Our Smokey vacation

The last weekend in July we headed to Tennessee to visit Tonya and fam. We left Thursday after Jared got home from working, arriving in the early am hours of Friday. Friday Tonya had to work but the rest of us had some fun. Dustin and the boys took us on a hike where we had a great view of some waterfalls.

After the hike, we changed into our suits and played in the cold mountain stream. We even jumped off some rock ledges into the water. This was somewhat ironic since a few weeks earlier I was in a conversation in which we were discussing potentially dangerous things we had done as highschool and college students that we would not want our children doing. River jumping was at the top of my list. Not only have my children now done this, but I introduced them to it. I did however make sure it was safe first. I have to admit that I was surprised that little Bella even participated in this activity.

We arrived home around the same time as Tonya and after a quick pizza dinner we headed to my cousin, Jacob's, wedding open house. It was fun to visit with him, his new bride, and my aunt and cousins. "My" Jacob thought it was hilarious that my cousin's name was Jacob also. He kept laughing and laughing at that.

Me, little Jacob, and big Jacob.

(They were both named after my great grandfather Jacob Ott)

The next day we went tubing down the river. Tonya lives very close to the tubing businesses. We all had a blast. Great Grandma B was even gracious to watch the kids once so the adults could go down and more rapid section of the river. Our first run down we all went and were suprised with a thunder and lightning storm. Knowing we were getting close to Tonya's house we tried to continue on. Then the lightning got worse, so I grabbed a few kids and headed towards the shore. The latest strike had proven too much for even the most daring tubers and a mass exodus of the river was under way. The other rafter were kind enough to help us all. The part of the river we were at had a rocky ledge we were attempting to climb while pulling all the rafts and kids with us. The other rafter made an assembly line and passed the kids and tubes from one to another till we all reached the top. When we rented the tubes we had the option of buying a shuttle pass. Since we were so close to Tonya's we passed on the option and just parked one car at the top and one at the bottom. When the storm started the guy who we rented the rafts from remembered a large family with lots of little kids had started not too long before. He came and found us trudging up the road and gave us a free lift back. Jared and Dustin went back out before I thought it was really safe. After the storm broke we all went back out. The kids thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
We were supposed to head to Gatlinburg in the middle of the afternoon but we were having so much fun on the river we didn't stop tubing until after 5. By the time we changed and made it to Gatlinburg it was well after 7. We enjoyed walking around and window shopping. I even did a little real shopping. I found a cute Ohio St. purse. We found a place to eat that only charged for the adult meals. The kids ate for free! We drove home through Pigeon Forge, but didn't get out there. It was a funfilled weekend. I ended up sick half way through but tried not to let that damper the fun. I paid for it the next week though when I could barely get out of bed. I still have a lingering cough.

Our little travelers