Pigeon Forge, Baby!

Yes, you read that title correctly.  This year's Eye/Pattison Family Vacation took us to Pigeon Forge Tennessee, and although we weren't sure what to expect, it turned out to be super fun. 
We stayed in a cabin, which had tons of space for all of us (way better than cramped hotel rooms).  Every surface of this place was covered in wood.  Seriously:

 There's an awesome aquarium in Gatlinburg, TN.  The kids got a kick out of it:

 One of the best parts of that place was this tunnel through the shark tank.

 Everytime a shark swam over his head Brett sat down on the moving sidewalk. :)

 "Look Mommy, it's Dory!"

 We got to the sting ray exhibit in time to see Scuba Steve feeding the rays.

 Penguins in Tennessee!  Who knew?

Reese spotted these"big bubbles" while driving down the street and just had to give them a try.  They put a kid in each giant beach ball, tell them to cover their ears while they blow the thing up with a leaf blower, and then push them out into the little pool and let them flop around for a while.  Hilarious!

Here are the kids (Shelby/Emma, Reese/Brett) chilling in the rocking chairs outside Dixie Stampede.  (For the uninitiated, Dixie Stampede is a dinner show place with live animals.  It was a great time, but they don't let you take pictures inside.)

The mommies took the little girls to do some outlet shopping while Brett, Reese, and the Daddies went mini-golfing.

 Apparently Reese was tired and slightly cranky.  I can't imagine why - it's not like we tried to cram a week's worth of activity into 3 days or anything.  Oh wait, yes we did.

Day two: Dollywood!
Shelby's first driving lesson: she thought she was hot stuff in this car.

 Reese and Emma were not allowed to sit together on any rides after this duckie incident (it involved a lot of hair pulling and screaming).

 It was a blast! 'Til next year, Pattisons!