Sunday, May 22, 2011

Winters/Rader Family Vacation - Gatlinburg, TN - May 2011 (Part 1)

This past week we met up with my family for a large family vacation. We rarely ever all get together at one time. With my parents in New York, a brother in Ohio and another brother in Texas, the chances of us all getting together in one place at the same time is pretty slim. Anyway, back in January we decided that we would vacation together this year. Gatlinburg seemed to be the only "central" place we could meet up. It was close for some but quite a distance for others (my parents had to drive over 16 hours). We searched tons of websites and looked at hundreds of "cabins" to find the perfect one for us. We needed something that would sleep 18 people. Finally we found one that would work. The picture below is the cabin behind us, but the one we stayed in looked almost exactly like this.


It was a beautiful place to stay! It had 7 bedrooms and a bathroom almost off of every room. The kitchen wasn't huge but the dining room table fit 12 of us. We brought a kids table and a few ate at the bar in the kitchen. There were 3 floors to the house. The top floor had a jacuzzi tub in which the kids LOVED taking their baths. There were 3 bedrooms up there as well. The main floor had the kitchen/dining room, living room, master bedroom and bathroom. Then the bottom floor had 3 bedrooms, laundry room, game room and hot tub. One of the bedrooms on that floor had a set of bunk beds and also a king sized bed. Since the room was so large, my 3 older girls slept in there along with my niece. Also, Eva slept in the closet (it was big enough for her pack-n-play to fit into). The game room was used non-stop as there was an air hockey table (that the kids used) and a pool table (that the adults used). The adults also took full advantage of the hot tub. We had a great time in there just laughing with each other. Anyway, on to the next pictures.

On Sunday we woke up and headed to a church not too far away from the cabin. It was a nice church and we really enjoyed it. That afternoon, after the kids got up from their naps, we went down to the park that was just down the hill from the cabin. The kids had so much fun there!!! Here are some pictures from that.
Our group picture - we were missing my sister-in-law, Emily, as she had to drive down (she has a broken foot).

Three of the cousins.

My Maggie Rose

My nephew, Luke.

My brothers, sister-in law and mother. I wish I could do that!!!

Cole - he LOVES to climb!

Run Cole, Run!

My nephew, Alex.

My dad with his two youngest grandsons.

My sister-in-law, Emily and her son, Jack.

My sister-in-law, Melissa and her son, Alex.

Marc and his two youngest.

Maggie

Lily

A few days later, we headed out to explore the town of Gatlinburg. We were house-bound for a few days as it rained non-stop Monday through Wednesday morning. My aunt who lives in South Carolina came to visit for a day. Anyway, we went out to breakfast and then took a trolley ride around the town. It was fun just being together.
Alex and Lily - our two athletes. They were together the whole trip.

Emily and Jack

Papa and Emma

Lily, Mimi and Maggie

Brett and Luke

Dan and Kate

Melissa and Ben

Aunt Karen, Cole, Eva and me

Maggie, Marc, Lily and Alex

The whole crew (minus Marc - he was taking the picture).

There is definitely a ton more pictures. Those will follow in a later post. All I have to say is: WE HAD A GREAT TIME!!!

2 comments:

Kevin Flick said...

how fun!!!!! i am so glad you got to have this special time with all of your family. what great memories for everyone!

Jen said...

So glad you had a great time!!! Such sweet memories!