A Squealin' Good Time!

Mark, the kids, and I just got back earlier today from our 4-day vacation to Pigeon Forge, TN! Being two proud and strong-willed people, we bravely decided that we could and WOULD take our two wonderful boys to one of Mark's favorite places in the whole-wide-world! (Needless to say, we invited Mark's parents to go, but they declined stating that they wanted to stick around and watch our houses while we were gone. My mom and Step-Father were out in their truck, so they couldn't come in to go either.) None of the Grandparents were available......that was their way of saying...."Nu-uhh! We're not going on VACATION with 2 screamimg kids!"


Boy........proud we once were.......now in the bleary-eyed glow of the aftermath......we are merely shells of human beings.......sorry-excuses of parents.......worn to the very bone and frazzeled all completely out!


Our smallest child started the trip off in an adorable mood! SWEET! CUTE!!! CUDDLEY even! (see pic. below)
We loaded up, stopped at Nana's and Paw-Paws to say our "see you laters", and down the road we went! By the time we hit Hampton, Mack was screaming, Creston had his blanket on his head, Mark had gotten a migraine, and I was ready to go back home!!!!!!!!!


We have some friends that stated not too long ago that they were basically scared to take their two sons (very close in age to ours) anywhere long-distance like that without the aid of MANY more family members. Now we see their point! ((Mental note: No more Vacations unless there are at least 5 adults for each child!!!)).


Mackie did finally fall asleep. Creston went potty in his first rest stop! Mark's headache went away, and we finally got there!
We decided to try out a new place this time. The Twin Mountain Resort (Hotel, Cabins, Camping, ect.). http://www.twinmountainproperties.com/ It was actually very nice. On the river, back off of the main drag. Nice rooms, nice pool, good rates. I would reccomend it to anyone.


We got setteled in to the room and were getting ready to go to Dollywood! Then it started to rain!
So..........we went SHOPPING instead!!! I actually finally found MANY great deals! I never do! I've always been the one to kick myself over someone else's good buys, but this time, I got the deals!!! Yippee! Found lots of fall clothes for Mackie and some jammies for Creston!

It did stop raining that evening, and we found ourselves at an amusement place called the TRACK. Mark apparently went here lots when he was growing up. He and his parents would take him camping in PF. He wanted to get Creston on the go-carts with him.

Creston loved them and Mackie loved watching the people and carts go round-and-round. This was one of only a couple of places that Mack didn't scream his lungs out at. All in all, it was a good trip. Mackie did have some good times where he was once again cute and cuddley...(meals were not these times, but we learned to eat fast and ignore his ear-piercing shrieks~fellow diners, however, just stared like we were secretely killing the child before their very eyes...they couldn't understand why we didn't make him stop yelling........Heck...if they knew how to make it stop, we would have welcomed the assistance!!!).

Below are some pictures of Creston on another ride at the TRACK, Creston-me-& Mackie swimming, our trip to Cherokee, our attempt at a family photo-op without the aid of another person to take the picture, Mackie in one of his cute moments with Daddy, and a picture of Creston in a go-cart with the employee chasing him down to stop him because he didn't know how to quit going "round and round" when it was time to get off of the ride! Enjoy the pics., and I'll post a link to all of our pictures soon.

Again, needless to say, it will be a little while before we go anywhere with the kids alone again. We learned our lesson................There's safety in numbers!