Old MacDonald had a Mini-Golf Course

We had our usual spot outside in the courtyard for breakfast, and it's been a really good breakfast each morning.  In fact, it's been a really good sleep each night.  These mattresses are really comfortable, so much so that I'm considering getting one of them for our own house.  Our current waterbed is pretty dated.  It was designed by NASA scientists, sure, but nevertheless, it's old.  I get kind of nostalgic about it, but this new mattress is something to get nostalgic about too!  Anyway, it was a pleasant morning, one that even Joey the Porg could enjoy.

Ever since last week, we knew that a big rainstorm was coming for the Southeast on this day.  So we planned our outdoor activities yesterday and the day before, and the indoor ones today.  The thought for this morning was that we'd see about squeezing in some mini-golf before the rain arrived.  It didn't arrive until mid-afternoon though, so we actually had time to play two rounds of mini-golf back at Ripley's Old MacDonald's Mini-Golf Course!

This time we were there to complete the trifecta, doing both the Pig and Chicken course.  We did the Cow course a few days ago, so we were back to do the other two courses, another thirty-six holes.  We didn't plan on doing two courses this morning, but we had so much fun and the weather was so perfect.  For the pig course, we didn't get that last shot for the free game... but when Mom and I tried on the chicken course, guess what?  Both Mom and I won it!  So Maddie got a free game the other day, and now Mom and I both earned a free game this afternoon.  Next time we come up here, we'll have a free game for all three of us.  We were told we can use it for the Davy Crockett mini-golf course, so we'll do that next time around.

Joey was pretty happy with the course today.  These courses are so creative and fun.  This one, the Davy Crockett one, and the Hillbilly Golf Course are the best mini-golf courses in the area, in our humble opinion!

Maddie won the cow course, Mom won the pig course, and I won the chicken course.  We all got multiple holes-in-one, and in an amazing run, I managed to get seven holes-in-one on that chicken course.  The most important thing was how much fun we had together.  The talking crows were hilarious, calling out "Nice shot!"  That sort of sounded sarcastic if you missed...  

There he is, the icon himself:  Old MacDonald.  The man, the myth, the legend!

Maddie will get a hole in one when pigs fly!

Mom and I posing near the pig slide!  I got a hole in one here!

Afterwards, we went to the Christmas Place, the large Christmas themed store across the street from our Inn.  It was a lot bigger than we thought it was, with Christmas villages, trees, ornaments, amazing nutcrackers, and even some tasty confectionary treats!  Mom and I got some ice cream, while Maddie got some key lime pie flavor fudge.

We returned to the hotel for a bit after this, and did a lot of relaxing.  We found our spot on the balcony overlooking the courtyard, and watched as the rain slowly slipped over the mountains, heading our way.  It was nice sitting there on rocking chairs, perfect temperatures, just resting a while.  We played some games there at the table, and eventually decided to make our way down to the indoor pool.  As it rained outside, we were swimming again, playing "Yes and No" for a big as we circled the pool.  The jacuzzi was lethal though - both Maddie and I got some pretty good knee scrapes and we weren't even fooling around or anything.  Just be careful moving around in there!

Oh this was fun:  we actually ran into Santa in the elevator on the way down!  He was practicing for that night a little in the lobby, so we listened in for a bit.  I even got a few CDs of his music, ones I promptly got him to sign for Maddie and Mom.  We listened to those in the car later on, even for the ride home.  We also got a few more "Night Before Christmas" books from that one bookcase.  These featured a lot of words that we had no idea what was going on with:  A Cajun Night Before Christmas and a Hawaiian Night Before Christmas.  They were fun to read though!

Tonight's big event was indoors.  You could hear the thunder outside, which was pretty big at one point.  But as we arrived, it was nice and dry.  We were there to see the Hatfield and McCoy show again!

We waited a little bit outside, but not too long.  Fun fact:  the left line is a lot shorter.  

Soon enough we were inside, making our way through the gift shop.  Mom packed our cowbells from the last visit, so we had them to ring loudly for our McCoys.  We were the McCoy side of things, same as last time.  We chose the McCoys because we had that name on the bells we bought, so we were sort of set in motion for the evening's events.  

Maddie brought her phone along for pictures so I wouldn't have to bring the camera.  We had a great time, of course.  Although there was way too much food.

This soup is really good.  But again, too much food here!  We had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, barbecue chicken, coleslaw, rolls, and more.  Of course, the waitress called it pigeon, mashed potate-toes, floor on a stick, barbecued squirrel, and fresh cut grass.  That was fun.  But wow, so much food.  It's a weird complaint, but there it is.

We sat further back this time, and it really doesn't matter much.  You can hear and see just fine, and we enjoyed it all the same.  

Madde brought along Joaquin for the noise.  Name me one dinner where you can bring a loud rubber chicken and spend the night squeaking that thing over and over again and no one complains.  Go ahead, I'll wait!  

Anyway, we sure did enjoy this show again.  They do a great job with this one!

At the end of it all, we got out of there pretty quickly and easily.  We actually got back to our hotel in less than ten minutes.  We're so close to everything there.  

Maddie was practicing her nunchucks at the hotel, and Mom was packing somewhat.  We read those two Christmas stories, and that was it for our day - and our quick vacation, largely.  It was a nice day though.

We said our prayers, turned off the Christmas tree, the Christmas music and the Yule log on the television, and soon we were fast asleep.