Juggling Our Way Through Life: Smokey Mountains 2013

We just got back Friday evening from a week long trip to the Smokey Mountains with my mom and dad. We started out trip in Chattanooga and saw Rock City and rode the Incline Railway. Cale and Aiden loved riding the mountain train. Then on Sunday we headed to Gatlinburg where we spent 5 days. It was beautiful weather and we got lots of hiking in. We climbed Clingman's Dome one day, ate a few picnics by the rushing streams and hiked to Laurel Falls. We also drove through Cade's Cove which is so cool and saw the old houses of the people that lived there in the 1800s in the middle of the mountains and made it their home. For the most part the kiddos were troopers. Of course they got off schedule with sleep, but they really were good. A few fits here and there, but they had a good time. The last night we were there we walked around downtown Gatlinburg and went out to eat and got some candy from a candy factory there. Cale was awesome with the hikes. We had some long hikes-the falls were a 2.6 roundtrip hike in and of themselves and he did great! Aiden loved the mountains as he called them. He would just say mountains over and over again. Even now that we are home he still says mountains. And they had statues of black bears everywhere so he would have to go up and hug and kiss each one-super cute. Some of the bears were older and so their wood had started decaying and he said that the bears had a boo-boo and would point it out to everyone. We also got to go to the Ripley's Aquarium which we love. It was awesome. It had sharks, turtles, lots of fish and a dinosaur exhibit that Cale really loved! Overall it was a great trip and it was so nice to spend time with mom and dad. The kiddos really enjoyed their gaga and paa-paa time!