2025 - family trip to Gatlinburg!

    For our 2025 Thomas family vacation, we went over Fall Break to Gatlinburg! This was our 3rd time together there as an extended family (at least since I've been in the family!). The first time, we stayed in Townsend -- "The peaceful side of the Smokies" in cabins right by a mountain stream. Then when Colson was 2 months old, we stayed in the Park Place condos. My mom joined us on that trip, while Lucas stayed home to work. This time, we stayed in Park Place again, and it was the first time for all 7 of us to be together in Gatlinburg.

We were split between three condos at Park Place but came together for games and dinners

There were many bear sightings from our balcony!

Hillbilly Golf! This is a must-do every time we come!

Creek stompin'

We were going to do a simpler, shorter hike, but there were no parking spots. There was, however, a parking spot at Chimney Tops, a hike Lucas and I did while we were dating on a day trip to Gatlinburg. It's long and uphill, and we had a two-year-old with us, but step by step, we made it!

Lucas and I had recorded a video of ourselves back in 2010 on one of these bridges to "future us"

The final scramble to the top is now blocked, unfortunately

Beautiful! We did it!

Chance was a trooper!

Mamaw and Papaw with the grandkids in age order

Lucas and I did a date out one night. While we were sitting on a bench on a river walkway, a bear started coming our way! We had to scramble up the hill to get away

On multiple early mornings, I'd walk down to the stream for some Jesus time

Because we were running late, we ended up finding a church in town that started 15 minutes later. We lucked out, though, because it was potluck day at Roaring Fork Baptist Church. Nothing beats a church potluck!