Veteran's Day weekend we headed to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg for a long weekend getaway. Looking at these pictures a month later reminds me just how much fun we had. My sweet parents offered to take all three kids up with them early in the day Friday, so that when we got off work around 3:30, we could hit the road quickly and hopefully get there before sunrise the next morning. :) Thankfully I think they all did great only the ride up, and we arrived later that night. That Saturday was the AU/TN game so there were AU fans everywhere. We got up that morning and headed to the outlet mall, with plans to come back and watch the game while the kids napped. We had been debating what we would do for entertainment, and finally decided on Dollywood. I wasn't too sure of it since my impression was just a bunch of old people shows...sorry Mom and Dad. However, it FAR exceeded my expectations. The Christmas lights were absolutely beautiful and there is something fun for everyone. There were so many rides and fun things for the kids to do and see. If you bought tickets after 6pm you got free admission for the next day. Our plan was to try and see the parade and lights at night so that the next day we could come back and do the rides. We had an absolute blast!
This snowman was at the entrance. At first Harper wasn't so sure about it. She wouldn't turn her back to it for me to take a picture. She then decided it was safe and thought it was quite fascinating.
They had a fun little night parade. Just a little side note, Harper was quite the humor on the trip. When we asked her where we were going days before the trip she would say "water fountain!" instead of "mountains." Jonathan also bought her some mittens that night and she kept telling us she wanted to wear her "kittens." All of the kids were really SO well behaved the entire trip....something you don't take for granted when traveling with three children under the age of 5! It could go downhill at any given moment.
We even got to wave to Santa! Another Harper story: the next morning we went to Santa's workshop to try and make a quick visit. Instantly when Harper saw him she started backing away saying, "Get me outta here!" I then explained to her that we had to tell Santa what we wanted for Christmas so that he could bring her presents. As we started walking out of the workshop she starting crying hysterically again, "I not wanna leave!" When I asked her why, she said she wanted a present from Santa. I then proceeded to ask her if she was going to tell Santa what she wanted and she quickly responded, "no, mommy tell him." Clever girl.
My precious angels.
The carousel was the top choice ride of the trip (as it was also at Disney World...go figure!) I didn't keep count, but they rode quite a few times!
Little man stayed bundled up in his car seat most of the time, but he got out for a minute to take a bottle. Did I mention that he was an ANGEL baby on the trip?
Daddy's girl!
Another favorite was the ferris wheel. You can see we rode it Saturday and Sunday!
Like I said before, there were so many different rides that even the little could do. So fun!
Having fun!
Again, brother just being sweet.
We saw a sweet short show about the Christmas story. Payton of course loved it, as she is obsessed with all things Christmas, especially baby Jesus. Harper instantly starting saying, "that my Bible" when the people came out dressed as Wise Men.
Daddy told the girls he would buy them a prize before riding the train. These were their treasures. I think it only took about 15 minutes for a piece to get broken.
Waiting to ride the train on a COLD Sunday night.
On our way out of the park, we happened to see Santa sitting on the bench. Anderson and Harper were OUT since we had been there about 6 hours. We pulled the strollers over there and tried to convince Payton to go see him. Fail.
Monday morning we drove up through Gatlinburg and walked around. We stopped at the visitor's center and rode up the mountain.
Payton decided she wanted to have a picnic on the mountain, so that's just what we did!
I just love this big girl.
Harper loves her some pizza!
Proof we did actually go to the mountains.
We had an absolute blast on this trip. Seeing that it was mid November at this point, we came home in the Christmas spirit after seeing all of the lights and listening to music. The kids were so well behaved and we made some great memories. We headed home Tuesday morning and only stopped 1 time to feed brother. That's right, we made it home in 5.5 hours with 3 kids and didn't turn the DVD on until this side of Atlanta. Now that's an accomplishment. :)
