Thanksgiving in Gatlinburg 2014

We took our annual trek to Gatlinburg this year on Thanksgiving Day.  I dressed the boys in their turkey outfits and we left the house by 8:30am in order to get to our lunch reservations on time at the Park Vista Hotel.  We stayed at a new condo this year, which was great for us & Vince's parents.  The boys had room to play without getting into too much trouble (no dangerous fireplace this year). 

 

 

The food was fabulous.  The buffet had so many items on it and everything was tasty.  I even tasted two different pies, pumpkin and pecan.

The next day we went to the Smoky Mountain Craft Fair, where Evan found a new friend, a service dog that is an English Bulldog named Violet.  She slept with her tongue hanging out.  Evan kept trying to stick it back in for her, but she just kept on sleeping. 

 

We also visited with Santa and took several great photos with our own camera (for free!).

Santa was located in the convention center in the Festival of Trees display.  We ran into Jerry's sister, Marie and her family.  It was a spontaneous family reunion!

 Evan loved this big stuffed teddy bear.

 

 

That evening, we ate at our favorite little Mexican restaurant, No Way Jose. Evan loves quesadillas and chips with salsa.

After dinner, we took the boys to see all the fish in the aquarium.  They both loved it.  Evan stared at all the fish while Alex tried to make fish faces through the glass.

 

On Saturday we took a trip to Ober, Gatlinburg, where Vince and I ice skated while the boys rode on the $.25 rides.  They also got to see the otters get fed and watch the bears sleep, which put Evan to sleep.

 

Our last dinner there was at the Greenbrier.  We had not eaten there for a few years and I had been wanting to eat there again.  It was very tasty.  We learned that Evan does not handle some types of vinaigrette dressing well on his salad.  He got very silly and had to be taken to the car to giggle in fits of laughter.  After dinner, Vince & I took a stroll downtown to see the sights and hear the bluegrass music.  Fabulous trip!  Wish we had more time...