GATLINBURG, TENNESSEE

Philip & I went on vacation this year for the first time without Tyler. We left on a Monday and did not get home until Saturday afternoon. I was having serious feelings of anxiety as the trip grew closer. Philip & I spent every free second with him before we left. We both dropped him off at Casi's Monday morning and then hit the road. When he started crying as we got to Casi's house my heart broke - I felt like a true scumbag. Who can leave their child for an entire week, how selfish. Not really, we both really needed some time to just be Katie & Philip, not mom or dad. We did feel real guilty though as we drove out of the neighborhood but we knew that Tyler was in good hands with Casi and of course his nunu and papa which said they would keep him for the week.

Philip of course fell asleep almost as soon as he ate his McDonald's breakfast. Go figure, healways falls asleep in an instant.

So we got to the cabin with nothing but God's Grace. It was the most terrifying experience I have ever been through. Hopefully, nothing will try to beat it out. Once was definitely enough. Philip is not really the best navigator, he reads a few words on the directions and gives instruction, however, the instructions were WAY off. We got lost more than once and once we finally made it to the mountains to get to the cabin we felt so relieved, well until we started UP the mountain. Philip should have known to make us switch up with the driving b/c we started uphill it got crazy. The road was only wide enough for one and it was very very curvy. Plus, the steepness of the road what beyond belief. We would be looking at the dark sky and not even know if the road went left or right because we were angled up towards the sky. I had a major anxiety attack and we finally got to a spot where we could stop and switch so Phe could drive. I packed this mini flashlight so we used that so we could see the name of the cabins. They didn't have any light anywhere so it's a good thing I packed it. We made it to the cabin around elevenish. We were exhausted and I had already made up my mind that we were going back down into town in the morning so we could find a hotel to stay in, I was not going to go back up that mountain. BUT this is what I woke up too, it was so much prettier than the picture. So we stayed.

After waking up to the gorgeous Smokey Mountains we decided to go out and get some breakfast and see what Gatlinburg has to offer. We went to Cades Cove. It was a torturous drive b/c everyone was stopping in the hopes of seeing a bear but they did have things alone the way to do. We stopped at a side stop right after we went through a really old tunnel running through the mountain. It was so pretty I had to snap a few shots of the tunnel and of us walking along the creek.

On Wednesday we went to the Wax Museum and the Aquarium. We had a great time in the Wax Museum cutting up and pretending to be famous.

We went to Rock City on our last day. It was so pretty and interesting.

Philip is so brave, I wouldn't dare go out on that thing..... YIKES!!

A group of tourists (like ourselves) were passing by so we ask them to take our picture so they did... Aren't we the cutest couple ever ?? I am being sarcastic hope you know.

Our trip was just what we needed and we both felt so refreshed once we got home. We got home right before 5:00. We missed Tyler too much. We couldn't get home fast enough. When we got to Sonia/Jimmy's house Tyler just walked up to me and put his head on my shoulder. It was so sweet. We got him home and he cuddled and kissed on us all night long. There was no limit to his affection which is usually a rarity. We let him stay up late to watch the LSU football game so we could get as much cuddling as possible. He really did miss us - it was nice to be missed.