Gatlinburg Cell Phone Pictures

So sorry for the huge glut of Vacation Pictures!

Watching Taffy being made

WHAT!?!?! We get to have CEREAL for dinner??????

This is a sweet little boy exhausted from a long day of hiking.

Mike and I jokingly created a "Christmas in Gatlinburg" christmas card.  We took pictures with the christmas tree still up in our cabin and......

with the nutcracker still left on the strip?!?!

More big foot evidence

Our family in one big giant rocking chair!

Daddy/Dawson selfie on the skylift

Ok!  This is the last one, I promise!!

Easter Morning

The Easter Bunny visited the kids at the Easter Cabin.  The silly bunny hid Dawson's basket up on the beams in the cabin.

Paw Patrol Jammies were a big hit.  He has worn these pajamas nearly every night AND day!

Carter has liked his new nerf water gun because it lights up.

Ava hanging with her cousin Abbie

Bloom (her stuffed rabbit) has also been a favorite lovey.  Wouldn't you know that my daughter would be a huge stuffed animal aficionado?

And then we were off to church.  I usually like to get a nice picture of us, but we really were a rag tag bunch.  Ava had a black eye from falling off the bed in Gatlinburg.  I forgot her shoes, so she wore a pretty dress with pink rain boots.  The boys looked pretty dapper along with Mike.  But I also forgot my shoes so I decided to wear pants instead of a dress with sneakers.  Oh well, what can you do???

Easter Cabin Fun!

The very next day after we returned from Gatlinburg, we left to go visit family for Easter.

Carter's outdoor skills were recruited to help:  lighting fires and stacking logs on the fire.  He was pretty proud of this.

This is such a funny picture!  It looks like he was yelling at Ava while she was hiding in her coat, but in fact she was hiding from me and Dawson was going to check on her.

The kids had a ball hiking up the side of the mountain next to the cabin.  In fact Ava and Carter were two of the first people up!

I took this picture of Andrew because he had a sweet smile on his face scaling the mountain.  He was so excited and happy to be climbing!  He's going to be an awesome mountain climber just like his Daddy!

Hanging out waiting for the fun to begin!

We also had an egg hunt, it was a lot of fun!

Thanks so much Aunt Tiffany!

Cute picture of Bo holding little baby Abbie

Mike with his Grandparents, brother Jason and cousins Lindsay, Jessica, Emma, Kelsey and Meg

Grandparents with their Great Grandkids: Carter, Ava, Dawson, Andrew and Abbie

We had plenty of playground time too.  Thank you everyone for the fun weekend!  We really enjoyed spending time with family!

Gatlinburg - Day 3

This day we went on the Skylift.  It is like a ski lift that takes you up to an overlook at the top.  Mike was not fond of the height, but in the end had a good time, despite an ill-timed accident.

Dawson and Daddy

Carter rode with Ava and I

All the kids unanimously agreed this was their favorite thing that we did.

The gorgeous view from the top

Dawson wearing his new John Deere swim trunks and a fierce expression

I should have brought everyone's rain boots.  They wanted to walk through the streams so bad.

This was the view of the nature trail from Chimney Tops picnic area.

Getting some much needed vitamin D while exploring the creek.

This was the end of our Gatlinburg trip, but not the end of our traveling!

Gatlinburg Day 2 - Cade's Cove

On Day 2 we explored Cade's Cove.  

Carter the outdoorsman was well equipped with a head lamp, compass, walking stick, and a gear pack with first aid kit, medications and caribeners. 

What a beautiful spot for a picnic!!  I know Mike really enjoyed having a spring break to soak up some sun.

My three really enjoyed the time running around in the field.  We had a picnic and the kids played tag, ran, jumped and explored.

We had to visit Carter Shield's cabin.  It's not very memorable, except for the name.  The kids love to tell this story:  Dawson asked "Carter, can I have one of your shields?"

While we were at Carter Shield's cabin it was raining while the sun was shining.  We let the kids run around in the light sprinkle, and they had a ball.

We didn't see any bear this time, but lots of deer including this little one right next to the road!

Ava exploring a creek

Wherever we went, Dawson found sticks to carry around.

We were always on high alert for big foot evidence.  Here we found a long stone that they kids dubbed "big foot's finger."

This trip has me so excited for spring to start arriving here!

Gatlinburg - Day 1

Over spring break we went with friends to visit the Great Smoky Mountains.  Although we had been there less than a year ago, it was a different trip with friends.  We got to explore different areas and the kids had a wonderful time with their friends.  All five kids play together so nicely and keep each other occupied so well.  Seriously, we were together for four days and spent most of the time together and I don't remember breaking up a single squabble.  That's pretty much unheard of!  We are so thankful for these friends and it was wonderful to be able to spend this time together.

Our family in front of Cataract Falls

Ava choose a stuffed fawn as her souvenir, which she named Fawnie.  The boys choose head lamps and walking sticks. 

The reason I brought that up is because FAWNIE BOMB!!  I took this picture while Ava was swinging Fawnie back and forth and she photo bombed me.

At the top of Clingman's Dome

We definitely needed our winter coats that day!  There was still snow covering the ground and poor Ava wouldn't even look at the camera because the wind was blowing and she was freezing.  It was partly cloudy that day but we did get a couple of pretty glimpses of the scenery.

But the view from the parking lot of Clingman's Dome was still spectacular. Look at that blue sky!  Straight out of the camera!

Our Family at the National Park Sign

Many more memories to come!

An Egg-cellent Time!

The kids love to dye eggs at Easter.  We did ours right before we left for our spring break trip (more to come.)

They are getting pretty self-sufficient at it now, I just measure out the vinegar and they go to town.

Coloring with their wax crayon is one of their favorites

Dawson had yellow and blue, which he eventually mixed together.  He ended up with "hulk hands" by the end of our fun!

It's funny because Ava and I are the only ones that like hard boiled eggs.  Carter tried one, but that left eleven more for the two of us.  Well, it turns out that Shadow really likes hard boiled eggs too.  We turned our back and we are pretty sure that she ate about four eggs!  She left a couple of flecks of the shells but that was about the only evidence that remained!