Fall Family Photos

Jessie did a great job again this year with our family photos. We mixed up the venue a bit and decided on downtown Spartanburg. Evan wasn't feeling great so he didn't smile much this year, but he did do well on eye contact for the camera.

Thanksgiving in Gatlinburg

Each year we go to Gatlinburg for Thanksgiving. This year the weather was perfect. It was sunny and over 60 degrees each day. Since Gatlinburg burned last year, I was surprised to not see blackened areas or burned trees. The area was quite green. The evidence of missing houses with only foundations remaining was all around, but I didn't see any damaged structures that had not been cleared away. The town did an amazing job of rebuilding many that had been damaged. Lots of new construction was underway. The crowds were quite large!

We ate lunch at the Park Vista Doubletree Hotel. It was another great buffet with all the trimmings and fixings. The boys did not eat much,but I made up for their lack of appetite.

We enjoyed the Festival of Trees and we saw Santa and Mrs. Claus. The boys enjoyed the play area at the Conference Center. Ober Gatlinburg was busy and we managed to ride a few rides there.

 We got a nice deal on the Aquarium tickets as they sent me an email for 50% off the day we went. They also happened to have Santa on that day as well. So the boys got to visit with Santa two days in a row. Evan enjoyed the fish. Alex enjoyed the wide open spaces.

Our visit was too short, as usual. We had a great visit and I can't wait to go back.

Halloween

I'm late posting about Halloween. It seems each year my posts get further and further behind. This year we had the boys recycle the costumes from last year, only Evan had to get a new Storm Trooper costume because he outgrew his. Alex enjoyed his Darth Vader costume until about a week before Halloween. We attended a trunk or treat event (Alex went as Hulk) and then the Halloween party at the Piedmont Club (Alex went as Darth Vader). The boys enjoyed both evenings.

Alex then insisted on wearing his new Hulk pajamas as his costume for Halloween night.Evan refused to wear his mask on any night. I found Alex a mask at Party City and off we went. We attended the neighborhood pre-party and then went trick-or-treating to about 12-15 houses. Alex then informed us he was tired so we went home and passed out the rest of the candy that was left on the porch.