The whole Regan clan descended upon the Smokey Mountains to stay in a beautiful chalet in Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge. We headed down on Friday and immediately hit the “strip” of Gatlinburg.
Here are the cousins riding in style :)
After a quick Italian dinner we headed to the Old Time Photo shop for a little photo fun…(unfortunately at this moment our scanner isn’t working so I had to take a picture of a picture!)
Howdy there partner! Can you see who it is?
After getting the kids in bed and everyone settling in for a fire and some chilling out time in the big room, Tommy all of a sudden heard some rattling of chains just beyond our cars…
After some Regan men investigation (and possibly some yelling and running) it was determined that we did indeed have a humongous BLACK BEAR attempting to break into our garbage cans, which are housed in cages put in place to deter this exact kind of break in!
While all the pictures I took from (safely) inside the house were all black or just up close pictures of a screen, Tommy managed to snap this very very very dark picture. You can just barely see the bear’s feet to the left of the cans…
While the men stayed outside getting way too close to that beast, us girls stayed inside and ran from window to window trying to catch a glimpse of the big guy. Here we are running to the back door to peek at it from the upper deck…
Nothing like a goodmorning breakfast on the couch with a show playing. Ahhh, it’s a kid’s life :)
Later that day we were headed off to Obergatlinburg for some fun activities.
How fun was this carousel?
Well on the first few times around they were quite happy…
Then after about rotation number 76 they were feeling quite bored :) Just check out Tommy’s face…
Finding some interesting leaves out at the Bear Walk/Nature Encounter…
“Look Mommy…Look!”
And even exhibiting a little sibling love (for about the 2 seconds it took to snap this picture, anyway!)
We stopped inside this little arcade, that I remember being EXACTLY the same as when I was little…
Ty was quite good at this Spider Stomp, Monster Mash, and Cruisin’ USA (not pictured unfortunately, as I was his gas-pedal-pusher!)
Uncle Brian gave us the heads up that just around the corner, near the restrooms, there was a lovely Batmobile to ride. We took Ty “to the bathroom” with us, and imagine his surprise when we turned the corner…
He hopped right up in that thing and fed it the required quarters…and off he went :)
Gunnar and Marlo had to take a spin too!
One highlight of this trip for Marlo was seeing all of the fall decorations because as this Fall Season is upon us, Marlo has become obsessed with ALL THINGS pumpkin, or as she says, “PUMPIN”. Every car ride, every shopping trip, every single outing involved Marlo being on the hunt for “pumpins”. There were so many fall decorations and displays in Gatlinburg that she was ecstatic everywhere we went.
Yes, if you’re wondering, that is actually a pumpkin in my shirt (hence the bump).
At Obergatlinburg the kiddos (adults?) wanted to ride the Alpine Slide, I believe it was 1800 ft of downhill slide, which you came down in a plastic sled with a hand break (kind of like a luge, without the extreme sport feel!). A perfect activity for a preschooler and toddlers (and their speed demon relatives ha ha!)
In order to get up to the slide you had to ride the ski lift (which was extreme enough of a ride for GG and I)…
First up the mountain, Tommy and Ty…
Brian and Gunnar (with Grandpa and Marlo in the chair between them)
A very fun pic of the three guys in front of us, holding tightly to the kids…
Tommy and Ty with their slide, ready to hop on!
First down the mountain were Grandpa/Marlo (on the left) and Tommy/Ty (on the right). Rumor has it that Tommy shouted at Grandpa to “slow down” with Marlo (though Marlo was singing a different tune, “Go faster GRANDPA!”), yet Tommy sped on by with Ty urging him on as well!
Then Brian/Gunnar came down at a pretty good clip as well…
GG and mucho-pregnant-me opted for the more scenic and slow (though not necessarily less scary!) ride back down the mountain…on the ski lift.
Saturday night we visited the Christmas Village in Pigeon Forge and then Tommy took the honors of choosing our lovely dining experience :)
Wood Grill in, was it? All I remember was it boasted that it offered 200 menu items and seating for 800. Think human feeding trough. Plus a lifesize poster of Fabio. Plus blown up smutty magazine covers. Plus blaring TVS mounted on every possible surface (playing football of course). Plus a bowl of butter the size of a small car. Plus a shady taco bar. Plus….the list goes on and on. Vicky and I enjoyed some lovely sweet potatoes, right Vicky!?!
Saturday night we all held vigil once again, hoping for another exciting bear sighting. (Tommy took charge of the fire duties, and caused us all to shake our heads a few times!) A certain few Regan boys may or may not have created some drama around a possible bear luring scheme (I never did see that honey jar again…). It was to no avail, though. No bears :(
But the next morning, we had a new visitor to our chalet…
Here’s the guilty party who aided in this friendly bear’s scary appearance at everyone’s door bright and early…(hint hint, his name starts with T and ends with –ommy!)
First the bear visited GG after her morning shower.
Next, he was silently waiting at the door of Brian and Haley. This was perhaps the best reaction, as Gunnar was the one who first opened the door! Followed very quickly by a loud slam!
(The bear also visited Mike and Elizabeth.)
After packing up the “bus” our little family of 4 (5!) decided to hit the road “early”. Who were we kidding??? We ran into the worst traffic imaginable and endured a very long car ride home. And let me just say, Thank Goodness for Cracker Barrel! While inside, not one, but BOTH of our children decided to release themselves of a daily “duty” that we had yet to see on vacation. Praise the Lord. And we also happened to score this awesome toy for Marlo, a beautiful peacock :) This is amazing, because if you know Marlo, you know that the only thing she loves more than a “big pumpin” is a “PEACOCK!”.
Here she is snoozing on our way home…
And speaking of Marlo, she provided probably one of the sweetest little gems of a moment/memory on vacation. As we were packing up to leave and we were securing her in her carseat GG and Grandpa and the rest of the gang came out to say goodbye. Grandpa came to Marlo to get a goodbye kiss, and she said, “I’m ready to see PUMPINS!” Then after a short pause she said, “Grandpa, you come too, in back? See pumpins?” She was so used to GG and Grandpa riding with us and also checking out pumpins with her and commenting and pointing them out. She had so enjoyed having their company on our car rides that she just really wanted them to come with us one more time :) So sweet.
Such fun memories were made there and we look forward to many more “family getaways” :)
Thanks Regans!
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