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!
Cabin week 2018 was filled with a lot of lounging and a few days of adventure. What isn’t pictured here is the 3.5 days straight of rain! On those days we enjoyed a lot of lounging at our cabin, relaxing, and hanging out. Some of us got some good naps 🙂 Later in the afternoon on two of the rainy days we headed to Dollywood, which turned out to be a great choice as there were very few visitors at the park. We were the only ones in the building to see Santa! There were no lines at any of the rides and it was just barely misting so the weather was actually very manageable. Visiting with Santa was our first stop. Reid wasn’t really very enthused to sit with Santa, so Kevin held him (and crouched out of the picture, lol). Griffin enjoyed sharing what he wanted for Christmas (which we really hadn’t even discussed much before our walk to see him). 
This year in the Santa workshop they had a silhouette artist who used scissors and paper to cut out silhouettes! It was fascinating to ask her questions and watch her do one for each Griffin and Reid. She cut two at a time so you get a mirror image. All in all it took her just a few minutes to do each one. I’m going to put one of each of them in their baby books and the other in their new keepsake bins Mom gave me for Christmas. Can you tell which is which?
We enjoyed our traditional visit with Clarice and Abominable. Reid warmed up to them just enough that he didn’t cry. 
We were able to go for a ride on the coal train again this year too. It was a cold ride, but a fun one!
This is one of my favorite pictures of the boys from our trip this year. It’s right upon our arrival at Dollywood :0)
It was actually quite nice to spend some down time on a rainy day on the deck in the hot tub. This was my view for about an hour while I enjoyed the sound of the raindrops in the trees. We took a puzzle with us and Griffin and I were able to get it done in just a few hours! That was a good thing as we had limited counter space! 
I love to get one of these photos each year of Kevin on the couch with the boys. They had some nice snuggles and watched lots of shows. I got snuggles too while I enjoyed my morning coffee and the slow pace of no where to rush out the door to in the morning!
We hit up The Island again and enjoyed lunch and dinner (don’t worry, it was two different days) at Paula Deens Restaurant. It is so yummy! Griffin enjoyed riding some of the rides and doing the adventure course. Reid walked around and also rode in his stroller to take in the sights.
This boy. He does not sit in his chair at the table for longer than 5 minutes without somehow figuring a way to get out. Even when he is clicked in with the straps he somehow manages to be able to stand up. I just don’t get it. He’s a funny one, our Reid. Still not talking a ton, but is awesome at imitating behaviors and is extremely observant. 
Here’s the outside of our Cabin, Almost Heaven. Each year I try to go back and find the name of our cabin and some years I’ve not been good about putting it in the blog – so here you go, Almost Heaven. Several mornings Griffin loved going up into our room to be able to talk to Reid. On more than one occasion we found him in there reading him books and just chatting away.
This year we went to a new adventure, Dolly’s Lumberjack Feud. Griffin enjoyed it and Reid actually sat on my lap and was well entertained. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go so I’m happy it turned out well. We also went to the Dixie Stampede where Griffin was selected to go “chase chickens” again this year. He is one fortunate little boy. He was much more into chasing them this year and actually he and his teammates chased them so well that the chickens were first to cross the line, which resulted in our North Pole winning our first medal of the night. Woohoo!
Here are a few other keepsakes: delicious breakfast at Crockett’s Breakfast Camp, a leaf as big as Griffin’s head, artwork from Griffin’s class at school, and some videos from various things. Enjoy. 
