Gatlinburg. This is where we spent Mother's Day weekend. It couldn't have been more fun.

A few weeks ago I was really starting to feel down, like there was never enough time for anything and that my kids never seemed to get me at my best. It felt like I was always pushing them aside, saying "not right now," or whatever variation of that fit the situation. I told Jeff that I wanted to just get away by ourselves. Being the amazing man that he is, he booked us a cabin the very next day.

We suddenly realized that we had never gone away as a family all by ourselves. It is something we will most definitely do again. We did whatever the kids wanted to do, playing board and card games, miniature golf, and even eating at -- you guessed it -- McDonald's.

Our cabin was absolutely incredible. Three stories high, located at the top of Ski Mountain Road, even higher than Ober. Thankfully it was built on the side of a very steep cliff, meaning that our lowest balcony was still 40 feet off the ground. I say thankfully, because Saturday morning as we were sitting out on the balcony eating breakfast, we heard a rustling noise in the woods. We looked down and watched as a black bear made his way all the way up to the stilts our cabin was built on. It was amazing. We couldn't have tailor-made a more realistic mountain weekend!
Saturday afternoon, and again on Sunday, we spent a lot of time up at Ober. The kids had a blast riding the Alpine Slide. Bradley was able to ride it himself (that's him coming down the mountain), but Bailey was too young. We had fun taking turns riding it with her. They loved riding the ski lift, but it made me just a little bit nervous!

Brad, Bailey and I also rode the Blue Cyclone water slide. It was a blast! I couldn't believe how fast it went. All three of us screamed all the way down.
Probably the most fun we had all weekend was our Saturday afternoon swim in the hot tub. We kept having to remind Bailey that she was not in a swimming pool. She was swimming like crazy back and forth. Bryant got to sit on the side of the tub and play in the fountain. He was squealing and laughing so hard. I'm sure the owners would have been shocked to see their hot tub used in quite this fashion, but it was a definite memory maker for the Swords kids!

Of all of my Mother's Days, this has been my favorite by far. This is what it is all about, cherishing our time together. Loving each other. Laughing out loud. I'll remember it always.