Friday, March 30, 2012

Pigeon Forge Spring Break trip

Chad and I had a nice little trip to Pigeon Forge for Spring Break. Gotta love the cheesiness of Pigeon Forge.


So what did we do right after we checked in at our hotel? We went to a theater and saw The Hunger Games. Loved it! Not as good as the book, but when is it ever? We ate at a place called Smoky Mountain Brewery. It was our first time there. We ordered the soft-baked pretzels with beer cheese dip. Yummy! I got chicken tenders and fries--my usual standby. My meal was good, but I was still pretty full from eating so much popcorn at the movies. Before we headed back to the room, we stopped at Nom Nom's Cupcake Factory. I got this Almond Joy cupcake. It was divine. Seriously, one of the best things I've ever tasted.


We just hung out in the room the rest of the night. I got up early the next morning, thanks to some kids running up and down the hallway. I was eager to get our fun-filled day started! Chad, however, wanted to sleep all morning long. I couldn't get him up until about 10:30. Once we finally got going, we started our "Kid at Heart" alphabet date. We'd been stuck on the letter K a loooong time. It turned out to be a fun date, though!

Our first stop was Adventure Golf right on the Parkway. It's not the nicest or well-kept course. But it's the one we always play at because it's close to our hotel. Plus, we only paid half the normal amount because of the "Buy One Get One Free" promotion before noon.


I will say... Chad wasn't feeling it. He said it was way too early for it. He wasn't even trying and took the maximum amount for most holes. He straightened up a little by the end, but there was no contest. I, on the other hand, got a hole-in-one on TWO different holes. I did go way over par on a few holes, but overall, not so bad.


Chad kept score. I couldn't understand his system at all--slash marks, plus and minus signs, etc. He figured up our scores at the end. I easily won--yay!


Our next stop was the arcade. I seriously love going to the arcade. I know, I know... it's a waste of money. It's a guilty pleasure, though!

We played a few rounds of Skee-ball.


Chad played a couple of arcade games. Then we both moved on to the "ball drop game." I think it's called Monster Drop. Basically, you press a button and it drops a ball into a hole.


There are different values on the hole, from 1 to 50 tickets. There's also a jackpot--which I hit twice! Once it spit out almost 250 tickets and the next time it was around 100. Chad couldn't stand that I hit two jackpots, so he had to keep playing until he hit two, too! We ended up with a LOT of tickets which meant a LOT of points.


But I had my eye on a Hello Kitty plush. We didn't have enough for that, so we decided to come back and play again later. (And yes, I realize I could buy one at the store for much less--but where's the fun in that?)

We took a break from the arcade and ate lunch at Big Daddy's Pizzeria. We got a small cheese pizza and split it. It was okay--not the best or the worst we'd ever had.

We decided to drive to Gatlinburg and walk around for awhile. I always loved going in those shops when I was younger. We definitely did some window shopping, though--no purchasing except for ice cream at Chocolate Monkey.


We got Krazy Kolors ice cream--and it turned our mouths and teeth blue! It was very yummy, though. It was Blue Bell ice cream, so you know that's good stuff!

After we got tired of walking around, we drove back to Pigeon Forge and went to the room for a little while to rest. After about an hour or so, we went BACK to the arcade to finish up. Chad kept up his winning streak--he hit two more jackpots! I didn't fare so well this time. We ended up with more tickets this time than the first time, though.


Added together with the 2,691 from the first trip, we had over 6,000 points! That means we won over 2,000 tickets in all. That was enough to buy my Hello Kitty, a koosh ball thingy, a mini-deck of cards, and a pencil.


We went shopping at the Tanger Outlet Center. You know me... I love a bargain! I couldn't find much--just three shirts at Old Navy and these rad shoes at the Adidas Outlet.


After shopping, we went to a place called Blue Moose. It's a restaurant supposedly "famous" for their burgers and wings. Well, I was mighty disappointed. Overpriced and not so tasty. The fried pickles were decent, though.

We ended our night with three of my favorite words--Hot Doughnuts Now. Love me some Krispy Kreme!


We had to get up early the next morning to check out of the hotel. Our stay was short but sweet! I had to stop at Nom Nom's to get some more cupcakes to go. Yes, I paid $16 plus tax for 6 cupcakes. That's a splurge for me.


I got an Orange Dreamsicle.


White Chocolate Peanut Butter.


Peanut Butter Cup.


Milky Way.


Cherry Cheesecake.


And another Almond Joy.


Some of them didn't hold up so well on the ride home! It was over a two hour trip since we had a couple of stops. I shared them with Chad and my parents. I did sample a little bit of all of them, though! Not as good as that first Almond Joy cupcake. I think they dried out a bit. The icing was definitely the best part!

I wish we could've stayed a few more days! Maybe we'll get to take another trip later this summer.
Now it's back to business as usual. I'll spend the rest of the weekend planning lessons, trying to finish up my Easter decorations, and hopefully working on our taxes. I can't put those off much longer!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Sweet Spring Break!

Whoa. It's been such a long time since I've posted! I've still been working, working, working. Teaching is such a demanding job. It's not something I can leave at school with me--I often drag home hours of work each week. I'm not complaining, though. It's what I chose for a career and I feel like I wouldn't be as effective of a teacher if I didn't spend some time working outside of normal contract hours. I love that teaching lets me exercise my creativity! I've still been making things on a weekly basis. But instead of crafty stuff for our home, it's stuff to share with my students.

Anyway! We're on Spring Break next week. Counting weekends, I have 9 glorious days to relax, rejuvenate, and have fun! Oh, and to get caught up on things.

Here's how my first day of Spring Break went:

I woke up at 7:30 to the sound of thunder and a spastic dog in the bedroom. Our Yorkie, who is absolutely terrified of storms, somehow opened up the bedroom door and was trying to jump up on our bed.


After we calmed her down, I went back to sleep and finally woke up at 9:45. This made me too late to go shopping with my mom and grandma. I spent most of the morning browsing Pinterest, catching up on DVR, and rereading The Hunger Games. I want a refresher before I see the movie next week.

My mom brought home McDonald's for lunch. I ate that and watched some NCAA basketball with my hubby. Afterwards, I was so sleepy I could barely keep my eyes open! I took about an hour to hour and a half nap. I called my mom to see if she'd cut my hair, but we decided to go out to eat supper at a local country cookin' restaurant instead. We brought my husband and my dad along with us, as well. :)

I spent the last part of my Saturday evening deciding on my shopping list for my weekly couponing trip. Which, by the way, I have to update my couponing blog, too! I've gotten so far behind.

Now that you've had that not-so-thrilling update on my first day of Spring Break... I hope to get caught up this week! My to-do list is about a mile long. But I have a few projects I was proud of and want to share. I need to share about my Motivation Marbles, Valentine's Day goodies, and St. Patrick's Day mantel. I hope to create something for Easter this week, too.

So, until then... Happy Spring!