Days with the Dorans

Before we left, we saw a bunny in our yard and Sean opened up the door and let him know we wouldn't be home for Easter. Thankfully he found us in the mountains. The Littles were up early and they followed Easter grass up to our room and out onto the balcony. The thing was~ when they got out to the balcony, there were only two baskets and they were purple and orange (Maddy and TZ's colors). They looked across the way and Maddy was on the balcony with four baskets! It looked like the bunny mixed up where we were staying. The kids didn't mind though- they went to the different places to retrieve the baskets and were eager to see what they got. They all got the same things- color coded of course! The Bigs weren't as eager as the younger kids. They were out cold but we did manage to wake them up... these pictures show their reactions to being up so early. Eventually everyone got their stuff and we all gathered in Nana and Papa's room to see. Th...

The last day of March was a highlight for sure! I started it out right by running 5 miles with Papa. It was chilly but a lot warmer than being at home! By the end of our run, I was in a T-Shirt. I crushed 100 miles for March (113 to be exact). When we got back, it was time for the Easter Egg hunt. I didn't even have time to shower! Met the rest of the group at the top of the parking lot just in time for the festivities to start. Steph got these awesome hoodies for everyone! They say DDSB (Drapal Doran Spring Break) and the kids had their birth number order on them. The four youngest did the hunt and got lots of eggs. Sean was going to wear his hoodie backward and collect eggs in his hood but we finally got him to agree to use a bucket. They did a great job! After a shower, we decided to check out Ober Gatlinburg. We only had one day here so could only pick one thing to show the younger Drapals. We wanted to do Cades Cove too but it was too much for one day. While ...

This year our spring break backed up to Easter~ meaning we had an extra day off. While we were bummed to miss Good Friday services, we were excited to have an extended vacation that also meant we got to go to TWO places. We were heading off to start our vacation in Gatlinburg, TN which SHOULD have been an easy drive. It wasn't. For one we had HORRIBLE traffic- I mean the worst. An 8 hour drive turned into a TWELVE HOUR drive. In addition to the traffic- our tire light went on so we headed to the nearest gas station to fill up and see what was up. Well- our tire was soon flat and Jeff was off in a tow truck while the kids and I hung in the gas station subway playing games until he returned. Thankfully, the kids were great and we made the best of our wait. The good news is that it was only about an hour setback and not too much money. The bad news is it was still a setback and money... We finally got there and thankfully Nana and Papa had already made a trip to the s...

 Jeff was very proud of me!  I am not at all a morning person (like he is~ nor am I one for being on time) and he wanted to leave early in the morning but thought I wouldn't be able to... I stayed up late the night before (couldn't sleep really) and packed up everyone leaving only spaces for pajamas and toiletries.  I got up and showered and was ready before 8 and the rest of the troops weren't far behind me (when I say troops, I mean kids... I woke to the sound of Jeff doing dishes at 7am). It was sad knowing we were leaving and I wish that we could stay longer (especially with the weather finally getting warmer).  We packed up the cars gave my folks huge hugs and thank yous and were off.  Jeff and I stopped at a McDonald's for coffee, tea and oatmeal and they didn't have tea !! I was surprised since they usually only have a Lipton bag and hot water anyway, but oh well.  This world wasn't made for us non-coffee drinking gals.  We were just ...

 Our last full day in Gatlinburg was a wash out.  It rained with no signs of letting up, so we had to find somewhere 'inside' to have our adventure.  We had read about a cavern and I seemed to recall visiting one from my childhood where I learned about the stalactites and stalagmites! I still remembered which was which and the fact that I remembered it at all meant that it must have left an impression. When we left my mom mentioned that she thought it was the same cavern (though it had obviously changed in the last 30 years...). It took us a while to get there (over an hour in TRAFFIC!!!!) and when we finally DID get there, EVERYONE else had the same idea as us.  The parking lot was PACKED and I think we drove around in the same circle 20 times (and I am not exaggerating) before someone left and we found a place. Here we thought we were escaping all the other indoor packed places of Pigeon Forge but we were wrong.  Still with all that driving, there was...