Quinn Christmas in the Mountains

For Christmas this year part of our gift from Benjamin's parents was a weekend in the mountains. It works perfect for us because Gatlinburg is halfway to MS so it breaks the trip up great for the kids. We left NC on the 20th when we got off work and headed straight for the mountains to meet everyone there.

When we got up the next morning we ate a huge breakfast and then quickly started opening presents because these monkey's below were beyond excited.

Dawson was missing in action for the presents because a nap was in order. ; )



The kids were super excited because part of their gift was to go to a fun park and ride race cars! Although the weather didn't let it happen we found some other fun things to do.





Phillip's fiancé, Destiny, made each of the kids a pillow in her home-ec class and we got Branna one of the beloved loom kits.



The boys all got their own shaving kit! Bottom right: Phillip and Destiny





Another part of our gift was tickets to go to the Dixie Stampede! We were SO excited to go and take the kids.



If you haven't been to the Dixie Stampede, it's a dinner show with horses. While you watch the show they bring you huge portions of dinner. One of the kickers is that they don't give you silverware. If you want some you need to bring your own or you eat with your fingers. ; )

I wish I had taken a picture of the food because they bring each person a whole chicken. Even the kids!



The next morning we headed out to eat at our favorite breakfast joint in Gatlinburg, Pancake Pantry!

Check out Emma Claire's M&M Pancakes with peanut butter syrup. I can attest that the syrup was amazingly good!



Mine and Benjamin's fav - Peach Delight & Chocolate Chip Pancakes. Would you like a little butter with that? ; )



Since the weather didn't permit a trip to the race track we opted to take the kids to an arcade instead. I think their favorite thing was this hurricane simulator. I think you can tell by their faces that they loved it.










Emma Claire and Destiny hit the jack-pot!





Benjamin bought Camp this wallet when we went shopping at the outlets. He loves it and it goes everywhere with him. Isn't that the cutest thing? He even pulled it out when we got to the arcade to see if he had any money in there to play a game. Melted my heart. Needless to say now he has a couple dollars in there.

Thanks Poppa and GG for the trip to the mountains. We LOVED it!