Smoky Mountain Memories

We had an awesome time on our trip to the Smoky Mountains!! We were overwhelmed by the beauty of the mountains and streams. The kids were all hoping and praying that we would see bears in the mountains - their prayers were answered!!! We saw 2 different mama bears with cubs and Jay went into the forest and found two big bears with no cubs. In Cades Cove, whenever a bear is sighted, the people around all get out to see the bear and take pics, so Jay took the boys out with him to get a few shots and some people were walking out into the field where they could get a better shot, so Jay took the boys out with him, not knowing that as soon as he got to the forest edge, there was the mama and her cubs only 20 feet away. The mama just kept on walking so everyone was just fine - but my heart was racing! The kids loved playing and exploring by the river that runs down the mountain. We got to see a few beautiful waterfalls and we also saw alot of deer along the way. We also took the kids to Ripley's aquarium and that was soooooo cool. The kids just kept saying "Look Mom!" or "Look Dad!" and pointing at everything. They really loved the time at the aquarium. On the last day, Dillon was so sad that we were leaving, he couldn't even eat his breakfast. Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge were really neat towns. We didn't spend much time walking around, but just driving through there was so cool to see all the little shops and things to do. We hope to take a trip next year maybe to some mountains out west..... we'll see!!