A much needed mini-vacation

My mom is retiring from teaching after 32 years!!  When we were invited to her retirement banquet at her school in Atlanta we decided to make a mini-vacation out of it.  My family is always up for a trip so we threw around a few ideas.  We love the Highlands and Cashiers, NC area, but the weather did not want to cooperate with that idea.  So we headed to Sevierville, TN to the Wilderness at the Smokies.  To be honest the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area is not my favorite mostly because I am not a country music or Nascar fan, and I am loyal to Colorado and the Rockies.  But it turned out great.  We had a deluxe suite with plenty of room for us all with a crazy special deal since we visited during the low season.  The kids LOVED it.  And the Smoky Mountain National Park is really beautiful.  The Wilderness at the Smokies is a huge lodge with 2 outdoor water parks and an indoor water park with slides, wave pool, surfing, etc.  We would definitely go again during the low season.  The cousins had so much fun riding water slides and hanging out.  We ended the trip visiting Gatlinburg.  Of course the kids thought the tacky shops and mini-golf were awesome:)  On our drive out we stopped and played in the river in the National Park.  It was a nice ending to a really relaxing trip.

We headed back to Atlanta to celebrate my mom's retirement.  Her coworkers did such a lovely job.  There was singing, dancing, and crying.  She is going to be missed.  It was touching to see how many lives she has touched.

 A new chapter begins...