The vacation recap

We got home last night from our long vacation. Today is all about unpacking, refilling the fridge, cutting the grass, and resting up for our first day back to work and school.

In order to save time, here is a VERY brief recap of our trip.

We spent a LOT of time in the car:

We spent quality time with Uncle Eric, Aunt Lisa, and Carissa at their house, feeding their fish and grilling out:


We caught up with old friends (Mandee and her gorgeous daughter Kennedy) and spent two days at the lake. Addi LOVED this part:

Sam thought the life jackets were way overrated:


We played in the local park:


We left Uncle E's and headed to Gatlinburg, where our hotel had a pretty nice view of the river. It also sported a view of the sky via our shower (courtesy of a hole in the ceiling) but we'll just focus on the amazing river for now:


We visited the Ripley's Aquarium where we got up close and personal with sharks, stingrays, and freaky giant catfish:

We rode the tram to the top of Ober Gatlinburg and spent the day riding kiddie rides (Sam's first!), eating fudge, playing mini-golf, and riding the slide down the mountain:
On our last night in Gatlinburg Addi panned for "treasures" and was pretty happy with the result:

We headed to Aunt Jill's next and relaxed with our cousins, then headed to Holiday World to spend the day. Addi rode her first roller coaster, water slide and spinney ride and Sam enjoyed the pool:

After 10 straight days together we are blonder, tanner, more relaxed, poorer, happier, more rested, and closer as a family. I don't think we could ask for anything more than that!