A couple of weekends ago we went up to Pigeon Forge for a little family getaway. We’ve been up there a few times, but this was the first time with Graham. He was awesome the entire trip!
We headed up Thursday evening after Josh got off work. Our first stop – Cracker Barrel! I had the grilled chicken tenderloins with mac and cheese and carrots. Graham had some applesauce.
We ducked into a Dunkin’ Donuts to feed Graham, and when I finished the rain had slowed down. By this time we were starving so we grabbed some lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Tasty! After that, the rain had stopped completely! We walked around Gatlinburg for a while and ended up at the Ole Smoky Moonshine brewery.
The next morning was the highlight of the trip and the main reason we go to Pigeon Forge – Dollywood!!! Dollywood really is one of the most fun theme parks. They’ve got award-winning roller coasters and shows, delicious food, and tons of stuff for families to enjoy. Still skeptical? Dollywood won the Applause Award in 2010 – the most prestigious award in the theme park industry. You should go!
Graham loved it!
Family pic time!
Our trip was so much fun! I can’t wait for Graham to get a little older so we can take him again. Our next trip is coming up in July – Tybee Island with both sets of Graham’s grandparents. (So they can babysit while Josh and I have some fun in Savannah.) Can’t wait!
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| First time on the top of Stone Mountain. (We rode the Skyride up – we didn’t brave the hike with you.) |
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| First ride in your big boy stroller. |
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| First time feeding yourself a bottle. Man, it’s going to be awesome when we don’t have to feed you anymore. But I’m sure I’ll miss the snuggles… |
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| You’re really interested in Lacey and Jack now. You love petting them! |
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| Trying peas. You are NOT a fan. |
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| You are sitting up like a rock star. And you can play by yourself for a pretty long time. Still no signs of crawling, but I am just fine with that. |
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| First trip to Dollywood. We spent a long weekend in Pigeon Forge. You were awesome the entire trip. It was a blast! |
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| Best. Photo. Ever! My little hillbilly baby.  Happy 7 months baby Graham!
Now quit growing up so fast!
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| Rockin’ the Toms. |
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| Chunky thighs – I love ’em! |
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| Sick baby and sick mommy. |
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| The Easter bunny brought you a sippy cup, bananas (your fav) and some natural sunscreen. |
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| Not sure you have enough toys. 🙂 |
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| I’m sure you were saying “Gee!” (You said that all the time during your 6th month.) |
11/1
On the train ride to Venice, we sat next to some people from Little Rock, AR. They were complaining the whole time about their nannies! Rich people problems…
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| More Coke Light! |
We were a little confused about how to get a ticket for the water bus when we got off the train in Venice. But we figured it out. It really is crazy to take a boat everywhere instead of a car! After we checked into the hotel, we walked around and found a place for lunch. I had pizza with huge chunks of parm cheese and arugula. (PS – Italians call arugula rocket. I should totally call it that from now on!) Josh got his spaghetti carbanara…again!
Our hotel was amazing – seriously. You could take a boat right up to the front door. So luxurious! I didn’t take any pics of the outside, so please click the link below and check it out. Beautiful!
  
    After that, we walked around and explored for a long time. Josh finally bought his Italia jacket that he was looking for the entire trip. I bought some tiny black and gold Murano glass earrings.
   For dinner, we went back to the pizza place we had eaten at the day we arrived in Venice. (It was the most affordable place we could find.) Since it was our last night – we went all out! We got a bottle of merlot and later on, got a ½ bottle of the “vino della cassa.” (The house wine.) I had a capresse salad (mozzarella, tomatoes, and lettuce – not basil like I wanted – boo) and tortellini with ham and mushrooms. Josh had spaghetti “amatriciana” (spicy sauce). And after all of that? We also got a pizza with spicy salami. Hey – it was our last night after all! |
After that, we got some gelato and watched people riding in the gondolas. Neither of us really had a desire to ride in one, so we skipped out on that. But it was fun to watch other people ride!
11/3
To get to the Venice airport, we splurged and rented a private water taxi to take us back to land where we caught a regular car taxi. We thought it would be an easy way to end the trip instead of trying to figure out the water buses and rail way. And since we didn’t ride a gondola, we figured it would be fun. I felt like a rich person when the taxi floated right up to the front door of our hotel and we stepped in. It had rich mahogany interior (Anchorman anyone?) and blue velvet cushioned seats. Very fancy! It was so much fun riding through Venice in such a fancy boat!
So to sum up our Italy vacation…
IT WAS AMAZING!
Everything went smoothly, surprisingly. Josh and I handled all of the uncertainties well – and we didn’t argue much, only a few times when we were trying to agree on where to eat. Ha! Our motto for the trip: “We’ll figure it out!” Any time we got stressed about what we needed to do (how to catch the water bus, how to get to the hotel from the rail station, directions to the meet up locations, etc.) we would just say, “We’ll figure it out!” And we did! I’m such a planner and a control freak, I was very proud of myself!
The food was amazing, the history was amazing, the wine was amazing – everything was even better than we expected. I’m so happy that we were able to take such an wonderful trip!
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