Gatlinburg: Part II

Well my week got busy fast. Still, plenty productive though. I was able to get to my core class twice, get a mani/pedi with my friend Amena (how I keep up with friends is primarily by meeting them during my lunch breaks for lunch, spa dates or workouts... since getting out on my own or with Bill is few and far between), get tons of projects done at work, and then closed out the week with an awesome wedding in Middletown, CT for Bill's college friend. But I digress. Back to Gatlinburg. Part II.

First, some pics from our 2nd day there, hanging by the pool.

The view from our Eagle's Nest room.

Hi Mama!

Why they're called the Smokies

And how quickly they change

Our little entrance to the balcony- plus all those tall trees!

We found a great watering hole on the 2nd day and the "kids" went back later in the week. 

I grew up spending my summers on rivers and watering holes, this was a fun throwback.

Afterwards we wandered back into town, took a chair lift up a mountain for some awesome views.

Thursday was Dollywood day. This was actually a great amusement park, very clean, friendly and energy efficient!

Mango rode her first ride!

Obligatory Dollywood family selfie.

I rode this crazy ride... actually we rode most of the rollercoasters. All were great!

This place was very much like Deadwood, the amusement park.

This was my favorite, the Mystery Mine.

3 generations of McKinney's

Our McKinney-Lee trip t-shirts. "Where is Brendan" is a inside joke in their family about Bill's youngest cousin who was always disappearing. 

The cousins all together! We've got some very studious babies

An almost impossible pic when you have a 2 1/2 year old, a 1 1/2 year old and an almost 1 year old. Pretty impressive that they were all still for about 5 seconds.

The last night family selfie.

We had an amazing dinner to celebrate Bill's parent's anniversary and his Mom's birthday.

Mo after dinner. The happiest!

A last snapshot of the town.

There was an abundance of candy shops (both sex and actual candy sweet stores) and TONS of pancake places for some reason.

Mo hung out with her cousin Col reading one of the last days.

She's on a pretty advanced reading level for an 11 month old.

And some good, old-fashioned nap time pics of my little sweetheart.

Mo was perfect on the trip back, even falling asleep in Bill's arms.

And... home. What a great adventure!

Moira really lucked out having such a great family (well, me too really). Bill's family are such amazing, friendly and welcoming people and it really sets my heart at ease that she will grow up surrounded by such love and support on both sides. We're so grateful that Bill's parents made this wonderful week possible, it was great for everyone to catch up and for me to get closer to his whole family. I'm so happy also that Mo gets to grow up with cousins close to her age. Hopefully we can make this a more regular thing in the future.

Upcoming:

• Yesterday we checked out the potential venue for Mo's birthday. It's ok... but it'll do, especially with a little sprucing up
• Lunch with Robin tomorrow
• This Saturday we have a birthday party at the most awesome house I've ever been to (Bill's friends Dan and Joy) for 2 year old twins
• Next Monday we have off. We have an exciting day planned of possibly getting pre-approved for a home loan (eek!),  meeting with a contractor to redo the bathroom before we put it on the market, and hopefully a trip to Governor's Island!
• Bill and I have decided we must have a house with a pool (and a fence, a baby gate, an electric fence and everything else to be safe with a baby around)... not only do we both love the water but it's also a great way to lure our friends out to the burbs for a visit, haha. But all kidding aside... we'll see what we can do after next Monday. Fingers crossed on a pool though!