Thursday & Friday in TN

Thursday, all 21 of went tubing on the Pigeon Forge River. The river was a little low, so it took 3 hours.  We were in the shade a lot of the time, so we didn't get too hot.  We just all floated at our own pace.  We had a few small rapids, which were fun.  The kids enjoyed it.  Molly and Bailey could have benefited from a tube with a bottom; it was hard for them to get comfortable, but they still had fun.  No phones went with, so no pictures.

After tubing, most went back to the cabin.  Our family, Noah, and my parents went to the Bush's Beans Visitors Center.  We saw a short movie about production and looked through the gift shop. 

 

 

 

That afternoon, several of the guys went to the shooting range.  It was my turn to make a grocery run or otherwise I'd have liked to go.  I've never shot before.

Friday, 8 of us went zip lining.  Of the 8, only Scott and I had been before.  It was fun and the views in the mountains were amazing.  One each line, they had us do something different.  On one, we could turn upside down and we actually did it! There was a tandem one and the last one was a race. 

This is me about to be pushed off on the first one. 

After zip lining, we met back at the cabin and then all went to lunch at Paula Deen's.   It was at the Island where we had gone Monday night.  It was so delicious!!  From there, our family headed out.  Everyone else left Saturday morning.

 

Molly just loved Gabby. 

The week went really well.  The kids had a blast playing together.  For dinners, each family took one night to cook.  Ben's parents were there too, so they made a few of the breakfasts.  For groceries all 6 couples put in $100 and we used it each time we went to the store.  We ended the week with $35 that we used as part of the tip at Paula Deen's.

During the evenings, we did different things.  One night we celebrated summer and fall birthdays.  One night we had a mortgage burning to celebrate my parents paying off their house.  One night we played card games and poker.  My parents had The Newlywed Game for us couples to play.  I'm proud to say Scott and I won.  The evenings were just fun hanging out together.

All in all, this entire family vacation worked out well. 

Tuesday and Wednesday in TN

Tuesday our family with hiking with Tom and Brittany in the Smokey Mountains.  The rest of the group went to the Nascar Park.  We figured, we're in the mountains, we need to go enjoy them.  We can ride go carts at home anytime.  Hiking was fun; we had a good time.

 

 

 

 

 The kids got in the water.  It was nice and clear, but cold!

 

 

 

 

Wednesday most of the group went horseback riding in the morning. It went pretty well. Some of the horse didn't want to stay in a line.  My mom's horse kept to the edge and she kept getting hit by branches.  Tyler was in front and his horse wanted to keep his slow pace.  Near the end, Brittany's saddle started falling off so she fell off to the side.  She hit the ground pretty hard and was sore that evening, but was ready for activities on Thursday.  The kids all loved it and did great.

 

 

Wednesday afternoon some of the guys went golfing again, some of us girls went shopping at the outlets, and those left took the kids to the pool again.

Monday in TN

As I said in the last post, we arrived Sunday evening.  There were 21 of us staying in this cabin.

It worked out pretty well.  There was a neighborhood pool, which was nice.  Monday, four of the guys went golfing, so the rest of us took the kids to the pool.

Grandma and Grandpa with their grandkids

 After an early dinner, we headed out to take family pictures.  We were all so excited about it.  I don't have official pictures yet, but here are some that we took that evening.

Almost all the cousins, just missing Gabby and Allissa

We didn't take a professional one of us.  We could have, but the guy was a lot older than we thought and was slow.  By the end, we were so hot and sweaty.  I just had Brittany take a few of us.

 

Our excitement came after pictures. My mom, Kim, and Val were choosing which ones to get and all the sudden a mama bear walked by.  We talked to a local and he said she comes by often, sometimes with her 3 cubs.

 

After pictures, we went to The Island.  It has rides, games, shopping, restaurants...we had to get the kids ice cream for being good during pictures. 

The big ferris wheel.  None of us rode it, but several of the kids did the carousel

 Every half hour, there was a water/light show that went with different songs.  It was neat and we enjoyed it.

Our first day was a success.

Charlotte, NC and The Blue Ridge Parkway

Scott and I flew out Saturday morning to Charlotte, NC.  We had never been and wanted to check out the area.  I really liked it.  We had lunch at Big Daddy's Burger Bar and those burgers were delicious!!  We drove through Freedom Park and then around several different neighborhoods.  Queens Road was my favorite.  Here are a few pictures .

 

 

We drove around downtown and the cute neighborhoods down there too.  From there, we drove over to Hickory, NC where we stayed the night.  We were pretty exhausted from our 6:30 flight, so we went to bed early. 

Sunday, we had planned to sight see in Asheville, but decided to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway instead.  It was gorgeous!  Most of the time we were in the Pisgah National Forest.  Here are picture of the views.

Price Lake

 

 

 

We drove through that tunnel

We stopped in Linville Falls and did a short half mile hike to some falls.

 

 

The Blue Ridge Trail took quite awhile.  You couldn't really drive more than 40mph.  We made it to our cabin that evening around 6:00.  The kids stopped and said hi to us, but then went back to playing with their cousins.  I'll have posts coming up on our week in TN.