Birthday Boy Fred

A belated Happy Birthday wish to Fred, whose 70th birthday we celebrated recently...with pirate cupcakes (for the kids), surprise out of town friends and family, and a nice dinner out at Sugo's (sans kids)...then capped off with an amazing cake from the local French bakery.  It was a lovely evening and we hope Fred enjoyed his special day (and weekend!).

Smoky Mountain Sunday

After having such a fun day exploring on Saturday, it was hard to just drive back home...so we took an impromptu detour instead.  We decided to get back to GA by way of TN, and drive through Smoky Mountains National Park...

We ended up in Gatlinburg...which Nate fell in love with...so much to see and do and SO many candy shops!  We tried to do as much touristy stuff as our time and the weather allowed.  Such as...

Target Shooting

 The Ripley's Mirror Maze (which made me feel claustrophobic - and a little terrified I was going to lose a child in there - but Nate said while we were in it "This is cool!", so it was worth it)...this picture is post-maze with his cool glasses that made all the lights look cool (i.e. blurry).

 Watching taffy being made

And eating taffy

 Puddle Jumping

Hillbilly Matthew

Hillbilly Nate

After they were sufficiently soaked, we headed out (much to the kids' dismay)...but the kids fell asleep in the car so we decided to make yet another detour...to Cades Cove.  Michael and I went there the first time he brought me to TN to meet his family, so it was a little nostalgic to visit again 10 years later with kids in tow.  It was mostly driving through but we parked a few times and took turns getting out and taking pictures while the kids continued to sleep.  It was a fun little photography excursion for us. :)

And then the boys woke up....

...but they weren't quite as excited about old farmhouses and churches as we were so we began our journey home.

It isn't often that we can be spontaneous with a 4 yr old and 2 yr old so it was so much fun to spend 2 days exploring and just going where the roads took us.  Sometimes you have more fun when you don't have a plan...

Smoky Mountain Saturday

We recently visited CC and Papa Steve at the mountain house and, as usual, managed to cram a bunch of exciting stuff into a short amount of time.

On Saturday we went on a rainy hike to a nearby waterfall....

As we were leaving the trail, a fellow hiker told us that there was an even better waterfall just up the road in Cherokee...so off we went exploring...

 Michael was climbing down on the logs to get a picture and Safety Nate was shouting from the bridge "Dad, this is not a good idea!"

After that hike, we stopped by to feed some bears...

 Not sure if this is adorable or terrifying

Then one more fun stop....to pan for gold!  Which turned out to be unexpectedly fun!

We finally made our way back home....and CC had a fun surprise for the boys - window markers!

After a long, fun day we went out for a nice Italian meal...it is always the nights when you have exhausted, antsy children that the "kitchen is busy" and it takes an hour to get your food...so, not the best ending to an otherwise great day!  But still nice to spend the time with CC and Papa Steve!