Smokey Mountain National Park

Another great thing about being at Mama Kay's and Papa's house is that they are so close to the Smokey Mountains! So we decided to take a day trip over there and go on some hikes. Mama Kay stayed home with Juliette, who was too young to really enjoy it. Thank you Mama Kay! We thought Abbey might be too young to hike, but we knew she would want to come, so we put her in a backpack and started up the hill.

Ben and Caroline had a lot of fun on the hike.

We got to cross some bridges over streams - good job Abbey!

We hiked to a place where the Walker Sisters lived. There were 5 sisters who lived in the national park their whole lives (without power) until the last one died in the 1960's. They grew their own food and had farm animals. It was pretty amazing to see where they lived. Here are the kids looking out the top window of the house.

Then it was time to head back down the hill. Abbey wanted to be held (shocking) by Papa, so Ben got to ride in the back pack. I sure am glad Abbey was in there for the uphill part!

After the hike we had a picnic lunch and then the kids got to play in the stream. They had a blast!
Here are all the kids in the water.

And Aunt Theresa helping Abbey climb over the rocks.