Cades Cove

While the rest of the family went skiing, Jay and I took the kids to the Smoky Mountain National Park to Cades Cove.  Jay had been before but I never had.  It was GORGEOUS!  It is amazing that in the midst of the hustle and bustle of a busy city like Gatlinburg, there is amazing scenery like this!

Some of the pics were taken while riding in the car so they are a little blurry.

It is mostly a "riding" trail, but we did get out a couple of times to take pictures, let the kids throw rocks into the water, see the scenery etc.  Karis loved looking for beautiful rocks!

There were deer everywhere!  We ended up seeing between 50-60 deer, over 20 wild turkey, heard coyotes but didn't see them, beautiful snow-capped mountains and some historic buildings.

And I got to ride next to this handsome hunk.  :)

It is an extremely slow riding trail so we let the kids unbuckle and Lucy got in my lap for the majority of it. They loved it!

We got super close to this 10 point buck just on the other side of the fence.

We ended up being in the car for about 5 hours including travel time, riding time and traffic and the kids were AMAZING.  They are getting so easy to take places and I am so thankful.  We were so proud of them and enjoyed our day as a family.  :)

Just the family

This morning before we headed out to Cades Cove, we attempted to take some family pics while we were all not in pj's ha!

My babies Lucy (age 2 1/2), Brayden (5 1/2) and Karis 7

I love my family!  

Matt, Tiff and Allen were already gone skiing for the day.  

Games with friends

Today was a rainy day so we planned to stay in today and take it easy.  That's what is nice about vacation...you do what you want to do!

Mom made up some spaghetti and we ate dinner at home and then we played Catch Phrase until we couldn't laugh anymore with our family and our friends the Kellums.

Uncle Matt and Brayden

Our long time friend Melinda who lives near here came over for the day to hang out.  It has been a while since we have seen her so it was good to hang out and visit.

Mom, Melinda and the kids enjoyed the hot tub while we played games...

Catch Phrase!

My sis-in-law Tiffany and my brother Matt, my sis-n-law Jenna and brother Jonathan...

Allen and his friend (and ours) Brittany...she also happens to be one of my old students from my first year of teaching when she was in 6th grade.  She is the age now that I was when I taught her 10 years ago.  Yea...it makes me feel old!

Me and Melinda

Fun day at the cabin...I love vacation!