Five years ago, my family went on a vacation to Gatlinburg, Tennessee for a week. Thinking this would be a fun bonding experience for my family, we were excited to go on this trip. When I was younger, my dad's side of the family would take a vacation to Gulf Shores every summer, but that didn't last. So, we thought after several years of not going anymore we would go to the mountains. There's a reason why we stopped attending Gulf Shores with the Abides, and we should have remembered that reason when going back to Gatlinburg. Let's just say, my uncles did not marry the most normal women on the planet...

My dad is the youngest of six; having two sisters and three brothers. His sisters are very normal and we are very close with them because they live nearby. My three uncles and their families live in Dalles, Texas and for the most part, they are normal, but their wives, however, or not. One of my aunts is never around and she is always off running marathons, and she never came on the vacations with us; my other aunt is crazy and pretty unstable for the most part; the third wife is not as crazy as the other two, but still weird.

So, all these crazy women and their family packed up and headed to Gatlinburg to meet us. When we arrived, everyone was happy to see each other and couldn't wait to get the vacation started. The first couple of days went by well and everyone got along great. We toured different places in the mountains and enjoyed seeing all the sights that Gatlinburg had to offer. On the third night, all of us went to the Go-Kart place. It was all fun and games until my brother, Cole, had caused a huge problem. Me, Cole, my cousins Andrew, Jordan, and Matt, all decided to go on one of the go-kart rides together. We strapped in our seat-belts and slammed on the pedal as soon as the light turned green. We are all having a good time driving in circles until Cole rams into the back of Jordan, causing her to spin out and run into the side of the tracks. Her and Cole are trapped, and are not able to move. Jordan, taking this all very seriously, starts yelling and screaming at Cole saying things like, "I hate you Cole! I hate this family! I hate Gatlinburg and I wish I never would have came her with y'all!" As she continues to yell, Andrew and I are driving around her in circles with tears in our eyes from laughing so hard; Cole joining us. Finally, the workers get them unstuck and Jordan storms off to her dad, mad at the world. This was by far the best go-karting experience I have ever had and I am sure Jordan felt the same way.

Eventually, all the drama passes over and everything is back to normal, well, almost back to normal. We ran out of Diet Coke so my aunt took a ride to the grocery store to buy another case. After being gone for quite some time, she arrives back to our cabin. As she opens the front door she takes a few steps forward shutting the door behind her. Unexpectedly, she plops down on the floor, looking very confused. Everyone looks at her then looks at each other, wondering what is happening. My aunt looks at us and she swears to us that the ground is unleveled. She said she could feel the ground moving when she walked in and there was a slope by the front door. Now, every single person in our cabin knew that the ground was even that she was being her delusional self. So, we ignored her and she laid on the ground for about 10 minutes. Later, deciding to finally move from her spot, she began crawling across the room and up the stairs. Even though that was the most random and most ridiculous thing we have ever seen, my family and I were just glad it was over, but the fun didn't stop there.

That same night while the parents were getting dinner ready, all of the kids were playing in the game room, except Jordan and Stephanie. They were in their room sitting on their phones and computer. My cousin Andrew and I felt like stirring up the pot so we snuck into their room and stole Jordan's computer when she wasn't looking. Knowing she would blow up as soon as she found out it was missing, we ran out the room and hid in one of the bunk beds right outside her door. A few seconds later, Jordan storms out of her room yelling, "ABBY!", in a very harsh tone. Abby is my 14 year old cousin who is one of the most innocent girls I have ever met and I felt very sorry for her because she was the next victim on Jordan's list. Jordan thought Abby had stole her computer and yelled at her for about 5 minutes straight. Even though Abby swore she didn't take her computer, Jordan still didn't believe her.

My aunt and uncle heard the screaming coming from upstairs and came to see what was going on. When my aunt found out Jordan was yelling at her daughter that way, she was not happy and she then began yelling at Jordan. The whole thing blew up and everyone was yelling at each other for no reason. Actually there was a reason: me and Andrew stole Jordan's computer causing the whole fiasco, but no one found this out until way after. My explanation is not as extreme as the real thing was. A lot more yelling and screaming was involved. While this was going on, all the kids were cracking up because we thought it was the funniest thing.

The next day we all sat in front of the T.V. and watched LSU play in the baseball championship like nothing ever went wrong. The tigers ended up winning the championship and everyone was happy again, forgetting everything that went down the night before. This vacation was very interesting to say the least, but it was also a fun way to come together with the family again. Considering half of my dad's side lives in Dalles, we don't get to see them as often as we would like to, but judging by this vacation, that might be a good thing for everyone.