Fall Foliage

So I'm a little behind in some blogging aspects! On Halloween I drove across the great state of North Carolina with the Dup to visit my parents. One thing I miss about the north, the states are a lot smaller than down here! I drove almost seven hours straight and didn't even leave the state! Ugh. It's a pretty long drive for me alone and the Dup hates the car and holds a grudge the entire time. She gets so mad at me she won't even accept a chicken nugget from me at our pit stop for dinner!

Anyway, my cousin from California was visiting with her husband and their daughter Kimmie who was so adorable. I never got to meet Cliff or Kimmie before and I'm so glad I had a long weekend on my schedule to do it. Plus the fall foliage was gorgeous!

This was my view from my parents' front porch. Gorgeous right?? I was nervous about how the Dup would be around Kimmie, she doesn't have a lot of experience around little ones, but she did pretty well! She'd only run after Kimmie if Kimmie ran first. And she kept trying to jump up and give her kisses. Kimmie quickly learned to say, "No no Rylie girl." One day we all went for a walk around the lake and the weather was pleasant in the afternoon sun unlike the frigid nights! 

I got to spend quality family time and have a nice break. We all went shopping on Main Street and just enjoyed some low key days. 

We did take a roadtrip into Gatlinburg in Tennessee and my mom had me drive through the mountains. The menfolk got up early to hike Klingoms Dome and we ladies followed behind later on and met them for lunch. We couldn't resist stopping for a picture on the Foothills Parkway though!

We met for much at Corkys and my shredded pork sandwich was heavenly!

After we decided to go into Pigeon Forge and go to the Ripley's Aquarium. Ryan and I have gone to the one in Myrtle Beach and the mountain version was just as fun. We were originally going to go to Dollywood but go figure we pick the one weekend this month they were closed to decorate for Christmas!

They had the walk through aquarium part that was really neat. You could see tons of scratches on the glass from where the sharks attacked in 2012 for whatever reason. Plus they had costumes and Kimmie was an adorable dinosaur. 

They also had an interactive dinosaur exhibit and a penguin exhibit! One day I promise I will upload pictures from my camera and not just use pictures from my phone when I blog. 

Either way it was a gorgeous weekend and I love being able to see my family. And to finally meet my little brother's girlfriend who was such a sweetheart. I love having back up to gang up on him ;) Luckily I'm headed to NJ for thanksgiving this year so some family time is in my very near future!!

I hope you all enjoy the holiday and travel safe if you're going anywhere.