Tennessee Scenery

And then it was time to drive home.  And the drive home may have taken a little bit longer than we had planned because the scenery was so beautiful that we had to stop several times.

 In particular, I liked the frozen water falls!

 Hubby really liked the foggy mountain views.

 And we even occasionally forced the children to put down their electronics and look around outside.

 Because what are parents for, if not for "torture".

 This was some historical military thing that I don't remember the name of, but the kids really enjoyed climbing all the way up to the top.

 With stairs, it wasn't really all that far.

 But, again, the views were beautiful, and foggy and mysterious :)

 And right before we got on the highway, we saw some elk!

I had no idea that we had some native elk so close to our area!  I guess you can learn something new every day :)

Gatlinburg Tourist Stuff

Sunday morning it was time to pack up and put all our stuff in the car.  I guess I now know where the kids get their love of hotel luggage carts.

Our hotel had this pretty cool glass elevator that the kids liked to ride in, and watch the descent all the way down.

Since we still had a little bit of time, we did some tourist-y stuff in Gatlinburg.  Like the indoor mini golf.

Which was right next door to the mirror maze.

We watched them pull taffy.  And of course I had to buy a box.

And ice cream.  In February.  On a ski trip!

Inside the ski resort, there were also several stores.  Kelsey really, really wanted this purple purse.  In the end, she settled for just a picture with it.

And while I didn't pay for rides for any of the kids....

...they did want to take pictures in these thingys.

Because, what else could be more fun than imaginary rides?

Ober Gatlinburg Ski Trip

For a city boy, who likes booming base, horses and building furniture....  hubby sure has a large array of hobbies.  Skiing is another one!  He requested that we plan a skiing trip after Christmas.  What with the kids school schedule, and my school schedule, we had to fit in in where we could.  So we left after school/work on a Friday in early February.  The hotel we got (with hubby's hotel points from all his travelling) was freaking awesome!  It was close to the top of the mountain, with an awesome view.  We got there pretty late at night, so our first view was of all the cool night lights.

There were two rooms in the suite: the bunk room where we put all the kids.

And the grown up room, with a king size bed, the bathroom, and a table we could all sit around.

We got there pretty late the first night, so it was pretty much straight to bed.

Then we woke up early Saturday morning to go skiing.  We are used to going skiing in Utah, so we were vastly over dressed for this experience.  We ended up taking off sweatshirts and partial layers of coats to not sweat the whole time.  Thankfully, the ski resort was making their own "snow".  But I will tell you that skiing on mushy, melted ice is different than skiing on cold, powdery snow.

This is the first time Kelsey has ever been skiing.  So I got to hang out with her on the bunny slope.  We put her, Dylan and Kaitlyn in a lesson also....  just for a reminder of what you are supposed to do.

Kelsey, unfortunately, spent a decent amount of time on the ground, and her water resistant gloves may not have been completely up to the challenge.

But I am super proud of her and the progress she made.  

When we got back to the hotel, we had to hang up our pants and coats, because they were all pretty wet.

Skiing was a pretty long day for all of us.  So we changed into our pajamas, ordered pizza, and watched a movie.

Once the pizza was eaten, most of the other kids headed to the bunk room to watch kid shows.

But Kaitlyn was our buddy for a while, before we all went to bed that night!  Skiing is hard work man :)

Snow Closeups!

I had so many snow pictures, I had to divide them out someway!  So here are a few close ups!  

 The snow, and the vibrant colors of the kids coats, really made for some fabulous shots.

 Plus, the kids joy at not having to go to school and being able to play in the snow is clearly visible....  right Kelsey?

 There you go!  Thats better :)

 I guess not all of it was happy thoughts...  Surprise!  The snow is actually cold!

 Again, it was so powdery, it was sometimes difficult to play in.

 Kari, in all her growing wisdom, played outside in the snow the least.  

 My little snow model.

What can I say?  Down here in Alabama....  we gotta take what we can get!

Snow in Alabama!!

It doesn't happen very often...  like, every 4-5 years.  But in January of 2018, we got snow in Alabama.  And it was a significant amount of snow (for Alabama).

 The black ice kept the schools closed for 3 days!  The kids went back to school on a Tuesday, and we got snow the next day...  They didn't go to school for the rest of the week.  I hadn't gone back to school for the semester, so I didn't get any college snow days off...

 By stroke of luck... or forethought... I had purchased some snow things from Lands End when they went on clearance at the end of the season.  And, thankfully, some of them still fit!!!

 Under the water resistant snow pants, I made the kids put on regular pants...  Somehow, Dylan ended up wearing Kaitlyn's jeans.  I was extremely surprised to find they actually fit!

While powder is great to ski in, it is difficult to play in.  The kids couldn't make decent snowballs.

 They did enjoy leaving tracks in the perfect snow covered front lawn!

 They even borrowed the trash can lid to try to slide down the driveway.

 In the backyard, there were all kinds of fun things to do.  Like a trampoline.

Or a slide.

 Snow angles were also a winner!

Mollie, protected in her warm, puppy sweater, also went out for a bit and enjoyed the snow.

When the day was over, we came inside to warm up by our "fire".

 And to drink hot chocolate.

 I mean, that is what snow days are for!!!