Gatlinburg

Back in February, right after we moved back to GA, my mom invited us to Gatlinburg for the weekend with my aunt and some family friends. We went up on a Wednesday and came home on Sunday. It was a really fun weekend, but the start was a little rocky, no pun intended.

Our first stop was Tallulah Point Overlook.  

After the overlook we we went on to the super cute country store in Tiger, GA that I love. They have amazing muscadine slushies...they were closed...Wednesday only. And so began the rough start. My mom had this entire path of fun places to stop and everything was closed or shut down or just not feasible. It became humorous but so annoying.

Goats on the Roof was one of the places we wanted to stop but was closed. It's this little store that literally has goats walking all over the roof.

 

 

After the goats we stopped at the Dillard House which is a great place to eat but our purpose was to let the kids out of the car for a bit and to pet the animals.  

We spent most of the time in the cabin because the weather but we did go to the aquarium. It was a great time of year to visit, and in the middle of the week we were practically alone with the fishes. I was able to let Charlotte out of the stroller to explore.

Another day we ventured up to OberGatlinburg and watched the skiers and ice skaters.

Of course we also ate...A LOT! One of my favorite places in The Apple Barn. The have apple juleps and apple fritters waiting for you when you arrive. Charlotte must have eaten and drank enough for everyone.

 

On the way home we stopped at a Chinese buffet where the kids ate a plate full of lychee fruit. Somewhere near the GA/NC border and right before the rain hit, Charlie Grace projected her lychee fruit all over herself and her seat. J and I stood in the rain until our undies were SOAKED cleaning the seat enough to get her home. So while it was a great trip with a funny start the ending was less than perfect.

Fishing and Smores and Cows Oh my

It finally stopped raining since we moved here and the warm weather peeked out so we decided to try some fishing. Thanks to my dad and his knowledge of everyone in this town we headed over to the stocked lake across from his house and hoped for a few bites!

Patiently waiting payed off!

Charlotte loved the worms...Clayton hated them and preferred the method of fishing with hot dogs...which Charlotte preferred to eat...sheesh

Love my country girl!

 Helping Pawpaw reel in the biggest one of the day!

 

 

After fishing we headed over to Chick Fil A for kids night. January's special theme was s'mores! How cute! They got to roast marshmallows over Sterno cans, hehe. The kids loved it, after s'mores there was a tour which Jason took Clayton on. Apparently Clayton told them how frying food is unhealthy and that his mom has a mixer but not as big as theirs!  

 

Yummo!

 

Home sweet home

We are finally settled in at our new home (my old home) in Auburn GA! I truly love being back in the South and being back in the land of all things familiar. The best part is having my own home to come to at night and to retreat to when I don't want company or just need my space. I love my family but it has been tough at times to visit for extended periods and feeling like we are living out of suitcases and just not able to be free and messy and on our schedule.

It is SUCH an adjustment being out in the civilian world though. I overheard a conversation at dinner tonight that included "USAA" and "Iraq" and other key phrases that pop up in the Army- I asked Jason if I should ask them if we could be friends. Weird?

I love the new house and the space and the country, including the obnoxious rooster and train that alternate every 30 minutes! The gun fire is kind of soothing. 6 years of on post living has me trained to find helicopters and artillery soothing.

So backing it up a little- when you are PCSing (moving from) Ft Irwin it is tradition to "kiss the Coyote" this is supposed to ensure that you never return! I joked that after 3 years there I was going to make out with that coyote but when the time came to even give a peck I felt silly :)

I feel like I look chubby in the picture but I swear I was wearing 19 layers-it was freezing and I had dressed in layers in prep for our non stop 2.5 day drive from CA to GA!

We have been cramming tons of fun family stuff in since we moved in. I need the kids to feel at home here once Jason leaves. So to start it off we bought a pet...Meet Wii

His main purpose is to act as a night light in the kids room!

Checking out the local parks

And the kids have learned a new way to take out the trash...no I am not saying Charlotte is trash but this is the only picture I have of the process...remove Charlotte add trash bag. The drive way is really long, don't judge!

 

And I opened my new food processor and decided to tryout homemade peanut butter...add peanuts, turn on processor and process. That's it!

 

I questioned my decision to move back home but I know with my whole heart that this is where I am supposed to be right now!

 

Clayton's Early birthday weekend

Because Clayton and Charlotte's birthdays are so close together (2 weeks) and Easter usually falls into that time frame, birthday parties are tricky. Who gets the party, do they have a combined, do we go on a trip...This year we decided Clayton would get a trip and Charlotte would get the party since it was her 1st birthday. Easter weekend was a 4 day holiday for Jason so we chose that weekend for Clayton's trip.

Neither child are stoked about being in the car, Charlotte actually LOATHES the car so we wanted to go somewhere close but with lots of options. Legoland and Coronado Island are pretty close to each other and Coronado Island has a Navy base that we can stay at for super cheap and have access to a private beach...No Brainer!

We left Friday and did the Legoland Sealife Aquarium on the way to the Navy base. It wasn't the best aquarium I have ever been to but wasn't too overwhelming for the kids.

They had these cute little slides and climbing things periodically which was nice and let out some energy from having to walk behind the people that were really into the fish :)

All of the sea life Lego creatures were actually pretty cool.

Clayton and the giant crab!

The Aquarium closed before we ate dinner, which was probably best...you know how expensive those places can be!

The North Island Navy base.

The view from our room...I loved the fog!

Silly girl!

Sleepy boy

Another view from our room...Jason loved this!

That's Hotel Del Coronado in the background, it's haunted....

Day 2 of Lego land

While we waited for the 1 hour long line :(

Dino Charlotte

Clayton's first roller coaster

Snack time

On Clayton's actual birthday he opened his presents and had cake at home with just our little family.

I can't believe my little guy is 4!