Smokey Mountains: Horseback Riding

One morning all but two of us went on an hour horseback ride through the smokies, even Paige! We even rode a little of the while in the rain.

Ty guy was too big to double with one of us, so they gave him his own horse. As the mother to this sweet little boy, I was not happy about this decision, but he did awesome. His little horse, Sweet Foot, was so good.


Carter doubled with me on Indigo.

And Paige rode with Keith.

Unfortunately, Kevin was the designated photographer for the trip and was behind me in line, so every picture has this view.

I called this before we even started: I ALWAYS get the horse that apparently didn't get enough to eat back at the stable and prefers to sit and eat rather than stay with the group...sure enough! We said it was appropraite that Carter was on the horse that likes snacks!

So Fun!

Smokey Mountains: Ripley's Aquarium

By far, the best aquarium we've ever been too. This was one of our favorite parts of our last trip to the Smokies and a must do on our list again this year.

Ripley's does an amazing job: every kind of fish you can imagine (and some you would never have imagined), an awesome shark tank with two walk through tunnels so you feel like you are actually swimming with the sharks, sting ray feeding and a penguin playground with tunnels for the kids to crawl through the penguins habitat...among much more!

Keith took some incredible pictures of some of the fish, but he must not have uploaded them to the computer, because I can't find them anywhere...

Smokey Mountains: Laurel Falls

Finally, my computer is letting me post pictures again. Will I ever catch up?

The next day we hiked up to Laurel Falls. It's a partially paved trail, so it was a good one for everyone to go on. All the kids were troopers on the hike, hiking all by themselves up to the falls. Once at the falls, the kids loved exploring the water and making their own water slides.

After the falls we played in the river.

The current worked a lot better on the little bodies...O and I struggled to make it downstream.

Smokey Mountians: Clingman's Dome

Our first full day in the Smokies, we decided to hike up to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in the park.

On the way up we passed part of the Appalachian Trail.

The view from the lookout tower was beautiful. Just like the last time we were there a few years ago, the rain was rolling in and the "smokies" were in full effect.

Keith's brother's family:

Keith's parents:

We were on empty by the time we drove all the way to the start of the trail. Here's Keith chasing down a ranger to see if he had any spare gas. He didn't. We coasted in neutral all the way down the mountain and just barely made it to the gas station. Lucky Keith.

On the way down we stopped at the Tennessee/North Carolina state lines.

"By myself, Mom."

Smokey Mountains: Our Cabin

We stayed here:

When we arrived, Paige took one look around at these guys and was terrified!

When we weren't exploring the outdoors, we enjoyed:

movie nights and card games (fortunately for me, no pictures of late night cards),

donuts from Grandpa in the mornings (Carter said he was glad we brought a Grandpa that buys donuts),

chess competitions,

and breakfasts with Grandma and the cousins on the deck.