Hello friends!! Happy New Year!
I hope everyone’s 2026 is off to the best start!
We ended 2025 on such a high, quite literally- on top of the mountains celebrating our winter birthday bears! 🐻🐻
these sweaters are sold out at Target but I linked some similar
Capers turned 2 a few weeks before Christmas, who leans more tender & reserved. Brewer turns 5 a few weeks after Christmas which feels like a big number. In lieu of parties, this year called for a trip to celebrate!
We planned a little mountain getaway and it was SO much fun! Ever since we got home, we’ve talked non stop about the fun & memories we made as a family of 4.
We are so, so happy we did this trip!!
Today, I am blogging all about it. Settle in with a winter coffee for my very first blog post of 2026!
Here we go…
Over the river and through the woods, to the mountains for 2 & 5 🥳🥳
We headed out 3 days after Christmas! The boys had their tickets (more of a birthday keepsake) and bags ready to go!
We arrived in the mountains around lunch time and went exploring in Pigeon Forge around the shops and restaurants.
the best side by side stroller
I had researched beforehand and knew they had a Build a Bear in the area, so we made our annual birthday bears in the mountains!
happy boys
Later that afternoon, we headed to our cabin!
Our cabin was so adorable! It was off the grid, on top of the mountains, with amazing views.
As Harry was driving up the mountain to get here, he was a little hesitant, lol. He may have said once or twice “Kristen, where did you book this place?” Ha. but we both agreed, it was awesome!
Our winter bears
On the way to the cabin, we picked up food to- go and had dinner on the back porch. The weather was beautiful and warm on day 1.
After dinner, we hung around outside on the deck. Brewer had the idea to bring his binoculars on this trip which I thought was clever!
After dinner, we went inside for cake
..and to sing happy birthday!
someone loves chocolate cake
Costco makes the best and most affordable cakes, by the way. We ordered from there and brought it on our trip!
We had fun being cozied up at the cabin each night.
The next morning in matching pajamas 🩵
and matching birthday bears
They were ready for a big day!
We spent the entire day at Dollywood!
We rode so many rides
Capers loved it all and was willing to ride anything for his size, which is quite a bit in Dollywood
Same with Brewer!
similar jacket to mine // same brand + color
He’s always been a little adrenaline junkie
This baby couldn’t wait to ride the horsey
So many sweet memories were made this day!
Day 2 was much colder in the mountains. However, I think it made for a much less crowded day at Dolly. We were in the park at 10:30 and first in line for rides to begin at 11 am. I was prepared for crowds and long lines, but it never got overwhelming!
Capers is a bubble fanatic, I got him a bubble wand while the big boys were on a roller coaster.
As we were strolling through the park, he fell asleep with his bubble wand. I wheeled him into a restaurant and grabbed lunch while he napped.
I received this picture of the big boys on the roller coaster
Then, they came to meet us and eat lunch. Harry also picked up Dollywood’s famous cinnamon bread. Yum!
After Capers little nap and we had all eaten, we were back to riding rides!
It was such a fun day spent bee-bopping through the park to Dolly and taking in the Christmas scenery!
❤️
After a day at Dolly, we headed back to the cabin for sunset hour!
I mean… it doesn’t get any better than this view!
Front window view ✨
We made spaghetti at the cabin that night. This is an easy dish to make sure the boys eat, especially when we’re on the go!
Haha, this baby loves his carbs
We ended the night with some dance parties in our pjs!
The next morning, we woke up to snow flurries at the cabin, stopped for breakfast at good ole Cracker Barrel before heading home with full and happy hearts!
…and a Dolly ornament- her coat of many colors, that we bought in the park!
We receive books in the mail each month from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Her “Coat of Many Colors” book happened to arrive right before our trip, so we took it with us to read.
It was a perfect little getaway to turn 2 and 5!
We’ll talk about this trip for years to come!
I linked a lot of things we took on this trip throughout today’s post. You can also find everything + more everyday links in my LTKit shop, here: Kristen’s LTKit shop
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December was a fun + big month!
We rang in the New Year at home in bed by midnight 😜 and celebrated with family and dinner on New Year’s Day!
Since then, we soaked up all the winter break moments, playing with gifts from Santa at home prior to school resuming yesterday!
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I’m looking forward to a great year here in blog world with you all!
See you next Wednesday!
kristencochranblog.com 