Our Farmhouse Blessings

 Our Smoky Mountain Getaway

A couple of weeks ago, we headed to Tennessee for a week filled with spring time fun up in the Smoky Mountains.  We normally head to the Boone or Asheville area, so this was a new experience for us all.  We rented a cabin with great views and a fun game room, but to be honest, we all mostly just hung out on the big porch.  It had a picnic table, a swing and a plethora of rocking chairs.  In the morning, Darryl and I were out there with coffee in hand, at night, a beer or wine...it was perfect!

We ate all of our meals on the porch.

 The breeze was nice and cool and the kids loved smelling the honeysuckle and watching the bumblebees and birds.

Little miss is waiting for her hamburger.

After a relaxing lunch, we headed to Dollywood.  The kids have been itching to get back there.  We went for a short time a couple of years ago, but it was 30* and raining, so we didn't stay long.  

Little Joe wanted to ride the steam engine, so we made a beeline there as soon as we entered the gate!

 

Dollywood has a new attraction called, The Firechaser.  It's a rollercoaster and Joseph was tall enough to go on so we figured we would let him.

It wasn't a good idea.

He was scared to death!

I blamed Darryl, because, well I can...

 

He had much more fun in the kiddy area with Juliana.

The big boys loved all the big roller coasters.  

I will say though, I went on the Eagle with Nicholas.  It's a pretty scary roller coaster, but I kept my calm.  He was FREAKING.OUT! 

He was so scared the buckles would release and he would fall out.

I couldn't help but laugh and laugh.

Does that make me a terrible mom?

I hope not.

I couldn't get a picture because I was on the ride with him, but here he is on the swings.

I'm literally cracking up behind the camera.

Little miss was tuckered out!

 

O.k., after one afternoon at Dollywood, we all felt like we had had enough. But,  we had the next day free, so we figured we would go again and see some shows and ride some more rides.  While the theme park is nice, it's not really anything we felt that we needed to go see again.

But, we went back.

Juliana and Joseph loved the cars.

We visited the museum and rode a couple more rides.

We all agreed the Coal Miner is the best ride there, and Joe had a blast on the steam engine.

Overall, it was a great time!