Our Vacation to Gatlinburg

My parents are AWESOME, and for the last couple of years they've given us a summer trip as part of our Christmas present.  This past Christmas, they gave us a trip to Gatlinburg, TN.  Our girls had never been. In fact, the last time our family went, I was 8 months pregnant with Makenzie.  Our girls came across a video of the Black Bear Jamboree dinner show we'd purchased from the last time we visited Gatlinburg, and they watched it non-stop.  Sooo, my parents wanted them to get to see it in person (except that show only runs during the winter months lol).  Even though they didn't watch the Black Bear Jamboree, they still got to enjoy a dinner show.  The Hatfield/McCoy dinner show was really cute.  The food was great, and we all had a great time!  Britlee even got on stage with the performers and did the chicken dance lol.

We spent a day at Dollywood too, but I didn't get any pictures there! We were too busy riding the rides :) Makenzie was actually tall enough to ride a good many of the adult rides so she and I had a great time!

Ober Gatlinburg has to be one of our favorite stops.  You ride a cable car to the top of the mountain, and if you've ever done this, you know it's a bit scary-especially for the little ones.  Neither of our girls got scared though.  They stood and looked out the windows the entire way up.  It was so pretty. Makenzie actually fell asleep on Wayne's shoulder waiting on the cable car.  She wasn't about to miss out on the ride though and woke up right before we got on.

 At the top of the mountain, they have all kind of fun things to do.  They have black bear, otters, and other small animals to see.

 The workers were throwing this  bear chunks of carrots, and the girls thought it was hilarious that he sat up like a person.

We rode the Sky Lift halfway up the mountain (Presley and I did go all the way up to the tip top at one point), and then we rode the Alpine Slide back down.  I can't even tell you how many times we did this.  Everyone had so much fun doing it.  The men in our group kept going back and racing each other down.  They are sooo competitive!

Mom and Britlee on the Alpine Slide

There was a maze, a swing ride, and 3 different water slides.  Inside there was an ice skating rink and a carousel.  Wayne and the girls rode all the water slides several times.  Makenzie would get off and say, "That was awesome! Let's do it again!" Loved it!!

It was a GREAT trip, and we had such a fun time with our family.  I love that we're all able to go together and make those memories together.  Thanks again Mom and Dad!!