Birthday Surprise

I have been plotting a surprise trip to Gatlinburg, TN to celebrate Ron's 30th birthday and finally the day arrived to reveal the plan! We met his family there last Saturday afternoon. We headed out in the morning jam packed into the van. We stopped at a neat little park to stretch. Ron, Ben and Lauryn got out of the car to feed some overly-tamed ducks and geese ... it actually was a little unnverving watching them from the van as I fed Nate. Since I'm not a big fan of birds of any sort (thanks to Hitchcock!) I just kept thinking there wasn't much I would be able to do if these things started attacking my family! Everyone survived and it was funny ... the ducks actually got bored with our snacks and moved on to the next group that had driven up with bread. We were giving them Cracker Barrel biscuits, which they preferred, and generic Archer Farms cheesy crackers, which they did not prefer (neither did we which is why we were trying to dump them on the birds!) The kids did great on the rest of the trip until we hit Pigeon Forge where we were met with bumper to bumper Saturday check-in traffic!! Nate (who never cries) cried for the good part of an hour and Ben and Lauryn (who typically adore him) were pretty much fed up with him. Everyone perked up as we drove up to the cabin, got out and explored its five floors! Of course, I'm sure seeing Nana had something to do with improved moods, too! We managed to pull off the surprise in spite of Ron's sneaky attempts to discover what his mom and I were planning. ..we were up against a professional ... he IS the guy that still has the Private Eye badge he made in 4th grade! We had a great time relaxing in the Smokies, enjoying each others company, playing games, visiting a small amusement park, shopping and swimming in the pool INSIDE the cabin! We celebrated Ron's 30th birthday and had a great time looking at his '30 Book' ... a scrapbook put together by his mom to give on the kids' 30th birthdays. It was fun spending some relaxing time together and celebrating Ron!