Hanging out in Gatlinburg

After naps and pool time (with a water slide, the big boys were in heaven), we headed out to the Dixie Stampede for a dinner show. 

We stopped on the way for a photo op.

Before the show you hang out in a saloon for some drinks and a live band. The boys got souvenir mugs for their frozen drinks. They were very excited.

Then we headed into the show. It was a dinner show where you ate with your hands so we didn't get any pictures but it was great. They had a lot of horses and other animals including buffalo and pigs. All three boys were entranced. Patrick even watched the whole time without wanting to get down to run around. It was great. 

Here is one of the performers with her horse.

When we got back to the hotel, it was too early to go to bed, so we headed next door to the mini golf course. It had two complete 18 hole courses so we bought the two course package and got one round in that evening. 

Patrick has to work on his form but was enjoying himself.

This was the boys' favorite hole. It had a sensor so when your ball went down the hill, the gophers started singing.

After 18 holes we headed back to the hotel for a good night's rest and didn't wake up until 8:30 the next morning...

....where we played the other course.

Patrick loved watching this bear pop out of the hole to get his honey.

The course had a Davy Crocket theme including this fort which had a few multi-level holes.

We all got a hole in one at some point between the two courses, even Patrick.

This hole was my favorite. You picked which hole to shoot into (left or right) and it rolled into 

After golfing we headed to downtown Gatlinburg to walk around. We didn't get any photos but it is a really neat mountain town. We stopped in a candy store for some taffy, Old Smokey Holler for some moonshine, and a 3D movie shooting gallery for some fun.

This is the world's largest tire outside the Ripley's Believe It or Not. 

We had lunch at Dick's Last Resort, hats and sarcasm included...

 and then headed back to our little home in Alabama. It was a fantastic weekend get away.

Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies

Apparently Pigeon Forge is the place to be 4th of July weekend. When we called to get a hotel, we could only book one in nearby Gatlinburg and all the hotels had their No Vacancy signs lit while we were driving through. Gatlinburg turned out to be the better place to stay.

After a good night's sleep (everyone fell right asleep after getting back from the fireworks and slept straight through until 6am when one of the boys tooted, which started them laughing and woke-up Patrick. Luckily, after pulling him into bed with Mom and Dad, everyone got back to sleep until 8am), we headed over to the local Gatlinburg aquarium. 

It was amazing! I have been to a few aquariums but this one is my favorite so far. There were so many creatures to see.

The highlight was their tunnel. They have a moving walkway so all you have to do is stand and look around. The tunnel was huge and had a lot of unique and fun animals.

Of course, Josh's favorite were the sharks (he takes after his mom).

The aquarium even had a kids zone where they could touch horseshoe crabs....

...climb into tanks...

...and play around.

(This thing vibrated when you stood on it. Patrick thought it was hilarious.)

One of their exhibits was all about slime and slimy creatures. They had games to play...

...and animals to touch.

Did you know you could touch a jellyfish without getting stung? Even Patrick did it.

This was a great aquarium and kept us all entertained for hours.

4th of July

For the 4th of July weekend, we wanted to take a short trip out of town. We originally looked into Nashville but didn't find much we wanted to do with the kids. So, we decided on Pigeon Forge, TN. They have a FREE 4th of July festival with lots for kids to do, a concert, and fireworks. So, we woke-up Friday morning, hopped in the car, stopped for coffee and doughnuts at Dunkin' Doughnuts (yeah!), and headed to Tennessee. After over four hours in the car (including an surprise drive through Georgia, who knew that was how you get from Alabama to Tennessee), we arrived in Pigeon Forge, TN. The boys were immediately mesmerized by all the lights and activity along the side of the road. So we quickly checked into the hotel and headed over to the main area. 

We found a go-kart track and took turns racing around. First up were Josh and Mom.

The other two boys loved watching the karts go around.

Then it was Daniel and Dad's turn.

It was a great time. After the racing, we walked over to Patriot Park for the festival. It did not disappoint. They had a lot for the kids to do including a big slide, a gerbil ball, and trampolines. 

 

The boys loved it!

Then we sat down for dinner including a BBQ Bologna sandwich.

That's a thick slice of bologna!

Then we sat down and waited for the fireworks to begin. We also enjoyed a free concert by Lonestar. 

Josh took this picture. Isn't it great?

Then the fireworks started. The boys were in awe. I think this was the first time Patrick has seen fireworks since the last two years were cancelled due to wildfire danger. He loved them.

And we get to wake-up for a fun filled day tomorrow, too. 

Happy 4th of July!

US Space and Rocket Center

Did you know Huntsville, Alabama is also called "Rocket City"? Apparently, it is where America's space program was born. That means they have a really cool Space and Rocket Center to house all the history and artifacts. We had been driving by this place for a few days now on various errands and the boys were always fascinated with all the rockets and the space shuttle. So I decided to take a trip there. 

One of their exhibits right now is GPS Adventures. It is based on the Geocaching trend. You go into a maze and have to visit every corner. At each corner is a locked door. In order to unlock the door you have to figure out the code using clues you find in that room. It was pretty fun. I let the kids do most of it. They were pretty good and caught on pretty quickly.

This is Josh inputing a math problem in a calculator to get the code. 

They would have things to do for the kids once they got through the locked door.

The kids got to see how much they could fit in the backpacks and what they would bring depending on what type of trip they were taking. 

This area was for designing the next use for a GPS. Daniel drew a car and Patrick just scribbled. Oh well. Maybe they won't be inventors. 

This one was cool. It was a Mars Exploration simulation. Both Daniel and Josh got to ride it while Patrick and I watched from the outside. Patrick was not a fan of the noise or motion, even from the outside, but the big boys loved it. I'll have to bring Dad next time and ride in it myself.

There was also a lot to do and see outside the building as well. 

They had a kids play area...

...with a kid sized Space Shot.

They also have the Pathfinder-the world's only full-stack space shuttle display. It is huge!

We were there for almost two hours and didn't even see half of it. A lot of it was outside and I forgot sunscreen so we had to leave earlier than the boys would have liked. I did find a deal where you can buy a summer pass for the whole family for only $40 and come back as much as you want in the summer. That's only $5 more than the cost of one visit. Yeah! We will definitely be back here.