This year we decided to change things up a bit in our house. Instead of cooking for 3 days....paying close to $300 for food....and at the end of the day realizing we had spent all day shushing and shewing our kids out of our hair and not spending much one on one time together as a family, we decided to get away. Just the 5 of us. We used Adams travel points for a Hotel in downtown Gatlinburg and spent 3 glorious nights in the Great Smoky Mountains! Thank you Olive Garden! thank you Hilton family
***And since this post is already at novel length, and I'm sure breaking some sort of "blog etiquette" rules somewhere, I'll link to what I'm thankful for...the same is true this year.
This is how we spent Thanksgiving Day....Warning: There are an insane amount of photos in this post...proceed with caution.
Break or no break...we are Homeschoolers at heart...which means we are always looking for something to learn. We drove through the Roaring Fork Loop in the Mountains and stumbled upon old cabins...colorful 
Takes my breath away...and I don't mean the view.
You would never know that I was about to plunge to my death on the edge of a waterfall just to get this shot by the looks on their faces would you?? 
Am I weird for thinking moss is such a cool texture? Don't answer that.
“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock." Matthew 7:24
Dear turqouise door....I heart you!
Coveting Maggie's snazzy Rocketdogs...which I still cannot find in my size..ergh.
Where does one eat dinner while away galavanting in the Smokies on Thanksgiving you ask???
Right here of course! And apparently this whole getting away at Thanksgiving thing is not a novel idea....our Hotel was packed with folks from California to Wisconsin...and while having dinner...we saw tags from Maine! There was a 2 hour wait here so we drove into Sevierville..which is just a little further...no wait. We are genious. And I couldn't help but wonder why no one else was...and why they were still waiting 2 hours back in Pigeon Forge. Our meal was delicious....not exactly like home...but then I'm sure no one doubles the candy crust on the Sweet Potato Casserole like my hubby and I do. :-)
The rest of our week was spent hanging by the fire pit at our awesome hotel, working out in their fitness center....shocking, I know! (does this mean that if I had a fitness center downstairs at my house I'd be so eager to jump up at 5am like I was there? Nah.) Swimming in the indoor pool, soakin in the hot tub, exploring the downtown area of Gatlinburg, taking pictures of drooling on the glass candy makers through windows, spending the day in Ripley's Aquarium for the upteenth time, touching horseshoe crabs, taking really cool pics of jellyfish, and just hanging out as a family...enjoying every second with each other immensly. Seriously, the kids asked if we could do it every Thanksgiving...and who knows...we just may!
Where does the time go...seriously???? 
This was in March of 2007...ok, I'm sad now.
Where does the time go...seriously???? This was in March of 2007...ok, I'm sad now.
"And whatever I do, may it always bring glory to you"
