Pigeon Forge Vacation

This is the longest post ever, so don't say I did not warn you.! Last Saturday we drove to Pigeon Forge, TN to spend some time with Derek's parents and his sister and her family from Delaware.
We stopped at the Forbidden Caverns on our way and the kids really liked it

Inside the caverns

Good thing I got our sweatshirts out of the car, because it is always in the 50's in the caverns.

We drove up the mountain about 10 minutes to reach the house we stayed in for the week. Those are some curvy, narrow roads. They do not agree too well with children who are prone to carsickness. We went through a lot of Dramamine on this trip!

Very excited to see their cousins. Not sure why Noah is missing in this picture. We turned down the temperature of the hot tub and it was like a little pool for them.

Aubrey wanted to do whatever Gabriella was doing
Derek and Ethan playing pool. The whole house was wood floors and I can not tell you how many times the pool sticks were dropped. It was so loud it sounded like a gun being fired, sometimes you would actually jump at the sound.

Making some bracelets and other various crafts.

This was their room for the week. One night we had to separate them because they would not stop talking and giggling.

Sunday we were able to meet up with our friend Christy and meet her little boy Jesse. We attempted to get a picture.

Jesse is 19 months old and just adorable. After church he was toddling around and walked right into the glass door, thinking he could just go outside. He was fine and it was so funny!

Ethan made Christy a bracelet. Derek worked with Christy when Ethan was a newborn for a couple of years. Christy was single at the time and was Ethan's first girlfriend. He used to bring her flowers and all kinds of little things to the office.

Aubrey really wanted to hold Jesse, but he was ready for a nap instead.

We took the kids horseback riding for the first time and they loved it.

All the kids in their hats ready for the ride.

Aubrey ready to get on her horse.

Aubrey on Alabama. The guide attached a rope to her horse and led him so that Aubrey did not have to do anything but hold on. She was all smiles!

This video is so funny of the horse next to Ethan while he was getting on his horse. We thought for sure that would be the horse Derek got, but nobody in our group rode him.

Ethan on Sweetheart. He controlled her all on his own and did a super job. He even pulled her up from eating grass a few times.

Derek on Georgia. He always seems to get the horse that does not want to behave and he did not disappoint this time. Melody and I were laughing most of the trip because Derek's horse kept going the wrong way or snacking. His horse loved to eat!

I could not get this picture to rotate since it was off a disk, but I liked it anyway.

We had a coupon for free black light putt putt, but of course they had you wait for about 10 minutes before your turn to play. Thanks to Nana, the kids got some tokens to use while we waited. The kids really had a good time.

Caleb hit the jackpot right away with I think 250 or more tickets.

The girls playing golf. It was really neat, I have never played black light golf before.

Nana even joined in on the fun

Aubrey got pretty good at actually hitting the ball instead of just pushing it along.

The crazy boys on the mountain...don't think they were probably supposed to be up there.

You can not tell by the pictures, but the white we were wearing would glow. Of course, Aubrey hardly had any white on and was a little bummed that she did not light up as much as other people.

After golf we had a few more tokens to use up and Aubrey also hit the jackpot on one of the games and got 250 tickets. They just kept on coming out!

After horseback riding, lunch at the Apple Barn and golf, we headed up to Cades Cove. Derek and I had been before and really enjoyed it. However, we did not remember it took so long to get there. Due to that fact, we did not fill up on gas when we had the opportunity. Once you enter into Cades Cove, it is an 11 mile loop that you slowly drive around and can get out at different points of interest. Thankfully, we made it through and the gas light did not come on until we were able to get to a station. That could have been interesting.

Aubrey fell asleep in the car and she does not wake up very pleasantly. She is having a tough time waking up and I am trying to cheer her up. After much crying and some stern talking, she finally was happy again and enjoyed herself.

Ethan and Caleb

We were able to see two bears and several deer on our trip. That black blob up in the tree was indeed a bear.

Derek and Ethan walking through an old cemetary.

Ethan preaching in an old church

Aubrey by an old stove

This was the mill in the town. We enjoyed ourselves, but boy was it a long day. We did not get back to the house until about 9:30 that night.

We took the kids another first adventure - white water rafting.

This was the part of our journey when it was not raining. It did get awfully cold while the rain was pouring down on us, but despite that we had a great time.

Our guide looks scarry in these pictures, but I promise he was very nice.

During certain parts the kids could get out and swim in the water. Well, I guess the adults could too, but we chose to stay in the boat. It was difficult enough pulling the little ones back in, it would have been real interesting trying to pull an adult back into the boat.

This was our packed little bus that we rode back to where we started after making our way down the river.

One evening we roasted marshmallows and enjoyed smores.

Papa helping with the fire

She looks like she is not enjoying it, but she did.

The mornig before our rafting trip I put pink streaks in the girls hair. I suggested that maybe they would want to do mine and Melody's later that evening. This lead to probably the most laughs of our trip. All I can say is the things you do for your kids!

Melody and I were victims of the girls hair salon. You can not see the bowls well, but they had cereal bowls filled with water that they were trying to dip our hair into. Not the most comfortable position. At one point Aubrey look the washcloth and rung out water on the top of my head, flinging water everywhere. Oh, the laughs we had!

Towel drying my hair - my whole head it would appear. This little girl absoulutley loved doing this!

Brushing my hair

The hair dryer made an appearance

And now the pink streaks begin!

Ethan would keep coming up and checking on us. He was trying to act like he did not want to be part of the beauty parlor, but secretly he enjoyed it as much as the rest of us.

They even served water to us at the beauty shop

The final product. I had these huge streaks all through my hair. There was definitely a shower before bed.

Papa making homemade ice cream

This was my wonderful creation

The kids all enoying some ice cream

We had a great time! Derek and I joined the church pastors and wives, along with the Elders and their wives for a retreat at The Cove in Asheville on Wednesday. The kids stayed back and had a lot more fun. We met Nana and Papa in Asheville and got the kids back and made our way back to Florida. Summer is now officially over as school starts up on Monday.