Spring Break

You can tell by the warmer weather and the plants starting to peek up out of the ground that spring is almost here. In fact, it should be here already by the time you read this article. The Wheel is turning once again, bringing a new season of growth and emerging life. It won't be too much longer until we see the Easter Bunny and all of the brightly colored eggs. In fact, I have seen a few decorated Easter trees already! One of them is in our yard. Lisa worked really hard today to get our house decorated for the upcoming Easter holiday. Time to start practicing those egg hunts.

 

 

This past week was spring break for the Breathitt County School System. Lisa, Jacob, and I spent it in Gatlinburg, TN. This is a nice little mini-vacation if you only have a few days to enjoy. We love going to Gatlinburg to shop, eat, ride on the rides, and of course, have our picture taken on the skylift. Lisa and I have been having our picture taken on the skylift for about 13 or 14 years now. This was our second year with Jacob. I guess that we will keep doing this family tradition as long as we can both haul ourselves into those skylift chairs....LOL!

 

 

While we were in Gatlinburg, we did the usual family vacation things. We ate at Applewood Farm and the Old Mill. Both of these restaurants are part of our Gatlinburg tradition. We HAVE to eat there every time. We found a great place last year called Huck Finn's and now it is also a part of our Gatlinburg tradition. It has the best catfish I have ever tasted. If you go to Gatlinburg, you have to eat at one (if not all) of these restaurants.

Of course, we couldn't escape the clutches of consumerism. We had to make a trip to the shops to do a bit of spending. We took Jacob to the Disney store. He has really gotten into Mickey Mouse lately. He loves the show The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He was so excited to be in the Disney Store. He kept running around looking at everything. He really liked the large figures of Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and the rest of the Disney gang that were perched up above the registers. We ended up getting him a cool t-shirt with Mickey, Goofy, and Donald on it. We also got him a stuffed toy Goofy and a stuffed toy Pluto. He has packed them around constantly since then.

 

 

We also took Jacob to ride some rides at the little kiddie carnivals that they have placed around Pigeon Forge. He rode a train, ferris wheel, the swings ride, a swinging boat, and a twirling car ride. He loved them all. However, he was really excited to watch the go-carts. We weren't sure if he could ride on the go-carts or not. But we measured him and he was just the right size to ride with an adult. So, Lisa drove the go-cart and Jacob rode with her. He had a BLAST! He loved riding the go-carts! I can just imagine how it will be on our next visit.

Of course, we didn't spend all of our time in Gatlinburg. We also drove up into the Smokey Mountains and over into Cherokee, North Carolina. There is a real, old-time working farm just as you get into Cherokee. Jacob loved looking around at the old houses, corn cribs, smoke house, and barn. There was even a chicken coop and a pig-pen! His favorite part was throwing rocks into the stream that ran beside the farm. Of course, that is ultra-cool to a three-year old boy!

 

 

Now, we are back in good old Breathitt County. We are getting ready for school tomorrow. Time to put our noses back to the grindstone and get ready for the last few weeks of school. It amazes me that we only have 6 weeks of school left! I can't believe that the last day of school is April 26th! I can't remember ever getting out this early. But I'm not complaining. That just means that there will be more time for trips over summer vacation! I'll keep you posted!

Until next week....class dismissed!