We put the smoke in the Smoky Mountains!!!

We are now back in good ole Tejas and I am trying to catch up on the loads of smokey smelling laundry, as well as finish up my work for the week.  I believe there has been a hint of our adventures already posted so I shall fill in the blanks.

 

Let's start at the very be-ginning, a very good place to staaaart, when you read you begin with A-B-C, when you sing you begin with Do-Re-Mi (Do-Re-Mi), the very first thing just happens to be-- Do-Re-Mi (Do-Re-Mi)...

 

We arrived in beautiful Tennessee on Sunday and spent a fabuloso time at Dollywood (hehehe...can't help but snicker at the name).  We returned to our cozy cabin in the woods to find the ceiling crawling with (gasp!)..........ladybugs.......yup, they look innocent enough but see the creepy picture towards the middle of the page where they are in a swarm?  THAT was what parts of our cabin looked like.  Now before you call me a sissy city slicker, let me tell you that I would've been just fine had they congregated on the living room ceiling.  But I just have to draw the line when I'm lying in bed and watching the ceiling move...they were also covering the lamp and crawling into my luggage.  That is so very total-double-yucky-gross!  So we vacuumed what we could, went to sleep as best we could, and they were so very kind to move us to a different cabin the next day.

 

We spent the next day driving through Cades Cove and then met up at dear, sweet, kind, and very hospitable Amy Beth's house.  She made some killer chicken and dumplings and showed me her secret to perfectly delicious cornbread.  I was very excited to finally meet JenIG, Gena, AnneMarie and their very fun clans!  Jen was quite the southern lady to have a very nice gift for our hostess and for myself (once she mapquested her way over)-- we were all impressed!  Oh and AnneMarie, you may be the youngest but you better remember to have some respect for your elders!  LOL  And we almost got a real picture of Gena but since I/we enjoy living to see another day, Amy put the camera away.  Maybe her kids would be brave enough though...

 

After a great evening of eating, talking and laughing we forced ourselves to leave.  We went to Cabin 2 and settled in for a late night.   I hunkered down in the bedroom to watch a movie, my little men went upstairs to play, and dh watched the game in the living room. 

 

Next thing I know, dh is hollerin' (since that's what it's called in TN) for me to come out of my room.  I walk out to see the entire living room and loft filled with smoke!!!  I yelled at the boys to get outside while I called the Fire Department.  We ran back inside to open windows, shut doors, get our luggage (yes, you read that correctly), and try to figure out where the smoke was coming from...we saw it pouring out from inside the walls behind the refrigerator.

 

The Police were the first to show, followed very quickly by the Fire Department.  The boys were tucked safely in the back of the car and thought the emergency lights on the vehicles were really cool.  Long story short, they put out the fire that seemed to be coming from the walls and under the floor.  The boys didn't seem too traumatized although my 6yo did cry just a little...and my crazy 4yo was just a little, excited chatterbox and is still talking about the smoke and fire.

 

PRAISE THE LORD that he allowed us to stay up late after a very long day!  The smoke detectors didn't work and I can only imagine what the outcome could've been...very scary indeed... There were several things that the Lord allowed:

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  staying up late when we should've been tired (it was around 11:30pm or so),
  
  
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  dh was in the living room adjacent to the kitchen (instead of with me in the other room and with the door shut)
  
  
• 
  
  and the phone number to the Fire Dept and our cabin address was posted clearly on the fridge.

We certainly don't deserve His mercy and grace but we sure are grateful for it!!!

 

Once things settled down, we were able to move, once again, to another cabin for our last night in TN.  With the harrowing events of the evening, we decided to cut our trip short by a day and head home.  It kind of turns your stomach a little bit when you think about what could've been. 

 

We finished up our last day in TN with a gorgeous hike to Laurel Falls and a quick trip back to Dollywood to visit the rides one last time...where I was blessed to meet two very fun HSBloggers (sorry T, but I couldn't remember your bloggername!).  How random is that?!  She tells a great story about noticing my bald boys and making me feel like a total celebrity... Now that is a friend! :-)  Actually I was a bit jealous that she had her dear hs'ing friend T to go to the park with...it would be nice to have one of y'all near me...Anyone, anyone???

 

It's late, I'm getting sick and I've still got that laundry to sort...thanks for reading this very long blog about my vacation...I'll try to get a few pics up next week...G'night Y'all!  And G'night my dear TN friends...I miss y'all already!

 

~Marshie

 

PS TN is a wonderful place to visit and the people there are super friendly!  Definitely a thumbs-up vaca in my book, smoke and all!