saturday

after another hearty breakfast we stormed downtown gatlinburg. there were many sites to behold- people watching was probably better than any structure. but hey, i'm just that type of gal. the bradfords(chris's aunt, uncle, and cousins) and chris' family were not used to big family logistics so it was funny to watch their heads spin with counting kids and making sure everyone crossed streets at the same time and such. we finally decided to split into two groups. one group (we'll call them "the brave group") headed towards ripley's haunted mansion. the other group, (we'll call them "the competitive funloving group") decided to play treasure hunting putt putt indoor golf instead. afterwards we met at an italian restaurant for lunch. the fact that we had 26 people in our party stunned many of the aforementioned newbies to large family gettogethers. we had a good meal and headed back to the condos.

blaine and samantha playing cowrace


we had wiiapalooza for about an hour. kids and adults testing their skill out against other kids and adults. everyone enjoys watching the cowracing game. it's almost as good as watching george play the boxing game. he's relentless. whenever his opponent gets knocked out he pauses and breathes heavy and says, "i'm tired" but when the announcer says "FIGHT!" he's back at it. again, my favorite is the tank game. chris and i have developed tactical maneuvers to help each other get to the next level. it's a fun game.

well, after much game playing we get ready for mass. we decided since sunday morning was going to be pretty good conditions - we'd go to saturday night vigil. heading back into town, we had to take the bypass, because saturday night traffic in gatlinburg is pretty insane. we stopped after mass to say hello the the priest. he's a pretty old padre. he's been in gatlinburg ever since i can remember visiting. EVERYtime we go he's got such a welcoming demeanor and asks, "how many boys have you got?" then he follows that with "maybe one will be a priest!"

after mass we had a chow fest over at our condo. hamburgers and hotdogs and their fixin's were served up by chris' parents. the boudreauxs made plans with the garcia-carreras and jordans to get out on the slopes early. we decided our family would sleep in a bit. the kids were starting to feel the lack of restful time pretty bad.

chris' dad came in from attempting to take the garbage out and said that he'd spotted the bear again. we headed out to the patio and watched a black bear lumber down the sidewalk of the chalet down the parkinglot from us. chris, christina, mike, and i headed out with the camera to see if we could spot it. once i got into the parking lot i realized that this was, in fact, not a very well thought out idea. i was very very thankful that the bear didn't make another appearance.

night falls, kids hit the hay, another day in the smokies comes to an end.