Gatlinburg Vacation

Every other year we go to Gatlinburg for our summer vacation. Jarom loves the mountains and I love the beach, so we alternate. This year I was glad it was the mountains year since Addie is still so small!

We left Sunday morning for the mountains and Addie quickly fell asleep in the car and slept for 2 1/2 hours! She woke up and played with her toys for about 30 minutes before getting fussy, but by then we were only an hour away so Jarom fed her banana puffs and water while I drove until we got there and then I nursed her. Then today on the way home, Addie played for about 45 minutes, slept an hour, then we stopped and ate so it gave her a good break. She then slept the rest of the way home! I am so excited that Addie did so good traveling! She also adapted well to an abnormal schedule and barely fussed at all while we were there.In Gatlinburg the days were warm and the nights were really cool! I didn't anticipate it since it is June, but it was nice to have a break from the hot humid weather here in bama. I really wished I had packed us some jackets, but had to just bundle Addie in a blanket when out at night. We ate out and shopped WAY too much... We ate at the Texas Roadhouse (amazing ribs), Pancake Pantry(family favorite), Havana Dreams (really good Cuban food), Hard Rock Cafe, Bennett's (good breakfast), Cracker Barrel, A&W, McD, and dessert and Ben & Jerry's. I am sure I now weigh 50 lbs heavier. Pigeon Forge has a TON of outlet stores and Gatlinburg is full of little shops so if we weren't eating or walking, we were shopping. Jarom found this new store called "All Sauced Up" where they sold all sorts of sauces, dips, dressings, etc and they have it all laid out so you can sample everything before you buy it. We went there 3 different times and found an amazing apple cinnamon BBQ sauce and a cherry almond spread, YUM. It was such a neat little shop, we really want one here!

We took Addie swimming for the first time in Gatlinburg too. She is definitely a Haynie!!! She loved the pool and didn't fuss at all when we brought her in. She started kicking her feet and splashing with her hands and loved it! We bought her a really nice float that had a sun shade and a place for toys and she played in it forever. She really enjoyed the pool and played for over an hour before we took her out and dried her off for a nap (that ended up lasting 3 1/2 hours, she was exhausted!) We also played mini golf at the Hillbilly Golf course. They take you up this steep mountain in this little roller coaster cart and then you play the course on the side of the mountain. It was really nice outside and we were completely shaded so I didn't have to worry about Addie's fair skin.

Poor Addie really had a rough time with her sensitive skin this week. At home I have to use the unscented, dye free Tide on all of our stuff- clothes, sheets, towels, blankets, absolutely everything- because Addie breaks out in a rash if I don't. Well me being the great mom I am didn't even think about this prior to our trip so after the first night in the bed Addie's skin started breaking out. I also applied baby sunscreen to Addie when we went swimming which made it worse. By Wednesday night her whole little body was covered in a red dry rash, and she had little streaks and welts on her face. I freaked but luckily it got a little better before bed, and I had a little blanket from home that I had her sleep on that night which really helped. We really had a good time on vacation despite our allergies that are still dragging on and Addie's sensitive skin, and I hate that it went by so fast! I leave for Tulsa on Tuesday to join the rest of the family there for another fun week! Wish me luck on my first flight alone and with a baby!