Dinner Party

Went to my husband's work dinner party. Food, drinks, games and fun times!!! This was the first event that I got to attend and it was nice to meet some of his peers.

Family Reunion - Sunday

Sunday is the departure day. Of course the sun would be out on this day. Went over for breakfast. No long after that all the goodbyes had to start. It was great seeing everyone again and hated that so many were unable to attend this year. Good thing most are now on Facebook for us to keep in touch more often!!!

Family Reunion - Saturday

Snow in the Mountains.

Making Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin Carving

The Johnsons

Mini Golf Crew

The Pumpkin.

Bear Crossing

Baby bear reaching for berries.

Both up by eight and of course it was still raining. When Gene and Portia arrived at the cabin they treated us to some hot chocolate and it was just what we needed with all this rainy and damp weather. Early morning a group headed to the aquarium. Michael and his dad headed out to Clingmon's Dome and New Found Gap to get pictures of the snow. They even brought some back for show! After lunch Portia had some activities for the kids due to everyone having to stay indoors with all this rainy weather. There was pumpkin carving that several took part in, which was designed by Hayden. Elle and Lillian made pumpkin seeds. Christian and Henry helped with the tornado science creation. Later on Theo, Elle and Lillian played with pink playdough that Portia made. I joined in on the playdough activity too. Several headed off to play indoor mini golf, including my husband. I stayed behind. I had just stepped into the restroom when I heard Susan tell me that Michael was calling for me because there was a bear. Several of us went running down the street to catch up with the mini golf group in the car that spotted the bears. I finally got to see my first bear in mountains after six years!!!! They really do exist. I hope we got some good pictures of the mama bear and her little cub. Even saw them climb up a side of the mountain. Back in the cabin, I was asked by Lillian if I was a Johnson. I replied, "yes". And then she told me, "I thought you were because you have long blond hair just like me". Too cute! Just before dinner, Emily and Theo went over to the other cabin to get Theo's jacket. In a few minutes, she came back because there was a bear at the cabin door! Next thing you know there goes a combination of Johnsons & Jacksons out the door to get pictures of this bear walking around the cabins!!! So exciting :-) Once again it was a chilly dinner out on the porch, but this night we did have a lovely pumpkin carving for a centerpiece thanks to Roy! After dinner we sang Happy Birthday to Gene whose birthday will be on Monday. Roy told us he wasn't coming next year if we were going to celebrate Gene's birthday again!!! The rest of the evening was spent watching the children play and chatting with the adults.

Family Reunion - Friday

Michael got up early to meet Kevin and Christian for breakfast and they headed over to Magic Quest to play. We got to the cabin just before noon. Not long before other family members began to show up. Some of us even got to eat sausage balls with nuts and bolts for lunch - yummy!!! Not long after that we had Henry, Christian, Elle and Theo playing in the creek which was roaring loudly with all the water flowing this year. Once the kids were dry we all headed to the playground and added Garreth and Trevor to the group. Theo referred to Trevor as "Treasure", too cute. Got lots of pictures of all the activities going on at the playground. With the rain it made the dinner meal slightly chilly, definitely needed your jacket before one went out on the porch. Smaller group this year so was somewhat quite thus later on in the night there were several laptops out among the crowd!!! At this hour there is a small group playing poker, but as for me I am about ready to get to bed.

Pigeon Forge: Day 2

Old Mill Square

Kelly & Michael

Deer at Cades Cove

This morning we got up early and ordered room service. It was still raining and was going too continue the rest of the day, just lovely. Today was the day for shopping. We started at Walmart to pick up some drinks for the reunion, of course there was beer in the purchase. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to purchase cause we unknowingly had expired driver's licenses!!! I thought you only had to be over the particular year to purchase alcohol, expired license or not, I'm still over 21 years old. Both in our thirties, we will have to recruit family members to purchase our alcoholic beverages for this weekend. From, there I hit the Scrapbook Supercenter!!! I picked up about $30 worth of paper that I know I will not find back home. Then, we went to the Christmas Place. It does seem weird to be in October and looking at Christmas decorations, but I must admit that we bought a wooden reindeer for our living room!!! Next stop was the Old Mill Square. We looked at beautiful pottery pieces, that we may have to go back to pick up a piece for our kitchen. The hubby picked up some honey at the Old Mill Kitchen store. Then later in the afternoon we drove out to Cades Cove, the eleven mile scenic loop, in hopes to see some wildlife. Bears in particular!!! Of course it was still somewhat raining, but we did see deer, turkeys, squirrels and horses. Never saw a single bear.

Pigeon Forge: Day 1

This morning the kids were dropped off early at the vet due to Auburn having to have some dental work. Got the call back that all was good, so shortly afterwards we were ready to get on the road. As we started out we saw the Jimmy Johnson trailer on 459. Got some neat pictures before it got off on I-20. Stopped at the Cracker Barrel in Fort Payne for a late breakfast, i.e lunch. We had rain most of the trip - Yuck. Got into Pigeon Forge late in the afternoon. Scoped out places to shop for day two as we tried to decide what we wanted for dinner. Ended up at the Smokey Mountain Brewery. Split a pizza and the hubby sampled some of their beer. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel to hit the swimming pool. Need a good nights rest to get ready for all this shopping!!!!

Macaroni Grill During the Day

Monday we met up with my Dad, Mike, who was on business in the Bham area. We decided to go to the Macaroni Grill. When my husband and I walked in the bartender we know gave us a hard time by saying "What are you guys doing hear? You do know it's daylight, right?". Had a nice time chatting with Dad and looking forward to getting back to his house to see the recent changes.