Thursday, December 13, 2012

Trick or treat and Good ole Rocky Top

We celebrated our first Halloween in Germantown by participating in lots of fun Fall festivities and since it's my FAVORITE holiday, I wouldn't have it any other way! Gray had asked to be "army" or a G.I. Joe but the only army costume I could find came complete with an all-too realistic assault weapon and goatee. I'm not even exaggerating. I hate to disappoint on Halloween though, so scary facial hair and knives it was! Hayes was a witch, and a pretty sweet one if you ask me;). But with so many Halloween parties, from birthdays to the country club, by the time Halloween came around, they were both switching up their costumes.
For Thanksgiving, we packed up the car and headed east to the Smoky Mountains. I may live in one of the most beautiful states on the map, but prior to this, I'd never even been east of Nashville! Shocker, right? Well, my parents, who are always up for a Griswold-type adventure, rented a chalet for the week and I have to say, it definitely lived up to it's name! The 8 of us holed up in a 3-story log cabin complete with a game room, movie screen, 2-story stone fireplace, hot tub, and wrap-around porches on every level and we were happy campers. We ventured into the town of Gatlinburg a few times to visit the aquarium, the ski lodge Ober Gatlinburg, and a few of the other quirky sites, but other than that, we did a whole lot of nothing.....eating, lounging, hot-tubbing, ping-ponging, movie-watching, and more eating. We took some hikes through the woods, roasted s'mores around a real campfire, and just took in the beautiful mountain scenery. It was definitely one of the best family trips we've taken and although it was a loooong drive with 2 antsy/crazy/hyper/fussy kids, we are already looking forward to doing it again. Next time, we hope to be able to see a bit more of the foliage changing colors, but it was beautiful nonetheless.
It was a very happy Thanksgiving and we all left feeling that much more blessed. Thanks P and Pop! Until next time, The Pattersons
Thanksgiving (mountains)