My fun and fabulous weekend!

I REALLY should have posted this a long time ago, but with visitors and holiday's it has been hard to get ANYTHING done! My WONDERFUL cousins came to visit me the last weekend in June. They had purchased tickets for the Tom Waits concert that was here in Knoxville on the 29th and they just decided to make a weekend of the whole trip! I had so much fun and have not laughed that much in a LONG time! It started with them driving in Friday night! I knew they were going to be coming in late...so of course I had the house clean and was finishing the floors when I decided to take a break and chat on the computer. So I sat down and the next thing I know I get a text telling me to wake up! I jump up and realize I had not finished the floors in the office so I scrub (super quick) and run to answer the door! Yep...I had to finish the floors! That night we didn't do much just chatted and got some sleep.

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On Saturday, my cousin and I fixed a big breakfast and then wandered around a bit. We then decided to pry the boys away from Rock Band and go into Gatlinburg. We made our first stop at the huge knife place and everyone just kind of wandered around...the boys to the knives and Kristie and I to the "other" stuff! We had a blast walking around and looking at all the neat stuff! We then headed into actual Gatlinburg. It was getting to be late afternoon and they have been wanting to take me to this place called the park grille for a long time, but every time we go it is closed so we were going to try again today! Well, me (being the bright person that I am) decided to take the bypass. Well, we get off the road and start driving...and driving...and driving. We were all wondering what was going on and kept saying..."I don't remember it taking this long"? After a while I started singing "This is the road that doesn't end..." to the tune of this is the song that doesn't end. We all got a big kick out of it and started making jokes about everything. In fact we kept seeing signs that said silent walkway and when we would look there was no path because of couse we were on the side of the mountain...no trails. So we kept saying that if you took that trail it would have to be silent all you would hear would be an "Ah and then silence"...lol! We finally came upon a sign that said 7 miles to Clingman's Dome! SERIOUSLY!?!?!? We were about 20-30mins away from Gatlinburg (and then I realized *oops* I missed the turn...lol). So being the adventurous people that we are we decided that since we were there (and Drew had to use the bathroom REALLY bad) that we would make the rest of the 7 mile journey to Clingman's Dome. We got there and (after the restroom break) looked around at the beautiful scenery...





My cousin had been wanting a picture of Mountain Laurel while we were up there and as we were standing there we saw this gorgeous hillside view and right in the middle of all of these lush greens was a small mountail laurel...it was SOOO pretty!

Here is an upclose pic of the laurel and then a pic of some pretty flowers!



After trudging down from the mountain we were REALLY hungry and made it to the strip. Yet again the restaraunt we wanted to eat at was closed...GRRR! So we decided to eat really close to there at TGIFriday's. Austin had such a good time...he had ribs ALL over him!

We then hit a couple of the stores on the stip and decided to head out to the arts and crafts area...our favorite! Now it is just after 5pm on a Saturday during high tourist season in Gatlinburg and guess what...everything was closed!!!! We were SO disappointed. I mean really...I don't expect them to be open late, but 5 is a bit early! So we then decided to head back to Pigeon Forge and shop around....
Our first stop was the Country Candy Kitchen....they make taffy right in front of you! It is SOOOOO good...I totally filled a bag and Austin did too!



We then headed to the antique store right next door...I found all of these super cute owls! I just love them...sorry Amber:)


They also had these really cool gourds that had monkeys painted on them!

We then headed to China Bazaar and then my favorite the gem mine. Now I know it sounds hokey, but this is one of those places where you buy a bucket of sand and sift through it to find gemstones. When you are finished they go over what you "found" and then they will cut them for you (for an extra fee). We had so much fun! Austin and I mined ours and I even got a ring cut from a large garnet that I found. It was so fun (I will have to post a pic of the ring later)







they also had tons of cool stuff that was made out of minerals and stones...


After our mining adventure we headed home for the evening. Where we ate dinner and the chatted until we crashed!
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Sunday was a restful day. I got up and made breakfast and then we all just kinda hung around the house. We had to run a few errands, but most of the day was filled with playing games and my cousin and I playing around with gum paste! We then headed to the concert! IT WAS AMAZING!!!!! Anyone, I mean ANYONE, would love Tom Waits after seeing him in concert! He is such an fabulous entertainer and the music will blow you away! I am so glad that I got to go! After the concert my cousins had to leave because they had to be in Franklin by 8am to pick up their nephew to take him home with them for the week! SO we decided to grab a bite to eat and then they were heading out...of course the only thing open around here that late is Krystal...so we had grabbed a bunch and headed for my house to munch and gab about the concert!




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As you can see we had an AMAZING time and I was SOOOO sad to see them leave! I don't get to see them often, but we have great times when we are together!