family Archives - JDaniel4s Mom

During our fall break last week, our next door neighbors headed to Sevierville, Tennessee. (The home of Dolly Parton.) Oh! How I wish we had been able to hide in one of their suitcases and gone with them. (We stayed home and hosted relatives in town to see my mom last week.) Why do I wish we had gone too? The next door neighbors came back filled tales of wonderful experiences they had during their Fall in the Smoky Mountains trip. I know my family would love the chance to have similar experiences there too.

The opportunity to walk through the fall colors on hiking trails away from the hustle and bustle is something we have been dying to do. My son asks almost every weekend if we can go hiking, but for one reason or another we just don’t seem to make it to any of our local parks. If we planned a trip to Sevierville, we would be away from all those things that seem to fill out our weekends. We could hike among the leaves and do so much more.

After listening to my son’s best friend talk about the highlights of his family’s trip, I headed to the Visit Sevierville, Tennessee website. We won’t be able to get away anytime soon, but I could at least plan a virtual trip of things to do and places to see using their site.

I looked through the whole site from top to bottom. Yes, I even checked out the discount coupons shared on the Visit Sevierville site to find activities that my family would enjoy.

Here are some places in Sevierville, Tennessee I think we would really enjoy:

We love to look at leaves and be outdoors so, I explored the Outdoor Adventures section of the site. All the opportunities to view the leaves up in the treetops shared on the site would be great for us to do. Traveling on a swinging bridge at Foxfire Mountain Adventures or a zip line tour at Adventure Park at Five Oaks would be so much fun. I bet the view would be gorgeous up there.

In a recent writing assignment JDaniel talked about loving to visit an amusement park with my mom, sisters’ families and me. (My husband couldn’t make that trip due to his work schedule.) What fun it would be to visit Dollywood with both of my guys! There are a number of special events going on in the fall. We would be able to explore special events as well as the many shows between rides. Dollywood was just one of the family travel locations shared on the site.

If it rains or we just need a break from being outside, I decided we could head to the Forbidden Caverns. It would be wonderful to go see all the wonders the caverns display. Maybe we would see a bat or two too.

Another place that looked interesting was the Tennessee Museum of Aviation! My husband loves airplanes. We have been to a number of air shows and plane museums together. This museum looked to be just the right size for us to explore in an afternoon. The whole family would enjoy checking out the aircrafts there.

After doing something each of my guys would love, maybe I could convince them to do a little shopping at one of the outlet malls or flea markets. Okay, that might not happen. I might have to try to plan a girlfriend getaway in Sevierville . The Sevierville website has an area that will walk me through how to plan such a getaway. I know my girlfriends would love to shop with me.

I love to eat meals in local restaurants when we travel. We love southern cooking so, I searched the Dining Experience section of the Sevierville website and found several restaurants served southern comfort food . Mama’s Farmhouse and the Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant both had menus that looked great. There were a variety of restaurants serving a wide range of foods listed on the site. It might be hard to decide where else we should eat.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Sevierville. The opinions and text are all mine. Comments submitted may be displayed on other websites owned by the sponsoring brand

I have put together I wonderful wish list of places to visit and things to see in Sevierville. Now all we need to do is carve out a few days on our calendar to go and enjoy them.

Do you want to plan a trip to go to Sevierville, Tennessee too?

Here are some places you can go to learn more about all they have to offer:

You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, or the Visit Sevierville website.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Sevierville, TN . The opinions and text are all mine.

I am participating in the 21 Day of Gratitude Challenge Hop hosted by Inspired by Famila. Today’s theme or focus is gratitude for family. I am truly fortunate to have a loving and supportive family. When someone is in need or needs support, my family rallies around them. I saw that happen when my brother-in-law was sent to Afghanistan last year.

Charles headed to Afghanistan right after Thanksgiving last year leaving my sister Catherine and their two children behind. We send cards and care packages to my brother-in-law as well as gifts for my sister and the kids. It was so important to remember them and show them they were important.

I Am Grateful for Family {21 Days of Gratitude Challenge} - Carrying Flags

We held my sister, brother-in-law and their kids in our prayers. I didn’t always know the specifics of what to pray for, but we handed over prayers knowing that God would hear them and send the answers that were needed.

A couple of weeks ago JDaniel and I went to our local veterans memorial to help plant flags in the ground. There was a number of local newspaper and television reporters present. Each went around asking the various groups present as to why they decided to come to the memorial to help to plant flags. I told them what I had told JDaniel on our way over to the memorial. We came to remember those who served our country by getting their memorial ready for Veterans Day and that we have two veterans that recently fought for our country overseas.

I Am Grateful for Family {21 Days of Gratitude Challenge} - Field of Flags

The event organizers were so impressed with all the work JDaniel did that day. He helped plant flags when we first got there. Then he moved on to distributing flags to those who were using stakes create holes to place the flags in. Finally, he helped me by holding my collection of flags to be planted so they won’t touch the ground. JDaniel worked for over two hours.

I Am Grateful for Family {21 Days of Gratitude Challenge} - Veteran's Day Quote

When we left that day, we both felt like we had done something special. It was truly special to look back and see the field filled with flags knowing that we had planted some of them as a tribute to those in our family who have served.

The Gratitude Challenge runs from November 1st- 21st. Each day one or two bloggers will be sharing an encouraging quote focused on being thankful, grateful, kindness… They will also share an activity or share their 21 Gratitude moment. Stop by and visit their website on the date listed below to read their Contagious Gratitude story or activity.

Here are the lovely bloggers and each day they have posted: