Pigeon Forge Trip: Day 1

On Mommie's birthday while having dinner at our home, she said that she had decided that she wanted something and that she knew I'd say "no" but that she was going to say it anyways. Hmmmmmm....

What she wanted was for herself, me, Rhyan, my mama and uncle Jonathan to all go together to Pigeon Forge and go to Dollywood to see the Christmas lights. Interesting combo, right? hahah... but, youknow, when your 81 year old Mommie asks for something, you do what you can to make sure it happens! So, I went online and found a small cottage to stay in and made our plans for the first weekend in december!

We headed on out in the morning around 9am. We were supposed to leave sooner but, as I expected, it took forever to get on the road. NOT because of Rhyan and I, mind you ;-) My mom had to pack up herself and Mommie and they both come with a lot of medical equipment and such. We stopped for lunch around 11 at wendy's and headed the rest of the way up, arriving around 1:30. I TOTALLY forgot to get pics of the cabin! It was small (only 2 bedrooms) but tasteful and right outside of dollywood! Rhyan (and Mommie) got a nap before we decided on what to do for the evening.

 That night, we decided to head to the gatlinburg aquarium. Traffic getting to it was HORRIBLE because we were unaware that there was a festival of lights on the streets of gatlinburg! It was crazy! But on the upside, there was NO ONE at the aquarium! :-)

We parked in the parking deck and had to walk a decent ways to get in... it was really TOO far for Mommie to walk. Rhyan was super sweet and helpful, though, and my Mama went up ahead and got a courtesy wheelchair for her. Mommie had bronchitis going into this trip so we were all worried about her a lot! 

Rhyan LOVED the big Christmas tree! Whats not to love?!

Her pose cracks. me. up!

This thing was hilarious for about 2 seconds :-) She was having fun opening and closing it but then it suddenly let out a big burst of air, which scared the beegeebies out of her and she cried and cried. lol. Poor thing!

She WANTED to touch the animals, but just couldnt bring herself to do it!

Love this of Mama taking pics of Rhyan :-)

Mommie had a great time looking at all the different fish. She hasnt been to an aquarium in a LONG time and she enjoyed taking her time and seeing everything. I'll just say its a good thing there was no one behind us!

Rhyan and her Grammy

Can you believe that my camera phone (on the iphone 5) took these last 2 shots?! I wanted to send some pics to Jeff adn was seriously impressed! They were better than with my DSLR (mostly b/c i dont use the right settings on my dslr)

We finished out the evening eating at the Old Mill. I was SHOCKED at how expensive it is! I've only eaten lunch there (which is reasonable) so I felt REALLY badly that I had recommended it and it was so much! But Mama, Rhyan and I shared a meal (it IS tons of food) and Jonathan and Mommie shared (Although she ate very little). It was a late evening and we had to get back adn let Rhyan get to bed.

Rhyan and I actually shared a room, but there was a big bed adn then a bunk bed in the room, so she chose the top bunk and I slept in the king :-) She did GREAT with us sharing a room, although I was self conscious of moving all night long! haha

Great day 1! More to come!