I'm thinking my timely blog posts are becoming something of the past. Time just slips away from me and I'm finding less and less free time to blog. I do enjoy blogging and keeping this family timeline, so we'll see how long I can keep it up.
Back in October my family took our first extended family vacation together. It's something we've talked about doing for a while, and finally got something scheduled. A coworker of Drew's offered us his cabin down in Tennessee at Norris Lake for a week! The timing was perfect - the trees were just starting to turn and the temperature couldn't have been better. It was even warm enough to do some swimming. The cabin was spacious with three levels, six bedrooms, a walkout deck, a hot tub, and stairs out the back that led straight down to the lake. PERFECT!! Unfortunately, Kelley's husband, Brian, wasn't able to join us because of work. We all missed him, and look forward to our next family vacation when he can join us!
While there we rented jet skis two days, rented a pontoon boat for a day, and did lots of relaxing! We also took one day to drive to Gatlinburg to visit Ripley's Aquarium there as well as do some hiking in the mountains. The aquarium was great - amazing walking through a tunnel and have sharks swim directly above you! Unfortunately, our trip fell directly over the government shutdown, so the mountains were "closed." We were told that we weren't even allowed to pull over to the side of the road to take pictures. Boo! So we viewed them from a distance and instead walked through downtown Gatlinburg and looked at the shops and even had some caricatures drawn of the kids.
We had such a great time and really enjoyed all being in the same house - fixing dinners together, chatting, and playing games after the kids went to bed. It was so refreshing! We definitely look forward to our next vacation together...whenever that might be! :)
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| Hiking around the cabin |
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| Papaw and Grant stopping to refuel the jet ski. |
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| Jenna LOVED riding the jet skis!! (As did Grant) |
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| Playing Go Fish with Grant |
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| The view out the back of our cabin |
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| The view from the boat dock behind our cabin |
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| There were a LOT of stairs, so we definitely got our exercise. |
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| Breakfast on the back porch. |
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| Getting the jet skis ready to go |
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| Love him! |
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| So.much.fun!! |
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| View of the back of the cabin from the boat dock. |
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| There was this floatation next to the dock that the kids liked sitting on. One time Grant was sitting on it and Drew tried "stepping" on it himself, however he stepped a little hard and flipped Grant right off head first into the water. He had his life jacket on and was fine, but it scared us all a little...although in hindsight it was pretty funny. He even laughed about it after the fact. :) |
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| Bentley and Aiden hanging out in their highchairs |
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| Drew with his kiddos |
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| Papaw read a bedtime story to all the grandkids (minus Hannah) |
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| Aiden mesmerized by the fish at the aquarium in Gatlinburg |
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| The jellyfish exhibits are always so beautiful. |
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| Peeking his head up in the middle of a little aquarium |
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| Crawling through a penguin tunnel |
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| All the cousins |
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| Crazy how close we were to the sharks |
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| This was by far the coolest part of the aquarium |
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| Enjoying some Mexican food for dinner |
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| Walking around downtown Gatlinburg |
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| Kelley wanted to get caricatures drawn of the boys. The picture turned out GREAT, but I don't have a picture of the final product. |
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| Jenna, Grant, and Hannah being drawn |
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| Their finished caricature - Hannah is spot on, Grant looks a little goofy, and Jenna looks a little mean/mischievous. Although I think Jenna and Grant were a little off, I think he probably captured their personalities pretty well. |
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| This picture is the epitome of relaxation! :) |
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| Playing a very competitive game of Uno Moo. |
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| I loved time with my nephews! |
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| More game time - we love our games. |
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| And some Candy Land with Grant and Maw-Maw. |
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| Hannah hanging out at the boat dock. |
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| Playing in the water by the boat dock. |
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| Jenna and Grant loved warming up in the hot tub in the evenings! |
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| More snuggles with Aiden! |
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| Family dinnertime. |
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| Family pictures before we left. |
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| Enjoying the outdoors. |
We forgot to take our camera on the boat, so we'll have to get those pictures from Kelley, but there were a lot more of us on the boat and tubing. So much FUN!! I'm ready to go back! :)
