7th Anniversary Trip

It's been a crazy month of snow days, testing, and growing a baby, so I just now figured out how to get these pictures off of my phone and onto the blog!  Our anniversary trip was the weekend after Christmas and I could kick myself for not doing this sooner because I already made our yearly family photo album and there are no pictures of our awesome Gatlinburg adventure!  Oh well, at least I'll have it here, right?

I booked our trip to the Westgate Smokey Mountain Resort back in July.  I got a crazy good deal on a website called Deal Chicken, but you never know what you're getting with that online coupon business, so I was skeptical.  We left on a Friday morning and stopped a billion times on the way down.  Neither child slept and we were all about to lose our minds by the time we got there, but once we were in our room, all was well!  The place was really nice, and I'm glad we opted to upgrade to a suite so the girls could sleep in a separate room away from us.  We also had a full kitchen, which was great for our milk and juice and toast and all the tiny things you take for granted when you're at home.

We were going to spend our first day wandering around Gatlinburg, but as we drove through we realized that you can't really pop in and out of a bunch of shops with two little ones, and it was cold out (although it was warmer than it had been all week, so the streets were packed)!  We opted to drive around the scenic part of town (the mountains) and then go out for dinner.  We were back early, which was perfect because the girls' favorite part of the whole trip was the hotel room.

They spent 30 minutes in the jacuzzi tub and I was scared to death the whole time because it had to be super deep for the jets to work.  I pretty much held Margot's hand for the whole bath, but they had a blast!  Little did they know we'd be going to a water park in the morning!  We could have spent all weekend in the bathroom.

Sylvia slept on the pull out couch, which she called her "magic bed" because it magically appeared out of the couch!  We don't have Disney Jr. at home, so we snuggled and watched Sophia until bedtime.  They were in heaven!  I can't believe how easy it is to rock their world at this age!

On Saturday we had breakfast in bed (which we brought from home) and headed to the water park in our resort.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but OH. MY. GOODNESS!  It was awesome.  We all loved it and we spent the entire day there.  I mostly stayed with Margot in the toddler area while Sylvain and Sylvia wandered all over the place.  We did the lazy river once as a family, but Margot did not love it like Sylvia did, so we took turns after that!

It was really weird to walk into the place in our winter gear and change into bathing suits!

Oh, the giggles!

She ventured into the "big girl" area and did surprisingly well!  The only thing she couldn't do were the slides, unless Daddy was at the bottom.

Baby slides.

 

We splurged for lunch at the water park since we didn't spend any money on breakfast, then we went back to the room for naps and dinner.  Instead of going out for dinner, we decided to order from the restaurant at the resort, pick it up and eat in our room.  The girls were able to rest, Daddy was able to watch the UK game, then it was BACK TO THE WATERPARK for more evening fun.  We definitely made the most of it.  Sylvia keeps asking when we're going back, so we might need to plan another trip next year. 

On Sunday morning, we checked out of the resort and went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Aquarium.  It was another hit with the girls, and we were the very first ones there because we wake up at the crack of dawn!  It was pouring down rain on Sunday, so it was the perfect place to go before eating lunch and heading home.

They had all these tanks that kids could crawl under, then pop right up in the middle!  Sylvia LOVED them!

She's in here with the penguins but you can't see her because those tall, awful, glass hogging brats are standing on the hump that's supposed to be for LITTLE PEOPLE. 

Gazing in amazement.

She begged to put on the penguin costume and I couldn't say no.  But I may have paced around in circles muttering "Please don't have lice, please don't have lice..."  It didn't have lice.  Phew!

Giant Christmas tree in front of the aquarium.  The last good holiday photo of the two BIG sisters!

As we were leaving the aquarium, the place was starting to fill up with people who wake up at normal times and do what normal people do.  We were glad to leave, especially after Sylvia tried to sit on a wrapped "present" under a fake Christmas tree and broke through the empty cardboard box. her body folded in half, butt down in the bottom, hands and feet in the air, and all four of us were cracking up laughing at the funniest thing we've ever seen!  I know she thought she was in trouble, but we didn't care one bit because we were LEAVING!  And folks should know better than to wrap empty boxes and expect kids NOT to sit on them.  Sheesh.

After an excellent lunch at the Smokey Mountain Brewery, we headed home.  On our way out of town, we stopped in the mountains to take this little family photo:

The girls slept almost the entire drive (hallelujah) and when we pulled into the driveway, Sylvia said, "Mommy, I missed my house.  And my cat."  We were only gone for two nights, but it was enough!  It's always good to come home after an exciting trip like this one.  I was so glad we decided to bring the girls with us to celebrate our 7th Anniversary.  I mean seriously, where would the be without us, right?  Seven years.  From nothing to a family in 7 years.  What a lucky lady am I!