Great Smoky Mountains (part 1)

Right before school started we decided to take the kids on an end-of-the-summer trip. We have had a great summer with our new boat, but we had so much fun with them in Knoxville that we made a quick decision to jaunt up to Pigeon Forge for several days. We didn't tell them anything was going on and packed up the car without them having any clue what was happening! We planned this to be a super fun trip, full of surprises...and in full reality it was all a surprise for us. We arrived in Pigeon Forge around 11pm, and thought the kids would be exhausted and go right to sleep in the hotel. Wrong. The boys didn't do too bad, but Maclyn did not sleep. And so we did not sleep. Maybe 3 hours total. (TOTAL) Josh tried driving her around, I tried giving her a midnight snack, we tried lullabies and rocking, even letting her sleep in our bed. Nothing worked. I couldn't let her cry it out because we were in a hotel with paper-thin walls. The next morning I felt like I had been hit by a train after an all-nighter fraternity party...but no alcohol was consumed. We were all exhausted and cranky. And the boys' miserable behavior was just beginning.

We rallied and decided to take a hike to Clingmans Dome, the highest point in the Smoky Mountains. (Because isn't that what you do on zero sleep?) There was a lot of whining, but overall it was a good trek. We only did the paved hike...it was super steep but only about a half mile long. This was after about an hour drive in the mountains...and we didn't bring food or water...and then an hour drive back to civilization. Can you tell we aren't really outdoorsy?! Anyways, the view was gorgeous and even though we were literal zombies, the pictures turned out great!

Appalachian Trail!  (We didn't hike any of it...but let the kids walk on a portion of it for pictures. Haha!)

Once we got back down to Gatlinburg and filled our bellies, the kids really wanted to go on a ski lift ride. They loved riding up the side of the mountain. Unfortunately we couldn't get off at the top because the recent fires destroyed their gift shop and lookout.

Our night that night (and all other nights thereafter) was much better. All the kids slept and so did Josh and I. It made our moods much better. Unfortunately we were hit with how entitled our kids were the next day. We were pretty disappointed in how much they whined and demanded we take them to do things and how we never bought them anything and it was really sad. We honestly were upset because Josh and I had initially planned this time to be an anniversary trip, but we didn't want to leave the kids because we knew they'd enjoy it. But then they threw this nasty behavior in our faces and it was rough. Luckily, things improved but the taste was left in our mouths.