Here come our pictures from our vacation. After finishing up a homeschool conference from Titus2.com, I’m refreshed and recharged and focused and ready for the next week. I think.

So, we traveled up to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge for our vacation. This vacation is a sequel to a vacation we took two years ago. A sequel in that we met up with Mark’s college roommates and their families for “Bamapalooza 09.” The weather was a little wet, but we all enjoyed our time together and exploring the outdoors and the towns. Not to mention a girls’ shopping trip!

On the way up the mountains, this was a view Mark, the kids and our borrowed daughters (two teens who agreed to come with us and be attacked help out. I, however, was waffling through cigarette smoke and listening to motorcycles roar by while trying to get Ceili Rain to pay attention enough to nurse. We got to spend about 45 minutes in Cherokee in a car, in traffic while looking at every kind of motorcycle known to man (apparently there was some kind of convention going on there).

On Monday, we hiked. You just got to click on the picture to read the sign. It’s enough to make a mama paranoid. Very grateful for our borrowed daughters (oh, we’ll just call them BD for short) then!

I love seeing the sun through the trees and since this was one of the few days we saw the sun, I’m glad I got this picture.

A nice big rock for my boys to climb on!

One of our friends.

Zoe enjoyed the climbing too but was never too involved to not stop and pose for the camera.

The BDs themselves!! Such beautiful and responsible young ladies! Except they hiked in their Converse. Which looked cool but I don’t think was that comfortable.

Sorry, I forgot to turn J rightside up. Not one of mine but he was adorable in his hiking gear.

Made it! To the top of the rock. Not the end of the hike.

A view of on eof the mountains. Some of the leaves are starting to change too…as can be seen by the picture.

Still hiking, but Liam, being ever so cute, bummed a ride from this beautiful lady (one of the wife friends).

At the falls! This was a fairly moderate hike. And, even though Ace didn’t want to hike, it was a great one to do. I don’t think he complained much on it…which is a surprise. And the reward of a cool breeze and pretty waterfall was great. Josiah kept pointing at it saying, “Wa wa fall”


A man pointed out this salamander before we left. Slimy, no? Thankfully, there was a barrier to keep my little gooey ooey boys (and girl) from touching it.

On the way back down, taking a rest.

Yes, it took two to walk with Liam. I’ll admit that.
Liam kept waffling back and forth trying to decide if was going to marry one or the other.

And the big reward was we got to see a bear when we got back to our car!! One of our friends said she saw two small bears. We were trying to figure out where the mama was as this bear was quite small in black bear standards (I think). At any rate, we had talked about paying about $10 per person to take the kids to see a bear and other animals but free was waaaay better. He was very high up in the tree just chomping at the branches. Very cool!