Unbelievable!! Absolutely insane! What do my kids have against fun? Are they allergic to Gatlinburg?? Every time I plan a trip somewhere they get sick and this was no different. We had rented a cabin in Pigeon Forge with Tara and Reuban. Already paid for it and it was too late to cancel. Easter night, I laid in my bed and listened to little feet run up and down the hallway to the bathroom. I thought I heard one of them being sick. Before too long I heard more feet. Thought it was the same feet as before. NOPE!! New feet. Bigger feet. These feet couldn't quite make it to the bathroom like the smaller feet can. I was in disbelief as I got out of bed to clean up puke. All 3 kids were up taking turns throwing up. I started in on my rant about stuffing themselves full of Easter snacks and candy and shame on them. Deep down inside, I had hoped that's what was causing the problem. I soon found out later, that I wasn't that lucky and the kids had a virus. They cried and boo hoo'd because we haven't taken a fun vacation trip in a good while and here they were sick. I felt as devastated as they felt. I had money invested and was excited about going as well. Tara and Rueban showed up at the house and I had to give them the dreadful news. We gave them awhile to see if they would start to feel better and they really didn't. I found some old Phenagren in the medicine cabinet and told them if they took it and kept it down, then we would go ahead and leave. Somehow that did the trick and we left. Their prior Easter Baskets were now turned into puke buckets for emergencies. Luckily, no one else threw up the rest of the trip, but they were extremely nauseated and food was of no interest to them. Kind of a bummer when your surrounded by so many different places to eat and you end up with popsicles and crackers.
We stayed at a cabin called "The Bird's Den." It was an older cabin, but it was fine for all of us. Tara and Reuban got the downstairs area and we took the upstairs. It had a king size bed, futon, and a bed built into the wall for all of us. Plus, it's where the pool table was.
The first night we just went to the grocery store and hung out at the cabin. Amelia started feeling really bad and this time it was her ear. She had had a cold the week before and I had a feeling she may get an ear infection and so of course she did the first night of our trip. Luckily, her Dr called her an antibiotic in for her and it seemed to work pretty quickly and I was also thankful for the ear numbing drops I had grabbed at the last minute. I had packed almost all of my medicine cabinet. The only thing I lacked was an antibiotic for her.
Tuesday morning the kids seemed more at themselves and even ate a few bites of breakfast. They said they were up for the trip to the aquarium that we had planned for that day so we headed out. We loved the aquarium and took tons of pictures. I'll just post a few here though.
We stayed at the aquarium for a long time and it was starting to get crazy crowded so we decided to walk downtown Gatlinburg. We grabbed a few chicken tenders at Zaxby's to snack on. I know it wasn't the best choice for queasy kids, but they were hungry and it was the cheapest way to feed them.
We stopped at a few shops and then Maynard wanted to take the boys into the Car museum. Amelia and I wasn't interested so we just kept walking. I took her into a huge candy store thinking she would love it.
Amelia didn't love it and looked queasy. I was going to buy her something since she didn't go with the boys, but she kept saying, "Candy don't sound that good to me!!" That's when I remembered she had gotten sick right after eating so much of her candy. So then I felt sorry for her and I took her to an arcade for a few minutes and bought her a slush from a shop on the street.
The boys really enjoyed the car museum. They seen lots of cars they recognized and of course their Dad let them touch and sit on every car they wanted too. I guess that's why Dad is more fun than me when it comes to stuff like that.
We stopped for several photo ops along the way. The kids wanted to buy t-shirts from a gift shop so we shopped at a few souvenir stores.
Then it was finally go-kart time. They have always wanted to ride go-karts, but usually were never tall enough. Or at least that's what their mean parents always told them. Ha Ha
They had a blast!!! They laughed and smiled the whole time. Amelia rode with Tara. She was too nervous to drive one by herself. I, of course, don't have a good record of my own driving go-karts. I got kicked off one when I was 10 or 12 in Colorado. They said I was driving way too fast and wasn't paying attention to their flags. Ummmm, I was a kid. If you don't want me driving them that fast, then make sure they don't go that fast!!! (Yes, I'm still bitter!!!)
We were so exhausted that we stopped and picked up a pizza to take back to the cabin. The kids said they thought they could eat it. They tried, but wish they hadn't.
The kids played in the hot tub and played pool. I pretty much sat on the front porch on the swing. Then I got a wild hair to go by the Island. So we all got back in the car and drove to the Island. It was nice. Glad we did. No one rode the ferris wheel. Josiah was the only one who wanted to and we just told him maybe another time. I let Amelia ride one ride since she didn't go to the car museum with the boys.
We stayed there until it closed. Loved watching the lights and the water fountains.
The next day we had to leave. We all wished we had one extra day to stay. I even tried calling to reserve our cabin an extra night, but it was already reserved. We did the cleaning and packing up we needed to do and headed back out. Our kids begged to go on the go karts just one more time. We had to wait a little bit for them to open, but we let them ride one last time. This time Amelia got to ride with Maynard and she LOVED it!!
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| Saying bye to the cabin and finishing up all the popsicles! |
So thankful our trip ended up better than it started. I still begrudge not getting to eat at any good places, but I was on a diet anyway so it was for the best!!! Loved our vacation and getting to spend time with family, just wish it lasted longer.
