Ramblings of a Wife and Mother: Smoky Mountain Vacation

We've spent the last week enjoying time with my mom (Nanna) and spending a long weekend vacationing in a cabin in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Nanna flew to Birmingham a couple of days before we drove to Gatlinburg, and it was WONDERFUL to have that extra pair of arms for Lydia while I got ready for the trip. I commented later that I didn't think I'd ever felt so relaxed once we were all on the road...it is usually much more stressful than it was with Nanna here to help with the preparation. The drive up to Gatlinburg wasn't too bad, though Lydia did cry more than half the time that she was awake, and she never slept for more than 40 minutes at a stretch. Nanna sat next to her and helped her cope with her nemesis, the car seat, as much as possible. The boys enjoyed the Rear Entertainment System in our new minivan, and Marcus and I enjoyed surfing through about half of our iTunes library accessed through a flash drive hook-up in the glove compartment. All-in-all, the minivan travels very well :)

While in Gatlinburg, we enjoyed a lot of hiking in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Each morning, I would feed Lydia and then everyone but Nanna and Lydia would head out for three hours of hiking. I always had to be back to feed Lydia 3 hours later, but Marcus & Papa kept the boys out longer one day. And, of course, that was the day that they spotted nine black bears (two cubs on their own, a momma & two cubs, and a momma & three cubs). The first two cubs ran across the road less then a mile from our cabin. I was driving, so I pulled the van over and we watched them play together, explore the brush and climb a tree next to the road for about ten minutes. These were the first bears I'd ever seen in the wild, and the first for Caleb and Ethan as well. Marcus wasn't with us at the time, but later that same day, he was out with Papa & the boys and the spotted a mama bear with cubs two different times. Over the weekend, we spotted smaller wildlife like wild turkey, deer, squirrels, chipmunks, salamanders & ravens. One day, we drove up the highest mountain in the park and then hiked the last half-mile to the top. There is a circular lookout at the top where you can (supposedly) see for 100 miles in any direction on a clear day. The day wasn't particularly clear or particularly cloudy, and we could see for miles in every direction.

We didn't do much in Gatlinburg, since the kids aren't really old enough for much of the touristy stuff, and it is all quite expensive. The one exception is that we went to Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies. Marcus and I went to this aquarium on our honeymoon nine years ago, and it was pretty cool then. The designers clearly had children in mind when they built this place, because there are about a dozen places where kids can crawl in tunnels and get themselves "inside" different aquariums or habitats. The Penguin Playhouse is the best example of this, and the kids LOVED it. Also super-cool was the Shark Lagoon, which contains a LOT of sharks, some of them 12-feet long. The lagoon has a tunnel under it, so you are looking up at all of the fish & sharks, and they swim right toward you in the tunnel. It is really something else to view ocean life from that angle.

Other than the aquarium, we only went into Gatlinburg to eat dinner. When we weren't hiking or eating, we hung out at the huge chalet or went swimming in the community pool. One afternoon, Nanna, Lydia and I went to the Tanger Outlets. Just like last November, Nanna & I spent about an hour at the Carter's Outlet where she picked out a BUNCH of adorable summer clothes for Lydia, all for a great price. I even got to do some shopping on my own after that, and spent most of my annual clothing budget on new running shoes, some work-out clothes, a couple pairs of shorts and four new tops. And, of course, we kept the Campbell Poker Night tradition alive each night after the kids went to sleep. Sometimes that ended up being pretty late, because Lydia did not sleep nearly as well "on the road" as she does at home. (I was very relieved when she resumed her stellar sleep habits as soon as we got back. I guess she is just really attached to her crib :) Regardless, we managed to get in some good hours of poker. As usual, Marcus came out on top (maintaining his original $20 of chips and gaining $13 more), and Nanna cheerfully lost all of her money :). I usually break even, but this time, Papa went home with a good chunk of the money I bought in with. Oh well, as Mom always says, your paying the price of dinner for several evenings of fun, so all-in-all it's a good deal :)

All-in-all, it was a great vacation. Made all the better by the fact that it was practically free. Since the chalet belonged to a friend of my dad's, all we paid for was gas and admission to the aquarium. Money is particularly tight this final year of residency, so we are very thankful to have been able to have such a fun vacation!

Nanna, Daddy & Caleb playing the "popping game" (i.e. Trouble).