ever run out of things to say to each other. Although we were probably a little quieter due to us not feeling well. It was really hot too. By the time we were driving down to Laffite I really wasn't feeling good and I don't think Wendy was either. I knew we needed food. We skipped out before some of the other teachers, and headed for Chickfila. We got back to my house and ate lunch with the kids. We then had to drive up to the school so Wendy could pick up some papers and then I dropped them off at their house. We stayed and visited for a short while. It was such a crazy end to the school year.