Fourth Festivities

We were able to get away this weekend to East Tennessee for a few days.  For those who have never been to the Smoky Mountains I am sorry, but you are missing out!  It was nice to spend a few days marveling at the beauty of God's creations, and the fact that I got to spend it with a few of my favorite people didn't hurt either.

We spent the majority of our time in the car...I think it took us twice as long to get there as it should have since we had to make five or six potty/feed Sophie stops.  We forgot how much fun it is to travel with a newly potty trained kid and a baby!  The kids were all really well behaved and didn't grumble too much in the car.

 I think the highlight of our trip was driving through Cade's Cove.  When we heard about it we figured it was a must see.  It was Kade's favorite since we told him they named it after him but just got the spelling wrong.  It is a 6,800 acre valley in the Smoky Mountains National Park with an eleven mile scenic drive.  Along the way there were places to pull off and take pictures and if our camera hadn't died while we were letting the kids wade at a river I would have had many more pictures of the deer and cool old cabins and churches that were sprinkled along the way.  We spent probably close to three hours there on Saturday and plan to go back someday to do a two mile hike down to a place called Abram's Falls.

Kade standing in front of the only sign I got a picture of before our camera died.

My favorite people

There were deer all over the place...we were part of a long line of cars that kept having to stop when  people would want to take pictures. That's probably why it took us three hours to go 11 miles!

We told the boys to roll up their shorts and not get too wet.  Famous last words.

Another shot of our great little swimming hole.

Kade decided to get a little more wet and ended up being swept a little bit downstream.  Chad jumped in to get him and had to deal with soaked tennis shoes the rest of the trip.  Good times!

Sophie getting her first feel of the cold water.

She really loved it...that was a surprise!

We didn't see too much in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg...other than the back of the car in front of us since the traffic was crazy!  Apparently everyone else had the same idea of getting away for the holiday weekend.    We ate at a little Mexican place called Jose's before heading to the river with the crazy expensive beach towels that we had to buy since we didn't have the foresight to bring our own.

Sophie was thrilled not to be in her car seat or a highchair.

After lunch we headed out of Gatlinburg to wade in the river...after another two potty stops and waiting in a crazy line of traffic, that is!  Within five minutes of getting in the water Kade cut his foot on some sharp rocks but was willing to tough it out since he loves the water so much.  A few minutes later Trevor announced that he needed to find a bathroom and not of the tree variety...so off we went to battle our way thru traffic once again.  We decided to cut our losses after that and just head home!

Stay tuned for Part II of our weekend festivities!