January Vacation 2021 | Day 3-7

 Once we reached Tennessee and our cabin, it was a much more laid back vacation. 

There was a lot of games of pool, board games, hot tub lounging, naps, and yummy food. Dustin got a Door Dash pass and we had a lot of fun trying the local restaurants. We also went out to eat a few times. We spent the morning of our last day in Tennessee at the Titanic Museum in Sevierville. 

Loved this cross!

They called for an unexpected major snow storm to hit the area while we were there. While sitting in the hot tub watching the snow fall is something I have always wanted to experience, being snowed in in Tennessee is not a person dream of mine. We made an extra trip to the grocery store to make sure we had provisions incase we truly got snowed in like they were predicting. Thankfully the storm shifted more to the south and we only got a dusting of snow with a couple days of flurries. We did get to sit in the hot tub and watch the snow fall around us. A winter mountain vacation is something we have always talked about experiencing and we are so thankful we were able to make it happen this year. 

Proof of our crazy couple of days. 

Our cabin was crazy high off the ground. It was over two stories down from the deck.

Teenarger in their natural habitat

We had Joe's Crab Shack for lunch one day. It was Anna's first time eating it in the restaurant. It was so delicious. 

One night the guys had BBQ delivered and the gals had a sushi feast. 

Emma and Alex are becoming pool sharks like their Dad. 

The only pic from the Titanic Museum. Pictures were forbidden.

Anna loved napping in this recliner.

Girls only hot tub hang out. 

We were supposed to stay another, but we had had enough of our cabin by the time we left a day early. We actually almost left two nights early. Here's why...we have dubbed this cabin the 'Half Broken Cabin', haha. While this was a nice cabin, and it was comfortable and beautiful, it had some issues. There wasn't enough blankets and sheets, one of the toilets was broken, the plumbing gurgled, and lots of things were nice, but half broken. Such as, we tried to move the pool table slightly to be able to open a pull out couch, and one of the legs fell off! All of this probably explains why this particular cabin was $20-30 cheaper per night than all of the others we found available in the area.  But...the main reason we left early is because of the permanent residents who were not happy to have visitors.  There were some raccoons who lived in the area who were not happy about us visiting. They showed up the second night we were there there, they woke Alex up by tapping and scratching to try to get in the window by his head. Then the next night they were on the roof above the hot tub while we were in it, and they were not happy we were there. We got out fairly quickly before they got anymore upset. The third night we were there we started hearing scratching and chewing inside the cabin walls late at night. 

The final evening we were there we were all in the hot tub relaxing and having a lively conversation. We thought all of the noise would keep them away.  We heard a couple noises, but nothing alarming. Then, all of a sudden we heard a high pitched growl/hissing right next to the hot tub on the outside near the railing. I have never in my life seen people bail out of a hot tub so fast! 

By the time we had that run in with the racoons we were more than ready to head back to the comfort and safety of our own home. 

All of that craziness aside, which I feel happens with every vacation no matter who you are, we had a wonderful vacation. We really needed to get away and have some family time, and to have a minute to think and reflex on life. Dustin and I find that we are better able to think about the big life choices we need to make when we are away from home and work for a little while. It was a good vacation. :)

We ran into some beautiful snow on the drive through the mountains on the way home!

All in all we had a great winter adventure vacation, and we ready to come home and prepare for life to resume again. We took an entire month off from school and our business was closed for over three weeks. It was a wonderful break and so worth the loss of income and little bit of time from school. With some life events coming up we are not sure when we will be able to go on vacation again. We were able to experience a lot of firsts and we made so many wonderful family memories to carry with us forever. 

We don't know what the next few days, month and even years may hold but we know that a few things will always be true. God is in control, family should always come first and the snow always comes up in the morning. 

Blessings!

~Lyndsay

Now that I have finished updating everyone on our January adventures, it will be back to normal posts from me starting tomorrow. I have been thinking and realized I have been semi consistent with posting for a little over a month now. How exciting is that? Hopefully I will continue to be consistent. I have some post ideas for recommendations and tips for life and homeschooling to make in the near future. I will work to try to make those happen in a timely manner.