Pigeon Forge-Day 2

Yay, we're on to Day 2 of our vacation! If you missed Day 1, you can read about it here!

Day 2 started bright and early! Jennifer is the best at researching all things travel. Her motto is "we need to experience restaurants and places that we can't experience at home" which means " no chain restaurants Danielle Patel." I'm a creature of habit, I typically go with what I know but I jumped out of my comfort zone and we went to The Mill for a homestyle country breakfast.


I have to say, I wasn't impressed. Maybe it's because I'm not a breakfast food eater? Maybe it's because the majority of the items on the menu involved biscuits and gravy? I don't know what it was but it was just mediocre to me. Whomp whomp whomp!

After breakfast we darted over to a tiny trailer to listen in on a timeshare presentation. Oh, I forgot to mention that from Day 1. As we were leaving the buffet we spotted a guy selling discount tickets for most Pigeon Forge attractions. The deal was: if we sat in on a 60-90 minute presentation they would sell us tickets to Splash Country for $17pp (we were prepared to spend $35pp and $25 for Jordan).Ok, we can do that! Save a some money, waste some time. Done!

The timeshares were beautiful, as they always are, the presentation was nice but it was THREE HOURS long. Yes, you read that right, 3 hours. We were done, the kids were done, and we high tailed it out of there.

One thing that I really liked about Pigeon Forge was that everything was close by. Someone at Wal-Mart described the water park as being "all the way on the other end of Pigeon Forge." Turns out that the "other end" is only 3miles away. Silly Pigeon Forge-ians, you've obviously never been to Atlanta or any of it's surrounding suburbs.

When we got "all the way" to the Water Park we were able to really relax. Splash Country is a great water park with so much to do for little kids. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera or my phone into the park out of fear of dropping it in the water so we don't have any water park pictures. Take my word for it, we had a great time. Jennifer, being the best traveling partner that she is, rented a cabana for us to relax in. It had a TV with Nick Jr. (Score!), a fan, lounge chairs, and best of all "cabana service!" We ordered our lunch and it was delivered to us nice and hot! The water park was a success!

After loading up the cars and heading back to the condo, it was time for a little bit of rest and relaxation before dinner. YEAH RIGHT...who was I kidding? Our kids were bouncing off the walls so that thought went out the window. After a nice shower we were all ready to head to dinner, but not before having a mini photo shoot!

And of course we had to take pics of our little cupcakes! Pure boy shenanigans!

Until next time...

Weekend Wrap Up

Happy Monday Ladies! Who's excited about Monday?!? Anyone? Ok, maybe I'm the only one excited about today being Monday. Monday means that I eat better, can typically avoid all bad foods, and most of all, it's one day closer to another Friday!

Anyway, here's what I was up to this weekend...

Friday: Ashish was off work so he and J went to play golf. I love that they have their own "things" to share. Mama couldn't care less about golf, cars, trains, planes, football, or basketball, I leave all that stuff to Ashish. After I got home from Ashley's we ran some errands and had sushi for dinner. It was a pretty uneventful Friday night but I liked it like that!

Saturday: Lovey (my mom) called and requested that Jordan come and spend the night, the night before, so I woke up to an extremely quiet house. What is it about wishing that you could wake up to a quiet house and when you do, you wish that madness would start? I felt like I was coming down with a cold so I laid on my couch and caught up on Y&R. When I was done watching tv, and Ashish was still sleeping, I decided to go for a run and then go get a mani/pedi. Ahhh...freedom!

We ran more errands throughout the day then went to Catch Air with some friends to let the kids play!



Ashton loves Ashish and the feeling is mututal

 

We finished our day with a trip to Mellow Mushroom, frozen yogurt from Yogli Mogli, and running around the park.

Sunday: Church as usual! Our small group will be starting back in about 2 weeks and I can't WAIT! The summer away from small group always feels like such a long time!

After church I ran and grabbed a baby shower gift, ate lunch, and then headed to a shower for my friend Melissa. The shower was really cute and very sweet. The ladys that planned it did a fantastic job.

We have a couple DIY projects going on at the Patel house so we took a quick, and by quick I mean 1.5hrs, trip to Home Depot to map out our plan of action. Sidenote: my dad works for Home Depot so my loyalties have always been to them. I purposely go to "his" Home Depot because I know a good amount of ppl that work there. Yesterday when we went, I didn't know any of the men that were working in the lumber dept, they had no clue who I was either. Two men spent nearly 1.5 hrs helping Ashish and I map out the best way to build some new shelves in our house (I have a very "why buy it if you can build it" mentality. One of the many traits that I inherited from my dad!). These two guys were so helpful and never seemed annoyed with me when I changed my mind. I will continue to give HD my money! Anyway, after that trip it was time for dinner. After dinner I went for a long walk with MeMe to do some "catching up."

Please say a prayer for Keisha, she still hasn't had the baby yet. Also, send up a special prayer for Ashish's mom, she lost one of her close friends to cancer on Saturday.

That about sums up my weekend! I hope you guys had a great weekend too!

Friday's Letters



Dear Followers...sorry I've been MIA, I needed a small blog break. I'm back now! Dear Diet Lifestyle Change...you and I are tighter than two flat tires and it's starting to show. Thank You! Dear Weekend...so nice to see you again, I have been looking forward to you since Sunday. Dear Guy That Was Chasing Walking Behind Me On My Run Wednesday Night...don't you know it's not nice to make women think that you want to kidnap them. Apparently your mama didn't have that conversation with you. I will say that thanks to you, I ran my fastest mile EVER! Dear MeMe...you apparently don't read my blog or hear my rants about my crazy neighbors that leave their garage door open. Not all people are trustworthy, close your garage door. Dear Honey Boo Boo...I feel sorry for you. Your mom is keeping the trend of "redneckinizing" going. I hope you grow up to be something better and greater than just a foul mouthed, gas passing, neck swaying, fingering snapping woman (and that you keep all of your teeth). Dear Jennifer..."If it ain't hurtin, it ain't workin" (in my best Honey Boo Boo voice). You are kicking butt and taking names girl! So proud of you! Dear Blog Friends...please say a special prayer for my friend Keisha, we are hoping she will deliver her 2nd baby girl today!!! Dear God...I've said it before, and I'll say it again, thank you thank you thank you, with sugar on top and hot fudge!

Have a great weekend Ladies!

Friday's Letters

Dear Blog...this is your 100th post. Happy 100th Post Day! Dear Rain...we get the point! My poor flowers are drowning outside right now. Dear Hubby...you are the most unhealthy fit person that I know. The fact that you can run incredibly long distances without breaking a sweat is unnerving. Sometimes life just isn't fair. Let's hope that Jordan takes after his daddy! Dear God...thank you for putting us in a position to help others. Dear Dad...I'm so glad that you love your new pick-up truck but can we please talk about something else now?!? Dear Faith...I hope you get to feeling better soon. No posts, no cute pictures on Instagram, this is unacceptable. Tell those germs to leave you the heck alone! Dear Jordan...you are offically 3.5! I've been telling people that you're 3.5 for at least 4 months now. Oops! I guess it doesn't help that they think you're 5 (what the heck). You can thank your G-Pa for your height cause you sure didn't get it from your "mama!"

Have a great weekend ladies! Don't forget to link up with Ashley!

Pigeon Forge (LOTS OF PICS)-Day 1

I think that I've said at least 20 times how much I enjoyed Pigeon Forge. The condo was great, the weather was nice, but best of all, the company was great!

The drive from Atlanta to Pigeon Forge is GORGEOUS! The roads are bit dangerous because you're winding up and down the mountains but it was such a beautiful drive.

We stayed at the Cherokee Lodge Condominiums. Pictures can be deceiving; we all know that right? Right? So, when Jennifer e-mailed the pics of the condo that she thought would be a good place to stay, I was a little skeptical. The pics were AMAZING. This place looked like it could truly be my home away from home.

The top pic from their website. The bottom picture is one that I took. I was very pleased. Everything looked exactly like it did in the pics when we arrived. The Charles' know how to travel in style, this was a vacation match made in heaven!

The kids and hubbys didn't waste any time getting into the pool. Within 30 minutes they were ready to get the vacation started.

While the boys were enjoying their dip in the pool, Jennifer and I were cursing enjoying a nice trip to Wal-Mart. One thing I don't like about Pigeon Forge is the traffic. It took us nearly 35 minutes to drive 3.7 miles. It was ridiculous. When life hands you lemons, make lemonade, right? Right! We used that time to have some good laughs and serious girl talk.

Because our drive to Wal-Mart took so long, by the time we got back to the condo the guys were done at the pool. YES! Just in time for dinner! After much debate and we decided to head to Tony Roma's. Unfortunately, when we got there, their AC was broken and it was 87 degrees inside. Instead of staying we decided on a buffet that was just across the street called, Wood Grill Buffet. The food was mediocre, Golden Coral tastes 10x better but we were starving by that point. Of course we had to take some family pictures!

After dinner Jen, Chris, and Jonathan went back to the condo. Chris hurt his back and needed to rest. Since Jordan is addicted to all things cars, we decided to take him go-kart racing!

After the go-kart racing it was time to put the kids to bed and have some adult shenanigans-complete with a wine bottle with the cork inside the bottle, buffalo chicken dip, and Chris' outlandish answers to Scattergories!

How many college degrees does it take to get one bottle of wine open?!? The answer is 4.5!

Jen was our wine hero! Does she look refreshed? That's because she is covered in wine. LOL! Please notice the wine cork in the bottle.

Day 1 was a complete success!

Friday's Letters

Dear Swim Lessons...see ya when Jordan turns 4!

Dear 50 Cent...you totally took me back to my college days this morning on my run.

Dear Gianna..."Go go go go go shawty...it's your birthday (on Monday), we're gonna party like it's your birthday, we're gonna sip Bacardi (wine and diet coke-btw, I still think that's weird) like it's your birthday...! Happy Birthday!

Dear Tasha...I am beyond excited for our sushi dinner date tonight.

Dear Ashish...it's been too long since we've had a date night.

Dear Girl's Night...sorry that I have to miss out this time. Hopefully I will be on a date with my hubby! Do the Cupid Shuffle for me, please!

Dear Jamaica...sorry but Cancun offered us a better deal on our vacation. Maybe we'll see you again sometime next year. Let the countdown begin!

Dear Kai...please don't make me hop on the first thing smokin' out of Atlanta to come see you. All this medical stuff is making me crazy. I think it's time you pack up and move here. I can take better care of you. LOL! If only...

Dear Mama Laughlin...you're the reason why I'm busting my butt running in the mornings. You and I have a love/hate relationship too. It's more love than hate, but there is definitely some hate in there!

Dear God...THANK YOU!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Happy Wednesday Ladies! We're half way through the week. Wahoo!

This week's loving is simple...I'm LOVING that God has blessed me when a great father! We celebrated my dad's birthday lastnight!

Happy Birthday Daddy! Don't forget to link up with Jaime!