Spring Break 2012

We have had such a great time this spring break.  This was the first family vacation that we've taken with Ben, by ourselves.  We've vacationed with Ben several times, but we've had grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins with us, so this was an extra special trip. 

We decided to head to Fairfield Glade, Tennessee...it was very quiet and relaxing, but close enough to Gatlinburg and other cities, that we were able to find all kinds of things to do!

Here is a short recap of our week (ok, maybe not that short.  I took a lot of pictures)!  Lots and lots of memories!

Our little family :)

 A few pictures of our "home away from home"

 Andy and Ben were great fire-starters...we enjoyed a fire every night!

 Ben, getting ready to go swimming in our bathtub (he insisted on trying out his new swimmies)...the tub was the size of a hot tub, so he had plenty of room to swim!

 More swimming...the resort had a very nice pool, which we visited a few times (I don't think I'm going to have to worry about Ben wanting to get in the pool this summer...he's a water baby for sure)!

We visited Fall Creak Falls...so beautiful!  It was a pretty rugged trail to the bottom (probably not a good one for a toddler, so we enjoyed the view from the top).

 We also enjoyed sticking our feet in the water, at the top!

We visited Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg.  Ben loved the fish!

 Making his best shark impression :)

 After the aquarium, we went to the Dixie Stampede for dinner and show. 

 We didn't tell Ben what we were doing, so he was SUPER excited when the horses came out.  He wouldn't eat a bite, because he was mesmerized by the show!  I would say it was a successful surprise!

 It seemed like every local we talked to said to check out the "tree house", so we went out there one day.  It's a 6-7 story tree house that a gentleman started building in the 90's.  It was quite an experience...Ben and I didn't go clear to the top (my fear of heights kicked in pretty quickly), but Andy went to the top.

 It's hard to see, but that's Andy at the top.

 We were only about an hour from Dale Hollow Lake (another vacation spot that we love), so we made the drive out to the dam.  It was a little overcast, and cool, but we still had fun checking out the lake.

We had such a great time as a family, and have lots of memories from our trip!  Looking forward to making many, many more throughout the years!