Family vacation. Day 1. Part 1.

For the first time ever, we actually took a family vacation!  Sad, isn't it?  We have traveled (a little), but this is the first time we have visited somewhere where the sole purpose was rest and leisure and fun!  For almost 4 days, we stayed in a cabin in Pigeon Forge, TN.  It's only a 4-4.5 hour drive for us, so it was the perfect distance.  Much more traveling and the kids would not have survived. . . Mike and I would not have survived either!

We left Wednesday morning and it took us about 3.5 hours to get to Maryville, TN.  We spent about 1-2 hours driving around Maryville so I could show Mike and the kids where I lived from age 8-18.  I had not been back to Maryville since 1999, so it was very surreal seeing my old schools and old house.  Although the city has grown, it really seemed the same to me.  The best part was the old sub shop I absolutely loved was still there.  Looked the same and the subs tasted the same!

After the tour, we drove through Townsend and Wears Valley to our cabin right outside Pigeon Forge.  The cabin was high up in the mountains so we had an incredible view.  The girls were so excited when we arrived, jumping up and down as they ran into the cabin.  They loved calling the cabin our "new house" the entire trip. 

Grandma Marilyn arrived at the cabin with Aunt Katie and Great Aunt Kathy right before we did.  Unfortunately Uncle Mark was delayed one day because of work.  So we just had a leisurely evening and tried to get the girls to bed at their normal time.  Unfortunately, the excitement of sleeping in the same room meant the girls were up late and then early the next morning.  Claire, in particular, was up before 6am and woke up Grandma.  Shortly thereafter, Mike and I heard what sounded like stomping upstairs.  Wondering why someone was making so much noise, we ventured up and found Claire doing OnDemand exercises with Grandma...

Since we were all up early, Tyler tried eating in his new surroundings. . .

And Claire would not leave Grandma's side, telling me I had to leave right after snapping this picture of the two of them enjoying the porch while reading Dora. . .

Great Aunt Kathy always comes prepared and brought the girls some fun outdoor toys for the trip.  Grace enjoyed trying to play with Great Aunt Kathy. . .

But needed a little bit of assistance from Dad. . .

As you can see it was already sunny, hot and muggy around 9am, so Grace played for a little while on the upstairs swing. . .

Then, Dad and Aunt Katie tried a game of pool. . .

Grace was right there with them waiting to retrieve the balls from the pocket. . .

While Claire was back on the porch with Grandma helping Grandma read her novel (and instructing me to leave once again). . .

And this is just what happened the first morning.  After all of this, Grandma and Aunt Katie were off to pick up Uncle Mark from the airport while the rest of us went shopping at the outlet mall. 

Be back later (or more likely tomorrow) with Part 2 of Day 1.