Back From Vacation!!! (Part 1)

Our family just got back from "the vacation of a lifetime" and I can't wait to tell you ALL about it! 

We drove to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee with my sister's family...they blessed us with this amazing trip and they paid our way for the main purpose of this vacation: The "Defending the Faith Family Apologetics Conference" put on by Answers In Genesis.

But there was another very special thing about this trip...Pigeon Forge, Tennessee is where Ryan and I went for our honeymoon 7 1/2 years ago!

However, this time, we made the trip with two jam-packed mini-vans!  We had 4 adults and 9 kids for this 15 hour car-ride!  It was an adventure...to say the least!

So over the next few blog posts, I'll tell you all about our trip!  (Way too much happened for just one post!)

Here's us as we're just begginning our journey...

Lunch-time just outside of St Louis!

(making peanut butter and jelly's, our little girls in the pack and play, it was a hot, hot day!)

Trusten's reaction to seeing the St Louis arch...

After lunch, Liberty was "plum tuckered out" (as they say in Tennessee)

On the road...Following the Langhofers...

Ryan snapped this adorable picture at our dinner stop (Cracker Barrel-YUM!)

Now a funny story for you...

On day 1 of our road trip, our goal was to drive the majority of the trip in the first day.  So we drove from Kansas City to West Tennessee where we figured we'd spend the night.  It was getting late, the dads were tired from driving, so when we saw Nashville was just ahead, it seemed like a good stopping point.

As we pulled into the city about 8:30pm, there were cars EVERYWHERE. 

"Well sure," we thought "this is a really big, popular city."

But after we got turned away by the fourth hotel, Ryan finally asked,

"why doesn't anyone in this city have a hotel room available?"

The man at the front desk looked at him like he had a third eye and said,

"Um, American Idol is here this week for try-outs...there's not a hotel room available in the whole city...and probably not anywhere within 70 miles."

Well, he was right.  Everyone was booked.  Even in the far-out surrounding cities.

We got to the point, that we'd pull into a city and the minute we saw groups of teenagers singing in large circles outside the hotel doors, we just drove off!

We even had my sister Marjie in Kansas City on the phone with hotels trying to find us a place to stay!

Finally around midnight, we had driven far enough east that we found a place to lay our heads!  We were thankful to get 2 nice suites for both of our families!

Trusten said it best when we laid our heads down that night...

"It was just like Mary and Joesph when they couldn't find a hotel and everyone kept saying, "There is no room here for you"."

I replied, "That's true!... but thankfully we didn't have to sleep in a barn!"

Little did we know at the time, this "hotel adventure" was nothing compared to what we'd face on the way home!...

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Next blog post: Life at the cabin: 2 families, 9 kids, 3 bedrooms

Then: The conference

Then: Out and About in the City ~A CRAZY, Busy, Fun day!

Then: A Breath-taking Smokey Mountain Hike

Then: The Creation Museum

And finally:  The Saddest Day--Heading Home (and another hotel adventure!)