winter getaway

We love the Smokies! We spent a lovely day in the park yesterday alternately playing in the snow or frolicking in the sunshine as we drove to and through Cades Cove. Dennis loved it all, tossing snowballs, touring old homesteads, observing deer grazing in front of gorgeous mountain vistas.. What a perfect day! Today we discovered that snow tubing sells out very early, so we will attempt that again tomorrow morning. We shopped today and then met up with David's aunt and uncle that moved here a couple years back. It was nice to share a meal with them.

So we've brought our child, our now-can-read-EVERYTHING-child to a tourist trap. He has read every sign, building, and billboard aloud to us and has expressed interest in doing every activity he reads. He wanted very much to explore the castle, the weird illusion place, the dinosaur ride, and the haunted house. He doesn't like scary things, so we were surprised at his interest in the last thing. He said "I don't want to go in the haunted house, but I really want to know what's inside. I can be brave for long enough to do that." But we didn't. We went to our favorite shops in Gatlinburg and then the book warehouse and the Old Navy outlet (hooray! New jeans with the knees still intact!) and called it an early evening. Dinner at 4 with the relatives and then back to the cabin for board games and hot tub time, and now we are ready for bed! It is exhausting to shop with a kid in tow, especially one that likes to randomly strike martial arts poses or shake his booty to whatever song he hears. If it wasn't so crowded, I probably would have enjoyed his antics a little more. It's hard to quickly navigate him through a crowded area when he's so busy marching to his own drummer.