Vacation 2009!

We left on Saturday, July 18. We were headed to Knoxville. We had a good drive over, stopping at Toys R Us in Bellevue to walk around for little while. Of course, you can’t go to TRU without a little something coming home with you. They had a deal where you bought a back pack and you got a lunch box for free, so Amy got a back pack and Elizabeth got a lunch box. I also picked up a couple of little coloring books for the road. We grabbed lunch at McDonalds somewhere. There are a few between here and there, you know. We introduced Elizabeth and Amy to counting the Caney Fork Rivers, AH HA HA, as we drove. We got to the Smith’s house mid afternoon, and ordered LOTS of pizza for dinner. We had 6 Smiths, 3 Gaitskills, and 4 Wiles in the house until Monday! Thankfully, Adam and Jannette have a big house and were nice enough to share it with us. On Sunday, we went to the zoo in Knoxville. It was nice. We all enjoyed being together. Elizabeth had a major nosebleed, but that’s nothing unusual for her. She and Rachel were big buds—but they have always played well together. I think if we lived closer they would be really good friends. Elizabeth slept on the floor in Helen and Rachel’s room and Amy and I slept in the spare bedroom. Jason slept on the floor in the playroom. Clay and Laurie were kind enough to give me the spare room b/c of the whole kitty allergy thing. Thankfully, I didn’t have a problem with my allergies. Maybe they’re getting better in my old age.

Amy LOVED the cats. The cats did NOT love Amy. Even after two of them let her know it, she still wanted to pack them around. I had made a no holding, only petting rule. At one point, I heard Amy on the stairs yelling, “Maaaaaaaaaaamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…….” I walked around the corner to find her on the stairs holding a kitten. Then she said, “Mama, I got a kitty…..” Needless to say, the no holding rule didn’t work very well.

We headed out to Gatlinburg early afternoon on Monday, after Laurie and I went to McDonalds for us all. We made three trips out of McDonald’s with food. LOTS of Happy Meals. We made good time until we got off the interstate, then it slowed down a bit. Still, it could have been much worse. When we got into town, we checked into the condo. It was quite nice!!! 5 bedrooms, 4 baths, living room, big kitchen, and table big enough for all of us, a rec room with a pool table (which E called the pogo table), decks upstairs and downstairs, and a hot tub. We took a room upstairs, as did the Gaitskills, and gave Sarah and E the other upstairs room. Jon and Joy took a room downstairs, and Hannah and Matthew took the other. It was really a good setup for us. Monday night, we went to Bennet’s for dinner, and then walked down the strip a bit. E’s nose bled again, so we just stood on the side of the strip and smiled at people.

When we got up the next morning, it was evident we had had a visitor. The trash can had to lid ripped off, and there were big claw marks on it. Excitement! We didn’t see the bear, but he was evidentially there.

Tuesday morning, Amy and I went to Pigeon Forge to Kroger. Then, we went to the pool. It was quite chilly! We were very thankful for the nice weather, but it did not make for a fun pool day! They had a nice kiddie pool that the kids LOVED. It had an umbrella sprinkler thing in it. It was fun. We decided to pack it up when other people started commenting on Amy’s blue lips. HAHAHA The Smith’s were supposed to come and hang out with us, but they decided to wait and come the next day. After the kids went to nap, the guys went to Pigeon Forge to ride go carts. Laurie, Joy, and I stayed with the kids. We talked and cut up the whole time the guys were gone. We had a large time. That evening, we made spaghetti for supper. It was quite good. Becky came down to see us. Then, we went to Ober to hang out and ride the Alpine Slide. I ended up taking Amy, Matty, and Elizabeth to see the bears while everyone else rode the slide. It actually worked out well, as I didn’t want to ride the slide, and did want to see the bears, and the little ones were too small for the slide, and I was worried about E freaking out once she got up there. After that, we hung out for a while. Amy and Hannah rode a quarter horse (like you put a quarter in it) and then we went to the arcade. Gotta have some skeeball, you know!!! The girls won some Hawaiian bracelets, and there were four of them and four girls, so everyone got a bracelet.

On Wednesday, we met up with Becky and the Smiths again and went to the aquarium. It’s no big secret that I LOVE aquariums. So, needless to say, we had a good time. Then we went to Wendy’s for lunch. Afterwards, I suggested we walk around the mall. I have given Jason full permission to slap me silly should I ever again suggest walking around a mall with 9 tired children. On a lighter note, Jon decided to try some hot sauce in the hot sauce store. He went numb. He cried. It was pretty funny.

After we got home, Becky, Laurie, Joy and me went shopping. We had a GREAT time. We only went a few places, but we were gone forever. While we were out, Jason called and asked us to bring an onion. As luck would have it, Becky’s hubby Brandon was also coming to meet up with us at the cabin, so he got the onion for us, as well as a tomato. We had so much fun with that. Since Brandon didn’t know where he was going, or who he was looking for once he got there (he was going to beat us back) we decided that we should have dressed him up in a bear costume and have him walk up and say “Roar! I’m a bear! With a tomato and an onion!” It was hilarious at the time. Guess you had to be there. We bought Jason, Jon and Clay shirts that said “This is what awesome looks like”. Then, we decided that they all needed cigars, and we could take their pictures in the hot tub. So, we stopped at a gas station and Joy and I ran in and bought the biggest cigars we could find. The results were quite funny. The Smith’s had dinner with us as well, and we all had a great time.

Later that evening, we decided to try out the hot tub. By the end, we had five people in the not so hot hot tub. It was actually rather chilly. But, we had a large time. Jon dropped his cigar ashes in the tub, and that was an adventure.

On Thursday, we had to leave. We got packed up and headed out around 1045. We checked out, and then we stopped at the little river and took some pics of the girls. Note---it is much easier to get to the river on the side going into Gatlinburg that on the side going out of Gatlinburg. WE stopped at a pancake house to eat before officially hitting the road. Becky was kind enough to show us a shortcut out of town, so the trip was a bit quicker. We stopped in Knoxville and dropped off the playpen, and then we drove and drove and drove. It is a very long stretch from Knoxville to Nashville!!! We stopped at the Russell Stover outlet, and were going to stop at the Lebanon outlets, but the kids were asleep, so we skipped it.

We stayed at the Drury in East Nashville. We had both stayed there before, but never together. We got a suite, and it was well worth the extra $20. The girls got stayed on the couch bed, and Jason and I had our own room. When we got her, we went swimming for a bit. Then, we got cleaned up and went to eat. We went to a place called Fat Mo’s. It was owned by the Nashville Chapter of the Muslim Mafia, who are evidentially kin to the Martin Chapter that owns E&A. The food was GREAT, and CHEAP! We were the only people there. Well, besides the mafia…. We then decided to go to the Opryland hotel for a while. The girls and I had never been. It was beautiful!!! We walked around for a while, and then it got dark. It was inside, but since the ceiling are glass, we couldn’t see!

The next morning, after a great breakfast at the hotel, we headed out again. We went back to the Opryland hotel, cause I wanted to take more pictures. It’s just so pretty!

Afterwards, we met up with Jon, Joy and the kids at Opry Mills. We wandered for a while and had lunch together. We had a good time.

Then, we headed home. Amy slept the entire way, and then passed out at bedtime. I think they are still tire.

We had a great time, but it is nice to be home. Not saying I wouldn’t jump at the chance to go back! I think the best thing about the trip (besides being with our friends, of course) was the fact that we had no time table. We didn’t have to hurry. That was so nice. I hope that we will all be together again very soon.