9 Galtinburg Gals...and a Boy

We just arrived back home from a 6 day stay in Gatlinburg, TN. I am EXHAUSTED!!!

Here are the details:
ATTENDEES: Cara, Lauren, Landon, Jessie, Maggie, Heather, Hailey (Heather's daughter), Dee (my grandma), Linda (my mom), and Sharon (Heather's mom)

VEHICLES: Cara's Expedition, Sharon's Camry, Dee's Volkswagen (not sure which model...I think it's a Jetta)

ACCOMMODATIONS: Gatlinburg Falls 3-bedroom cabin with hot tub and game room complete with Golden Tee and Multi-Game (PacMan, Galaga, Donkey Kong, Frogger) arcade games, pool table, and air hockey table

Beth Spencer and her family stayed at Gatlinburg Falls a while back and loved it, so we decided to try it out! We stayed in the Altitude Adjustment cabin (http://gatlinburgfallsresort.com/cabin.php?cid=630), and the pictures on the website do not do it justice!!! I would highly recommend Gatlinburg Falls to anyone looking for a great, fairly inexpensive, quick get away within a few hour driving distance. I've stayed at other cabins in Gatlinburg, and this was the best one by far!!! At the cabin, there is a guest journal that each group that visits that cabin writes details about their stay. It was fun to see what everyone else did on their trips. Very cool!

The "big" things we did were go to the Ripley's Aquarium, Wonder Works interactive learning center, Sky Lift, and Space Needle. We also hit the flea market and outlet malls. Jessie and Heather got a special card and secret instructions to go to another booth to be taken "behind the walls" to buy Coach purses. It was a little too weird for me, so I stayed out with the kiddos.

We had a blast...see below pictures for highlights!





Sunday night, the grandparents (or "Adults" as we called them) watched the kids so that Jessie, Heather, and I could go out on the town. We decided to get tattoos.



Heather got this swirly flower design. Very cute! She already had the Japanese symbol for "Heaven".

I was a little jealous when I saw the cool blue color. I had already gotten mine, and it was too late for me to change my color. :(




Our tattoo artist, JR, used to have a shop in Scottsburg, IN. He knew exactly where we were from, and it turns out that we even knew many of the same people. It sure is a small world!!!

This is my tattoo. It's the Capricorn symbol. It's about 2 inches high and is in the middle of my upper back. I had planned on just getting it in all black, but JR said he wanted to add some color and shading. I had no idea what the finished product would look like, but it turned out great!

Jessie got her existing tattoo touched up. It's an ichthys (Jesus fish) with her mom and sister's initials in it. It looks great, but for some reason, I don't have any pictures of hers. I'll get them from Heather and add them later.

Jessie acted like it was no big deal to get a tattoo and talked and joked around while getting it done. I did okay, but toward the end when JR was adding the color up my spine, I got really sweaty and angry. It hurt really bad! They said I looked like I was going to punch JR in the face. :) Heather doesn't "do" pain, and ended up getting sick with only 30 seconds of work remaining. Bless her heart! JR had a really weak stomach, so I told him to get out of the booth while I helped Heather clean up. She's a trooper! I really like my tattoo, and am already thinking about what my next one will be.

On Tuesday, we took the kids to a little carnival type of place, and they had a great time. I even got to ride the train! Notice my super-cool Coach sunglasses...Heather swears they are real even though we bought them at the flea market.