This year we finally got to go to Gatlinburg! We've been walking about going for years, but were finally able to this year. We were shocked by how much there is to do in Gatlinburg! It feels like you could go over and over and still find new things to do there. This trip felt very different for us, because it's the first trip that Kayla has been a toddler on. It definitely was a different trip for us, but we enjoyed it none the less. It was also exciting because we got to travel with Hannah, Kyle, Sam, and Maia. The girls loves being together and played all the time!
The drive down wasn't too bad. Kayla does really well in the car. She just watches her tablet for the most part. We switched between Elmo and Cocomelon for the ride. We also split the ride up, because on Friday night after work we drove to Cincinnati. That was a great idea because neither part of the trip felt too long.
Luckily she also took a couple snoozes along the way! Because we split the drive up, we actually got into Gatlinburg around 2-3pm. We went and got our grocery and got unpacked for the day. We were thinking about going out, but we weren't sure where to go that night. Hannah and Kyle got in pretty late around 8-9pm that night.
We stayed at White Oak Cabins in Gatlinburg. We've been wanting to stay at these cabins for a long time. As a matter of fact, when we signed up for our Global Discovery Membership this was a property that they showed us. I think we've now stayed at all the properties they showed us on initial talk with global. This particular place was nice... especially if you wanted to be far away in a wooden cabin in Gatlinburg. We had a 3 bedroom cabin with a hot tub out back. It was a nice place to stay and I can see why many like it... However... it wasn't our "speed" it was about a 20-30 minute drive to get anywhere in town. I think that we would have preferred to stay in either downtown Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge. I think that we'll probably pass this place over on our next trip to Gatlinburg and try to stay at one of the Wyndhams that we can get. One other thing that we didn't love is that there wasn't great insulation in the cabin, and people on opposite floors could very easily hear each other... which isn't great when you have a 1.5 and a 3.5 year old trying to sleep on opposite floors of each other.
Here are the two girls on outside of our cabin! Aren't they the sweetest! I think this MIGHT be my favorite picture of the trip!
Here we are exploring the little paths by our cabins. We were lucky to get cabins that were up against the woods, instead of other cabins.
The girls playing peekaboo on the bridge.
We decided to head into Pigeon Forge for our first full day. We went to Frizzle Chicken Farmhouse Cafe for breakfast. They has animated chicken that woke up and danced every half an hour. We got the BEST cinnamon roll pancakes there! They were SOOO good!
Kyle, Hannah, Sam, and Maia enjoying the restaurant. We had a great waiter that was really funny too!!
Maia was so excited to see the chickens dancing/singing! They all had funny names that were chicken spoofed after famous people. Example... Oprah HENfery, or Dolly PartHEN, or Larry BIRD. Just all funny spoof names.
Kayla was bopping and having a good old time too!
She was very excited at breakfast, but she was hard to manage! She was getting into everything, spilling stuff, trying to grab silverware, throwing some tantrums... it was hard. We're not used to going out to eat with her. So I gave her some playdough to play with and she ate a chunk of it... so like a fool I put my finger in her mouth to try to get it out, and she bite me SO hard. It hurts so bad that I'm pretty sure I cried.
Afterwards, we went next door to The Island. They had a large boardwalk of various stores and restaurants and they also had some rides and games there too. Kayla slept through a big portion of it, but that was ok... because she really needed a nap.
Maia got a pass to go on rides, and because of her height she needed to be accompanied by an chaperone and the chaperone got to ride the ride for free. So we all kind of switched off riding with her a few times.
Kyle and Cody went off for a little bit and sampled some of the moonshine places while the girls hung out. Kayla was happy to see him when he got back.
She sat by the fountains and watched them go off. They danced to songs kind of like the Bellagio fountains. However, here they had nice rocking chairs that you could sit by the edge of the viewing area and get to watch them. I'd love to see them at night, but we never made it there at night time. This is another reason why I think staying in Pigeon Forge would have been nice. There were LOTS... LOTS... LOTS... of things to din Pigeon Forge. When we were driving in to find our breakfast place, we saw all kinds of interesting looking stuff. You could easily wander down that road with a little bit older kids and have a great day.
At the end of the day we got yummy ice cream at the Island Creamery. One thing that wasn't great about Gatlinburg was the there isn't great internet service there. We decided that the girls had a long day and we didn't want to go to another restaurant that night. We decided to get pizza, but it was SUPER hard and SUPER frustrating to find a place around us. Also, a lot of places are under staffed right now, so places would get busy and just turn off their phone and not take orders. So Cody and I were scrambling trying to find a good place to pick... if you know me... spending time trying to find a place to eat at last minute kind of makes me crazy. I like to do research ahead of time and have ideas of where to go... and I did on this trip, but I had restaurants to eat at... not pizza places. So we ended up finding a place that would answer the phone... Gatlinburg Pizzeria and we just got it from them. The pizzas were really huge, but they were priced pretty high. This was probably one of our most stressful meals to find, because we had bad internet connection and when we did find places we wanted to try they weren't answering. So I'm pretty sure that we overpaid for just ok pizza.
Later that night, we got the girls to sleep and then us adults got some drinks and went into our hot tub. Then we played sequence at night. It's an easy game to learn and is fun to play with a group. We were all trash talking and drinking and having a good time. Sam and Cody kick Hannah and my's butt that night!
The next morning, I made a big breakfast with bacon, eggs, potatoes, and our leftover pancakes. It was a yummy breakfast!
After breakfast, we went to the Ripley's Aquarium. It is voted the best aquarium in the US. We actually headed out earlier than Hannah and fam did, so we were doing the aquarium on our own for a while. It was SUPER busy and packed there though!!
They did have a lot of nice areas though. Kayla likes to look at fish. And might I add, that she is the BIGGEST daddy's girl there has ever been! She ALWAYS wants daddy. Da-da... Da-da... ALWAYS!
We were there for the last day of mermaids! They had a show were mermaids swam in the tank. We actually just so happened to luck upon it... we were walking by and heard the man the mic talking about it, so we stopped to watch. Because of that we didn't have great seats to watch it, and we saw on the ground with everyone...and Kayla was scared and cried during it. She didn't really seems to enjoy it, which made me nervous because we are going to Sea World in a few months, and I'm hoping she'll like those shows! I'm hoping she didn't like that it was dark and we were on the ground around a bunch of people.
Next we went through the long shark tunnel to see all the animals above us! They also had an above ground area where you could see the top of the tank too.
Look at the big shark and big turtle swimming!! Afterwards, we played in the climbing area. Kayla wanted to go up it, but she was too little... so I had to climb through it with her and help her go. It was lucky because we ended up being in the right place at the right time to see the penguin parade!!
Luckily Hannah and fam got there RIGHT before the penguin parade. They kind of ran through the aquarium to come stand by us so that they could see it. The girls LOVED the penguins!!
They were SO stinking cute!! I think they were Kayla's favorite part. We were in a great spot too, because they walked really close by us.
Afterwards, we had a potty and lunch break for the girls... and they played around in the exhibits and play area. We were trying to burn some time, because we wanted to circle back for Maia to see the upcoming and last of the season mermaid show.
We couldn't get Kayla to actually go inside.
Sam took the honor of climbing Kayla through it the second time. She's so great with the kids!
Here they come through the slide... Weeee!!!
Maia absolutely loved the mermaid show! She was SO excited about it!
Kayla liked it a LOT more the second time that we watched it. We got there a little bit early and got to sit up a bit and away from everyone. She also got to sit with TeTe. Sam was so excited that Kayla was calling her that (short for auntie). And of course, Kayla said it in the most absolute adorable way too!! But I was super glad that Kayla did better, because it gives me hope for Sea World.
Here are the girls waving to the mermaids after the show.
Hannah, Kyle, and Maia in the shark tube.
Big saw tooth shark above us!
Sam was showing the girls the sting rays. The girls loved them!!
They were pointing up and loving the sting rays! They loved watching them go by.
I somehow missed taking pictures of the penguin exhibit. But Kayla absolutely loved it! She had a blast looking at the penguins. It was the last area of the aquarium and she thought they were so adorable. Afterwards, we of course had to go to the gift shop! Kayla got to pick out a few things, but really wanted a new popper.
After the aquarium, we split up with Hannah and fam. They decided to go back through the aquarium and see the parts that they missed, and we decided to head out and walk through downtown Gatlinburg. On our walk, Kayla fell asleep for her nap. So we decided that this would be a good time to grab dinner. We wanted to go to Bennet's BBQ in down town and of course it was on the complete opposite side of the strip as the aquarium... so it was a decent walk to get there. We go in, and they say... oh sorry... we don't allow strollers in. And we were flabbergasted. I was like really?? We have a sleeping baby here and we're trying to sneak in a quick meal before she gets up. So another person came over and found us a place to sit. But alas... it was not meant to be... as soon as she heard us ordering, she popped right up and was ready to join us. And poor daddy... she obviously wanted to go to him. So he had to hold her and try to eat at the same time. She wasn't too bad at the restaurant, but eating out is definitely not the relaxing experience it used to be. Funny enough, I had told Hannah this was where we were going to eat and they showed up right as we were heading out. We thought that they were going to head out to Pigeon Forge after the aquarium, because Maia's ride pass was good for two days, and we figured that they'd eat out there... so that's why we didn't wait for them. But I guess they decided against it and came to where we were. That was kind of the story of our trip... it seems like our timing was JUST a little bit off of each other. We still did some things together, but we were separate quite a few times too.
Here we are in downtown Gatlinburg! We went back to the cabin after walking around for a bit. It was really hard putting Kayla to bed there. She felt like she was missing out getting to be with everyone, and she would cry and scream the whole time I was trying to put her down. She LOVED climbing up the cabin stairs and getting to play with Maia. So she was upset to have to go to bed, and then I was upset that it was taking so long for her to go to sleep because I FELT like I WAS missing out. I knew everyone else was in the hot tub and having drinks... so it was hard putting her to sleep. She really screamed/cried/carried on too, and she kept crying for Cody. Also trying to sit with her in our bed wasn't as comfortable as our chair at home. It was honestly a relief when we got back home, and she went back to her happy self. We normally play and cuddle and read books, and have a great night time routine. Going on vacation is always hard for her sleeping good. She did enjoy the new pack and play mattress that we got her and she slept much better. Our one night time trouble was that we brought Pamper's night time diapers instead of Huggie's night time diapers... and she peed through the Pampers diapers for like 3-4 nights in a row until we decided to drive to the Walmart in Sevierville and buy her some Huggies.
The next morning, we had an early time share presentation. We should NOT go to these meetings!!! We ALWAYS end up buying!! We love our Global program and have gotten great use out of it throughout the years... so we love having the most access/best programs that they offer. So we got a good deal to become "VIP members" and now have 17 star credit! AH!
Afterwards, we went swimming for the day. Cody grilled some burgers/hot dogs for lunch and then we made smores in the fire pit. Hannah and Sam had to leave around 5pm to head back to Columbus. Their dad was able to go on Cash Explosion, and they were able to sit in the crowd and cheer him on. So it was a bummer that they had to leave vacation, but they said it was a really cool experience for them.
So that night, I had two little monkeys jumping on the bed to entertain. I was trying to include Maia to get to do puzzles and read books with us before bed time.
Well we were having a great time! The girls were SO Excited and happy. Maia was ready to sit down and read before Kayla. Kayla was a little jumping bean and kept trying to jump away from me. She kept jumping and I'd snatch her and pull her back... Well... one time I didn't snatch fast enough and BAM! She smacked her head on the thick wooden bed frame.
Poor baby! I grabbed her to look at her and saw that she had a big goose egg on her head. Of course, she was screaming and crying... and she hated me putting the ice on her. She also wanted daddy, and poor daddy was doing his fantasy football draft at the time. I felt like such a bad mom, and I felt like I wasn't sure if I could handle having two kids after this incident. :(
So the next day, we went to Sevierville to get Kayla's diapers, and I had found a really nice farm/petting zoo that I thought would be a lot of fun for us. Cody thought that it was right across from Walmart... so I was like ohhh that's perfect! Well turns out it wasn't the place I thought... it was a kinky dink indoors rainforest zoo which I thought would be a waste of money. So I told Cody that I saw signs when we were driving in for Parrot Mountain. I remembered that was something that I looked into before or that it was on the list of things to do with toddlers... so I suggested we go there.
So we drive out to basically Dollywood, and instead of turning right to go park at Dollywood, we went up the literal mountain to get to Parrot Mountain... And it was not exactly a cheap place to visit either. It was $25 per person plus another $3 to feed the Lorry birds...
Oh boy... whoever said this was a great place for toddlers... LIED! It was terrible. She. Did. NOT. Like. The. BIRDS!
We were there for maybe half an hour to an hour tops. She was scared of the birds, and it was just not a great experience. Cody was not so secretly pissed at me for bringing us here.
They have an area where you can feed and pet the birds... I was thinking this would be fun. Kayla loves doing this at other petting zoos.
Umm... yeah... the freaking birds bite! Either they weren't interested in eating what we were giving them or they were aggressive. There was a worker there, that was like... oh little people feed little birds. She's like here try Fred... he doesn't bite... too hard. UM... poor baby. She tried to feed him, but then got nipped a little bit... so she was done. Crying and scared of the birds.
Then we went over to pet one of the bigger parrots, and I decided to try to feed the bird. I won't like... I was kinda scared myself. Many of the birds had signs on their posts not to feed them because they bit too hard. It was a quick pass for us. We had bought like a quarter of food and still had some but just dropped it into one of their bowls. We didn't even want to really take pictures with them.
Here's a view of all the bigger birds on their poles.
We almost just left... but remember... we paid extra money to feed the Lorry birds... so we had to do that before we went. WELL... they give you a little cup of nectar and the birds basically swarm down on you and land on you. Kayla shrieked and screamed as soon as we went in and they swarmed us. Cody was trying to keep them away from her. She HATED it.
Not gonna lie... I wasn't a fan of having them swarm me either! Some are eating the stuff on my hand, another's pecking at my head and shirt... AH! We were in there for about a minute... So yeah... this look on my face basically describes our hour at Parrot Mountain. Definitely regretted going there, and won't be going back again!! Also, a lot of restaurants close really early in Gatlinburg/Piegon Forge. It seems like there are a TON of breakfast/early lunch places... but by 1pm most things area closed. So we ended up grabbing McDonald's for lunch, and then we went swimming with Kyle and Maia.
For dinner we went to Calhoun's and I had a great steak there! The seasoning they put on it was really really yummy! Afterwards, we got ice cream at the chocolate monkey!
The next morning, we all went for breakfast at Crocket Breakfast Camp. This was a place that I had researched ahead of time and thought looked really good...
And I'm pretty happy with myself... because a lot of the places that we ate at that I had researched, turned out to be good bets! This place was really good and you got a TON of food for a good price. The food comes in a large cast iron skillet. We all ate pretty well and had a good breakfast. We actually came home and Kayla took a good long nice 3 hour nap! She really needed that nap, because she really hadn't had too many good ones on vacation.
Later on that day, we went to the Cosby Nature Trail. This is one of my favorite pictures!! Can they be any cuter?!? I think I might be this picture printed out!
The girls were having a blast being able to run around.
My girls! Kayla sure does love being held.
Love this picture! I'm sure this place is gorgeous this time of year!
Look at my little cheeser!
The girls running and playing.
Maia wanted to push Kayla. I had read that there were toddler/stroller friendly trails here... but if they had them... we didn't find them! We ended up ditching the strollers pretty quick.
Kayla and I... on the rare occasion that she would let me hold her. I dunno what her deal is... she wanted everyone but mama. :( She didn't want to hold my hand or let me carry her...
But aunt Hannah was allowed to hold her hand. :(
TeTe was allowed to hold her too... but when it was mommy she put up a fight. No idea why. We got home and she's lovey and nice to me again.
Love this picture of them!
We all felt awesome and so outdoorsy for being able to cross these narrow bridges!
Here I am going to cross with her. I won't lie... I was really nervous carrying her through some of these areas.
Tete, Kayla, and Mama!
The girls like watching the water rushing down, and they liked throwing rocks in.
My two favorite girls! I love the friendship these two have.
That night we went to the Smoky Mountain Brewery for an adults night out. Sam was going to watch the girls for us so that we could all go out. But things just didn't go to plan. Sam had a school group project that she had to work on, so we had a bit of a late start... then the Cowboys game was on that night, and Cody really wanted to watch it... So we left right as it was starting and he had to watch it on his phone until we got to the bar/restaurant. We got to the restaurant and it was a long wait for a table so we squeezed in at the bar. I wish that we would have been able to have an adults night on a different night, because I really wanted to go on a ghost tour and then hop to the different winery/breweries to try some samples of moonshine... but we ended up eating at the bar and then Sam gave us reports that the girls weren't behaving and that she was having trouble with them. So we decided to leave and head back to the cabin... and half way home, she told us to go back and that she'd gotten them to sleep. A lot of the places close early in Gatlinburg, so by that point most places were closed and we didn't really know where to go that had a tv... So we kind of awkwardly just went back to the bar we were at and Cody finished watching the cowboys game. I kind of wish we had just kept going back when we were already out, because it wasn't the same when we went back to the bar. It wasn't really the night out I'd hoped for. I'd have rather see a dinner show or done the ghost tour/brewery hop... but it is what it is. We still had a pretty good time at first. Our bartender was great... we noticed that about nearly all of our servers in Gatlinburg, and the food was pretty good.
The next day, we went to Anakeesta. We were excited to go here, but didn't make it until our last day.
We didn't want to go in a chair lift with Kayla, so we waited.. and we waited... and we WAITED for a cabin to come around to ride in. We counted that they have over 120 chairs, and 6 cabins! It took over an hour for us to get to ride on it. Hannah and fam actually came an hour after us, and made it up the mountain way before we did. For a place that is supposed to be family friendly, that part sure did suck.
Here we are! Finally in our cabin! Hurray!
The views from Anakeesta were incredible! It was so pretty! They also had an area dedicated to the massive wild fire that happened to the region a few years ago.
They had a "music" section. Kayla loved banging on everything and making music.
She also liked walking on some on the wooden bridges with mommy and daddy.
Zoomed out view!
Zoomed in view!
She loved this area! She kept going back onto this bridge and then running over to the music area.
Anakeesta is so beautiful! I swear, it is just one big photo op after another. And she was kind of cranky/tired so we missed quite a few trying to get her to fall asleep.
The girls!
Bless Sam... she took Kayla for us, so that we could go on the tree line bridge course. She zoomed her around to help get her to fall asleep for us. Did I mention that she's the absolute best!?
Love this picture of him on the tree course!
They finally got to go gem mining. We had talk about it all week, and they were finally able to!
Here's Maia proudly with her gems!
All the girls at Anakeesta! This place was very very pretty! I think it's best for a little bit older kids, but we still had a good time. The views and photo ops were great! We were lucky too, because Kayla go in for free and then our timeshare place gave Cody and I free tickets to go. Definitely a good day. That night, we got food to go from Loco Burro. I really wanted to eat there one night because they have a nice rooftop patio and the place was themed great! But they didn't take reservations ahead of time, and they had a wait that night.. and we weren't positive that Kayla would eat there or not, so we just got the food to go. Definitely a place I'd like to go to on another trip though.
The next morning, we got up pretty early to come home. Kayla did good in the car again, even though we drove pretty much straight threw. It was nice to get to go with Han and fam... wish our timing would have matched up just a little bit better so we could have spent more time together. Seems like we went to the same places, but just not always together or at the same time. But overall our trip to Gatlinburg was really good. We were surprised how much Gatlinburg has to offer, and we think that we'll be going back for sure in the future. We definitely experienced the difference of traveling with a toddler! It's a lot harder/more limiting than what we've done in the past. But I do think that there were moments that she really enjoyed and liked on the trip. I'm excited for our trips in the future when she gets just a little bit bigger, because I think she'll really have a lot of fun in another year or two.
