Tennessee Trip

Part #1 - Gatlinburg

So Aaron has finally finished his busy season at work. We were so excited to have him home for a week and then he had to go out of town for 3 weeks to Knoxville. Since we have been missing him so much lately we decided to fly out there during his second week and visit him. Just 30 minutes outside of Knoxville is the Great Smoky National Park so we decided to spend the weekend in Gatlinburg at a cabin and check out the park. We had such a fabulous time, seriously, the cabin was perfect, the weather was perfect, and we loved doing all the walks and hikes. The park is so beautiful, I wish we could have spent more time there so we could have seen more. We had so much fun and took more pictures than we have in a very, long time. So be prepared for a very detailed account of our little trip. :)

Our cute, little cabin.

Carson and Aaron out on a morning walk by the cabin.

We had a huge bath tub and Carson loved it, it had jets but when we tried turning them on he wanted them off immediately.

On Friday night we walked through the downtown, which was so cute. People making fudge, taffy, and wood structures. Carson loved walking around everywhere and watching people. I really wanted coconut shrimp for dinner so we went to Bubba Gump for dinner. We ordered our food and then 10 minutes later I decided I wanted to have crab's legs too so we asked the waitress to switch out Aaron's food with crab's legs. The food was already ready but they went ahead and did it for us anyway. Not fun waiting on this pregnant woman but the food was so good I didn't even care that I had caused so much trouble for them.

Carson slept in a big boy bed while we were out of town and he did so good. He didn't try and get out one time and Aaron loved going in and laying with him at night since he had missed him so much.

On Saturday we started off our day with a short hike up to this beautiful waterfall. The path was very crowded but was stroller friendly. (Although Carson wasn't so interested in riding in his stroller) On the way up Carson was not in a great mood and acting very tired but he got very excited when he saw the small pools of water along the way. He really wanted to play inside of them, which we let him do but then he tried to get all the way in and got his shoes and socks all wet so we had to end the party.

The view from the top was really beautiful. (This is just the top of the waterfall, we couldn't manage the hike down to the view of the full waterfall with the Car Car Man. )

Carson finally wore out on the way back down and fell asleep on my shoulder. Now Carson has to be completely worn out to fall asleep anywhere but his bed and especially while I am holding him so we had worn the poor guy totally out.

After lunch we decided to try a little bit of a harder hike, well it lasted about .2 miles. The hike was too hard to carry Carson on and so we decided to turn around and head back down. Well Carson really wanted to play in the freezing river so we let him crawl down and we threw rocks in the river for a long time. We finally had to make him stop so we could move on or he would have happily thrown rocks for hours.

So we decided to do a nature walk instead and it was much more relaxing and beautiful. Carson lasted awhile in the stroller and then decided to walk the rest of the way. Carson LOVES to go on walks and had so much fun on this one. He wanted to keep going farther then Aaron and I wanted to so when we turned around he just kept reaching out his hand waiting for us to keep walking.

Then for dinner Aaron cooked steaks on the grill. He couldn't get over the beautiful view from our back porch. The steak was delicious and it was so fun to enjoy the fabulous weather while he grilled.

Then that night we warmed up the hot tub and Carson was in heaven. This kid could walk around the whole tub and the sides served as small slides for him to go down. He just loved playing in there and lasted a couple of hours inside. We finally had to make him get out to go to bed, kicking and screaming. After he went to sleep Aaron and I made cookies and relaxed together. I seriously can't remember a more perfect day/night together as our little family.

Sunday morning was Mother's Day so I wanted a picture with my little man on our way to church. I had a fabulous Mother's Day just relaxing with my family. We moved over to the hotel in Knoxville and so I was especially spoiled with a perfectly clean room and bed that I didn't have to make. :)