We headed out for our Tennessee vacation on Friday morning. Before we left I took Brutus on a nice mile-long walk. It was a pretty quiet morning and not many distractions so toward the end I put the leash up on his back and had him heel alongside me for a stretch. He did really well. I took video of it which is below if you feel like watching. Some of these things I just post for me to easily find later 🙂

Before leaving we turned Reid’s car seat forward facing. Though he hasn’t reached the “limits” of the manufacturer for rear facing we felt it was time. He seems to like being able to watch everything and it certainly makes interacting with him much easier, not to mention putting him in the actual seat.

We didn’t leave Columbus until 11:30 by the time we got the seats rearranged, packed the car, and stopped at Walmart to pickup Kevin’s prescription. One of our later starts, but still a good trip down. Once we arrived we quickly unloaded our car and unpacked some things while the boys explored the bunk beds in the basement. Our cabin this year had 4 bedrooms, so we took over the basement floor which had the bunks, a room for Reid, a room for us, a bathroom, foosball and arcade game, and a tv area with a couch. It was a great layout.  It was about 7:45 and we packed back into the car and headed in to Gatlinburg for dinner at Smoky Mountain Brewery, our yearly first night stop for dinner.

Our cabin this year, Aspen’s Envy, had a great view of the mountains. Here is the sunrise our first morning there. We woke up on Saturday, our anniversary, and opened some gifts. Then we proceeded to lounge and rest a majority of the day and then decided to head in to Gatlinburg for dinner at Ole Red, Blake Shelton’s restaurant which features live music.

We enjoyed dips in the hot tub, playing on the beds, arcade games, Reid’s favorite was the balls that come in the foosball table. They were the perfect size for him to carry around everywhere he went.

On Sunday, Mom and Dad arrived midafternoon. It was a nice and sunny day and we figured they’d want to stretch their legs after 7 hours in the car, so we headed to Dollywood. We visited Santa, Griffin and Reid wrote their letters to Santa, we rode the coal train, met Abominable, Clarice, Rudolph, and explored various parts of the park. We had dinner at Aunt Granny’s (which I later learned is Dolly’s nickname, lol) at Dollywood and

On Monday it was another nice, warm, and sunshine filled day. We headed into Gatlinburg to walk around and explore the shops at the Villages. We had lunch at Ole Red and then we ventured up to Anakeesta, which you reach via a chairlift (aka Chondola, lol). The have open lifts or closed cabins – we waited for the closed cabins, ha! Griffin and I rode the mountainside coaster together and Kevin rode separately. We walked through the sky walk bridges (they are high up there and after the first two I got a bit nervous for Reid to walk alone, so I made him hold my hand!!). They have a nice garden and play area and it’s a nice high elevation where you can take in some nice views.

We stopped quickly at the cabin and then moved on to Dolly Parton’s Stampede (formerly the Dixie Stampede) dinner show. It’s always a nice Christmas show and tons of food to eat. This year both Griffin and Reid were selected to chase chickens. It was super cute and completely predictable. Griffin was excited and eager to do it; Reid a bit apprehensive and stubborn – at least at first. Then he came around and participated and seemed to have fun. They are in front of a crowd of a thousand people, literally, with lights shining on the arena – it is intimidating! I video’d the whole thing and this year Kevin got some arena-level photos too.

 

On Tuesday we drove to Cade’s Cove and did the driving loop of the park, getting out at a couple of places for exploring and traditional photos. This year the park was conducting controlled burns within the cove, so that made it rather interesting! Griffin got some practice driving the loop and Reid was all proud of himself for buckling into a big kid seat.

We went home and had lunch and then Dad, Mom, Griffin and I headed out to the outlet malls for a bit of shopping. Check out Griffin showing his trick riding skills that he learned the night before at the Stampede. Reid was home resting up for our big dinner at Paula Deen’s restaurant. This year we had the fried chicken, pot roast hash, pork chops, salad, broccoli casserole, corn casserole, and sweet potatoes. It was a big and tasty spread. We got dessert to go, lol!

The next morning Mom and Dad headed back to Ohio. Reid was being a bit stubborn during our goodbye photo. Later that afternoon we headed back to Dollywood to ride some coasters and other rides. They don’t open until 2 pm! Reid rode his first big kid ride that leaves the ground – the Flying Acorns. Throughout our visits to Dollywood he would at first want to ride a ride, but once on it would start fussing and crying and sometimes screaming. So we got off more than a couple times. He is a boy who stands up for how he feels.

The Glass blowing shop was doing a demonstration so we watched a snowman being made. We’d been eyeing these guys for a few years and this year after looking at those in the shop decided to ask if it would be possible to buy the one we saw being made – and we could! So we bought it that night and picked it up the next day. It’s hard to tell in the photo, but the hat and scarf are red/white but different patterns. We love it!

The next day it was another sunny one so we headed to the Island to explore the rides, pretend to play in the Arcade, and have some cookies for a snack. Reid loved riding the train (we probably rode 3 or so times), the carousel, and he bungy jumped and the ropes course this year too.  He worked up his bravery as the first time he backed out of it, refusing to get on the scale to be weighed with a blatant “NO”, lol. But after watching Griffin do it and after some time passed he was actually excited to do it and the scowling turned to smiles and excitement as he got strapped up. We also rode the ferris wheel (our annual tradition) and visited Build-a-Bear where the boys made Pikachu and Pichu.  Then we moved on to Dollywood (gotta make the most of those season passes!) for more coasters. Griffin and Kevin explored Wildwood Grove coasters and rides while I watched Reid explore an indoor kids gym area.

The next couple of days were mostly chilling with a bit of exploring. We took in the Pirates Voyage Christmas Show this year and that was an entertaining dinner show. See if in the pictures below you can see the labradors mid-air jumping off the platform to retrieve a stick from the water! They get crazy air!

This vacation was a pretty busy one with bits of rest here and there. Lots of brotherly love and wrestling. It wasn’t all sunshine and roses, but it was filled with many memories and traditions and we’re grateful for the time away.  As we were driving away today Griffin said “It’s so hard to leave, I love being at the cabin”.  “Bye Dixie – until next year!”.

And here are the professional photos from Dollywood – enjoy!