The three of us just had one of the best weekends ever. Jason came in the office, where I was catching up a bit, and he opened his arms up and said as he was going in for a big hug,
Great vacation, Momma. And it really was. For all of us.
We all relaxed, had fun, laughed, and enjoyed one another. Away from our home. Away from our work that is in our home. Just away. And it is a weekend, that I hope with everything in me, that I
never forget.
Friday morning we all woke up, started our day as normal, got some work done, some packing done, and decided that it would be a good time to go ahead and head up to Gatlinburg. Just like that. No major time table put out there, just totally whenever. And this is
completely not like Jason or myself. We didn't have every minute planned out, we knew a couple of things we would like to do, but beyond that, we were going to wing it. I think that is what made it so nice.
Our ride up was great, we stopped a few times, but got to Dollywood around 1:00.

The day was perfect, the weather was beautiful, and the park was empty. It was awesome! I was even allowed to but a souvenir picture from the visit to the park!

We started with a quick lunch, then off to find the kiddie section. Along our journey, we found cars. Now. I have to preface this trip with the fact that Jack said he wanted to ride on some racing cars. Period. And that is all he wanted to do. No doubt. And he told us over and over and over and over! So we started with what we thought would fly as racing cars...


And Jack
knew he was driving.
Seriously. And I got the pink car, just like I wanted!!
We hit the carousel - all three of us on a horse - it was hilarious!

Then the kiddie rides



And with as hot as it was, and humid, I was one big frizz ball and the guys were sweating like crazy, but kindly enough, Dolly thought of everything, there are even fans around the park that shoot out water.

Then there were rides Jack could ride all by himself and the first one, Jason and I were nervous wrecks! It got easier after that, though!




Then we hit some other fun stuff...

...pa-choos. Honestly, the pa-choos and racing cars made the entire trip for Jack!

There was a kid roller coaster that actually went faster than I would have ever thought!

Jason and I actually rode a few roller coasters ourselves. And I will have to say, I have forgotten how FUN roller coasters are. I would go first, Jason would stand with Jack and watch me go around. When we came back in, I would get Jack and we would watch Daddy. Then we would see how funny our faces were on the pictures that were taken on all the scary parts. And the people we met at this park were so incredibly nice, too.
One thing I wish we had a picture of is our train ride. I think it was called the
Dollywood Express. It was a real train that had 4 passenger cars on it that took us around the park and Jack was in awe. At one point, they have us holler to have the engine whistle and Jack just stared. It actually made me tear up, for I had one of those moments. Everything was just right. Trains have been something that Jack has liked for quite a while now and here we were on a real one. We were going around a curve, so he had the most perfect view (thanks to Daddy's lap) of the engine and as the whistle blew for quite a while, shooting steam up as it sounded, and Jack watched so innocently and believing. It was so sweet.
We tried to get Jack's picture taken next to the engine and the guy who shovels all the coal, but he freaked - I genuinely think he figured they would sound the whistle and as we know, the kid does not like loud noises.

To finish the day at Dollywood, we had to go back to the cars. We saw a few that reminded us of
Sheriff
and
Mater, my favorite

That night, we freshened up a bit and headed to The Peddler for dinner. We sat right on the river, allowing us a beautiful view.
Our room was great - Jason and I had a room, of course, that joined onto a room that had a couch that pulled out to a bed. Jack thought he was big stuff sleeping on that thing in his own special room! We all passed out after such a fun day.
Saturday morning, we did wake up to rain, just as we had expected, but still headed to the Pancake Pantry. Jack devoured his pancakes with syrup. It cracks me up to see him eat that. To this day, I still can't stand the taste of syrup! There is an aquarium in Gatlinburg, so there we went, with probably every other family there that weekend!

(And on a side note, I wish you could have been there to see how pumped Jack was to wear his new jeans. I love that he loves new shoes and clothes just as much as I do! And go Jason, for suggesting that we throw in some pants and sweatshirts, just in case!)

I LOVE that one!


And check out this octopus...

SCUBA diver Jack

Jack in a tank, which he loved, you can tell!

And this mouth reminded me of Jack's when HE smiles big, which he did here!

From the aquarium, we headed to Subway to pick Jack up something to eat. Daddy drove us around the Great Smoky Mountains as Jack dined and we then headed back for some wonderful nap time...for all of us!
Here are some shots of those Smoky Mountains taken from our balcony



So pretty much, it poured while we were sleeping. And the river right outside our hotel kept rising and rising and rising. Earlier in the day, we watched someone catch a fish from the river, slap it down on the ground and that poor fish hopped from side to side to side. Jack couldn't take his eyes away from this scene. Jason told him that it was too small to keep, so they would throw it back in and the fish would live, so when we went back out later, that fish was still there. Not hopping around. Talk about traumatic! But, back to sleeping. When we woke up and it was still raining, we gave Jack his breathing treatment and he pretty much was ready for anything.
Almost anything. Jason teased the daylights out of Jack that we were going to go swim in the river. Jack told his Daddy, no way, since there were fish in there. Jason had him going. We kept just grinning like mad to one another. The GREAT thing about where we stayed (not including the multi-million dollar redo they just did) was they have an indoor/outdoor swimming pool! This pool has fake rocks with a waterfall and everything. Jack thought we were really swimming in the river!
Here they are inside

You can see under where Jack is standing, where you swim under to get outside

And here they are swimming in the RAIN! How cool!!!

When we got back upstairs to get ready, somehow and someway, the rain stopped for the rest of the night. We were able to walk to some
fun.
Jason and I took Jack to his first arcade. It was SO cute. And this is, of course, where my camera battery died. I have GOT to learn to look at that part on my screen before it goes dead!
The guys pa-chooed some moose, raced motorcycles, ski ball, and drove a semi truck. At one point, Jas and I realized that if you don't put tokens in the machines, Jack thinks he is doing the demo...BRILLIANT!
We went to a very nice dinner together at the Cherokee Grill, where if Jack was a good boy and ate a good dinner we could go back and ride the motorcycles and get some candy. So we did. There was more motorcycle action and some serious Smoky Mountain Chocolate found and a BIG lollipop, Jack's choice.
Bedtime didn't go quite as smoothly as usual, after putting Jack down, he shortly came back in our room, saying he was scared (with a grin on his face and baby and blanket in hand). It craked me up. He cuddled a bit with me, but was encouraged that he would be fine and we didn't see morning until after 8:00!
Morning started with none other than the Log Cabin Pancake House (there are a MILLION Pancake Houses in Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg!!) and a beautiful walk around Gatlinburg. It was cool, yet fresh, and again, heaven with my two guys. We thought about doing the Ober Gatlinburg tram ride, but due to many things being at the top, I think we are going to save that for our next trip. And I love that Jason is already thinking about our next trip. So we began our trip out of Gatlinburg, into Pigeon Forge. We took the route out through the mountains and through the tunnel, that Jason and I were both very excited about for Jack to go through a tunnel. Well, we got through it and immediately Jack asked us,
Where's the fun at?!A three year old's brain and experience is actually quite neat. After we got done with Dollywood, the next day, Jack told us he wanted to go back to Tennessee i.e. Dollywood. We kept telling him that we had more fun to do. So, after two days of just great fun, and then the fun of the tunnel, Jack's comment was that! It was hysterical!
The fun we were looking for, however, was racing cars. And we found them. Prefacing the whole situation that Jack may not be old enough, tall enough, big enough, you name it, we tried to have all of our bases covered. We walked up to the window and the gal said,
They just have to be three years old. And we were in. So Jason, this is when he becomes
Jack's Daddy, bought FOUR rounds. I couldn't get the grin off my face.






I rode around on the last round and it was actually quite fun. This having a boy thing keeps bringing new experiences for me and I love it.
Some things I hope I never forget about our trip:
Jack talking just to be heard on the trip up
Jack wanting to
ride everywhere we went (Jason to carry him)
Jason carrying Jack everywhere
Jack wanting to be with his Daddy
The nice guys we met on the train at Dollywood
Girls with hair pulled up and long jean skirts
Watching the river rise
Moving our car out of the parking deck, due to the nearly underwater bridge (I was nervous) and taking it right back
Jack saying he wasn't going to eat
Telling Jack if he didn't eat, we just wouldn't ____________ (fill in the blank)
Jack saying he wanted to eat
Seeing the word TILL in print (rather than until) several times
American Express is not accepted anywhere
"Look at the river!!" Jason would say everytime we were near it!
Watching the sidewalk and then the bench go underwater
How uncomfortable Jack's pull out bed really was
Jason being in control - i.e. - Jason's choice
"Everything has a way of working out"
Toilet crashers
When Jack was asked at breakfast what he wanted to drink he responded with
SYRUPRealizing how old Jack was when introduced to an almost one year old
Loving being on a family vacation