Gatlinburg- post not finished lost notebook!

April 5, 2008 to April 12, 2008

Stephen and I went to the Smokey Mountains for the whole week for our 10 year wedding anniversary. Jade and Starla stayed with Stephen's parents and Piper and Anakin stayed with Tanya. Everyone seemed to do fine, Starla had a little trouble but they worked through it and she was OK. She also got into trouble for not listening but my MIL handled it well and I am proud of her for that. So we didn't get onto Starla at home cause we didn't want her to think that what Granny had already said didn't matter. I sort of kept a journal while we were there so I would remember more of what I wanted to put on here.

The traffic wasn't to bad on the way up, it got a little crazy a few times with people being in to much of a hurry, but nothing seriously bad. There was a white and gold SUV that kept pissing Stephen off, so he slowed down on purpose for awhile to get away from it, and when we got into Sevierville it was in front of us again! It had a distinctive licence plate and a gold emblem on the back so there was no doubt it was the same people. I thought it was funny, Stephen however really didn't think it was!

The cabin was awesome although the driveway was a bit scary! It was very steep and narrow! I had to put the van in 1st gear to make it climb it! When we checked the cabin out to make sure everything was as it was supposed to be, there was dirty laundry in the washer and stuff in the dryer, so I called the office and they sent someone after it. I realized later it was the towels that belonged in the cabin! So we ended up having to wash towels everyday to have enough, but it wasn't to bad cause I threw in the clothes we wore so we didn't come home with a bunch of dirty laundry. Our cabin had a theater room and Stephen had to fix the projector. We waited 3 hours for maintenance and they never showed.

4-6-08 (as written while we were there)
I had trouble sleeping last night, I kept hearing strange noises. I got up at 7:00 this morning. I just couldn't sleep any longer. Its so strange being here with out the kids, I'm not sure what to do, I kind of feel lost! Starla called last night, she said she missed us already. I had to tell her if she couldn't make it through this week then she would not be able to go to girl scout camp.

We went for a walk this afternoon. We tried the walking trail but it didn't really go anywhere, so we decided to walk down to the creak and we followed it a ways down the road until it got to narrow to walk along the road. Coming back up the drive was exhausting! Stephen made a bet he could run up it and if he made it to the top I had to watch a movie of his choice. He didn't make it! lol After we got back we were going to go find a store to get something to drink, and the van would not start! Apparently we didn't shut one of the doors all the way or something because my battery was dead! So we didn't go anywhere, and just hung out and figured we would wait until tomorrow to deal with the van.

4-8-08
We realized this morning that since my van is still under warranty we have free roadside assistance. So we called and they sent someone out. The guy called 3-4 times to say he was 20 minutes away! When he finally got here it was a whole 5 seconds to get the van started. We decided to go look around gatlinburg. On the way out we saw a big black snake! I had to stop and let it cross! I couldn't run it over. Stephen freaked out so I kept telling him I was going to buy a fake black snake to torture him with.

4-9-08
We decided to hang out at the cabin all day and just relax. I cant remember what we did, but Stephen did finally let me teach him progressive rummy, and we watched Mulan Rouge on the big screen.

4-10-08
We stayed around the cabin until 4:00 today, then we went out to walmart and Starbucks. Earlier this morning I was sitting on the picnic table reading and there was a rustle in the leaves, well I expected a squirrel, so I look up to find it and it was a snake! I took off running into the cabin, Stephen said he thought I had seen a bear! I told him I would have been running alot faster from a bear! We looked out the bathroom window trying to find it but couldn't. We figured I scared it off. We watched I Am Legend on the big screen. I do miss the kids alot, it has been almost to quite! I am sure they will more then make up for that when we get home though.

4-11-08
We go woke up around 3:30 this morning cause something was beeping, and the power was out. So we were in the dark with and annoying beeping thing until 8:30 when the lights came back on.

4-12-08
We left early this morning to get the kids and get home.