Family vacation to Gatlinburg, TN

After deployment we decided that our family vacation would be down to Gatlinburg, TN.

 Chris and I had been there once a few years back but this year Audrey was definitely old enough to be able to enjoy the gazillion things to do down there. We decided to break up the drive on the way down. I know, I know, its only 8 hours down but add in a sometimes whiny 3 year old: "I need to pee, I am hungry, my back hurts from my car seat, etc." you know the drill. And a 100 lb. dog in the back of the Jeep sometimes I don't even want to go down the street with that crew.  So we booked a hotel room ahead of time half way down in Kentucky and made it a 2 day drive.

So first day of the ride down went pretty smooth.

A break for the night in Lexington, KY

Once finally in Tennessee there was a lot of relaxing. Many days we would sleep in and just hang out at the cabin. I mean that was the point of this vacation right. We would stay up late and sleep in which was amazing because that was something neither Chris nor myself had done for an entire year while he was deployed. But we also go out and did a lot of things while in Tennessee.

Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum

Sky Lift

Afternoons in the "hot pool" as Audrey calls it 

Hiking

Our first encounter with a black bear

I was definitely nervous. Mama Bear had to be close by!

Aquarium

WonderWorks

This is my favorite picture of Chris and Hudson! Perfect all around... overalls, cabin, Hudson looking serious, and a beer in hand. That's the hubby for you :) So glad to have him home!

Mini Golf

Playing by the creek. Collecting rocks :)

It was very hard to come back to Ohio after 8 days down South. Lots of relaxing, sight seeing, hiking but most of all... lots of time together as a family. Finally. After a long year of Chris being deployed we could actually spend time together. It was an amazing vacation to say the least :) There are a ton more picture on my Facebook from our trip to the mountains!  Here is the link!