Trip to Townsend, TN

The Harrison side of our family decided to take our annual vacation in the mountains of Tennessee this year. We stayed in a little place right on the river and a few miles away from Cades Cove. They were some really fun, rowdy, grungy (and I mean that in the best way.....just ask Angie about me and my grunginess) yet so peaceful days together.

We were really excited that our destination was only 2 hours away from us this time around. HOWEVER, we got stuck in traffic on 40 for 2 1/2 hours right at the start of the trip over. The first hour was OK, but then we all started to get a little cranky and impatient for the last one. So we missed the first loop around the cove that night but all was forgotten upon arrival and everyone was happy.

Friday morning everyone got up at the crack of dawn and began the fishing marathon that lasted all weekend.

Adam was especially patient and caught a few fish.

Annabelle was excited to find that Nana brought Max along.

The kids were so excited to be with their cousins. Caleb and Walker played a lot of "war" while Amy and Adam played dogs and such. There was LOTS of fishing and rock hopping/wading/swimming in the river and Seth kept a perfect fire going in our little fire pit out back. Family, fire and a river........what more could a little boy (and their Moma) ask for in this life?

Later that day we headed back to the cove where the boys and Annabelle went on a horse ride. Well, the boys rode horses on the trail and Annabelle rode with Nana in a wagon, but if you ask her she definitely rode one herself! She reminded us quite often that, "I ride a 'orsee". I went on an awesome hike with Heath, baby Aaron, Nicole and her folks during all of that. It was a lot tougher than we thought it was going to be but I was so happy to be out hiking with only myself to take care of for a few hours.

That evening we had a lovely meal at a restaurant called Timbers. Oh yeah, Caleb wanted a mohawk this time around so Aunt Lorie did the honors right before we left. He won't usually let me stick it up and so it just looks like a really funny haircut most of the time. It is going to go later this week.

On Saturday, we drove over to Cherokee and stopped along the way to play in a VERY COLD mountain creek and have a picnic lunch.




Uncle Johnny is the best.....he is always in there helping the kids find salamanders and build dams. The cold water didn't seem to bother Aaron at all.
He wanted to get down and waller in it!

That night we went to see the play Unto These Hills. The boys were thoroughly entertained because there were a lot of fight scenes. Annabelle was thoroughly entertained by all of the skittles I fed her through it. Nah, she liked it but was quite verbal about how much she liked it so Seth took her out after intermission. It was really neat and a great lesson for the kids about how not to treat others.






Then Sunday there was more fishing and chilling out by the river.











And we ate lots of smores...... (I know that you gals with one baby are gasping at the thought of my one year old munching on marshmellows and skittles but you'll proabably do the same with your third......I would have never have fed them to Caleb at that age!)






And played in the creek a bit more.........



Annabelle carried this baby doll of Amy's around all weekend. it was too cute!

Then we ended the trip by tubing down the river. I know I don't look happy in that picture but I surely was. It was super fun.





So that's all I can get out right now. I am sure I will have more to say later.................

Thanks for reading!





PS There is a great new video of Annabelle singing on our video page.