Family Vacay to the Smokies

Taking family vacations has been something I've really tried to make an effort to do ~ even when it ins't easy financially or logistically. We went on one vacation after we were married, before children, but after that it just didn't happen for many years. Then one day I decided we were just going to have to figure out how to vacation, on a budget, with kids, AND make it a priority. And so began our 'every-other-year' vacations. Well, one year we actually went on two vacations and that was a blast, but it is not our norm!

Typically we rotate between the beach and the mountains, 

which works for us and allows our children to experience two different styles of vacations.

 Maybe one day we'll brach out and vacation to other locations too.

This year we were supposed to go to the beach, but due to reasons beyond our control that trip was canceled and so we decided to go to the Tennessee, Smoky Mountains. When we arrived the view did not disappoint. There's something so magical about seeing the 'smoke' on the mountains. 

Our first stop, before we even went to our cabin, was to visit the giant Smoky Mountain Knife Works store. It's a gigantic multi-level store with all kinds of tactical weapons and gear, even kitchen stuff (not sure how that fits in with the store's theme, but hey it keeps us women entertained while the men folk are all about the guns, knives, and swords, lol).

Our first full day on vacation we went on a hiking trip to Metcalf Bottoms and to the Little Green Briar school. (I'll be sharing more about that hiking adventure in another post.)

After hiking we took the children to buy new cowboy boots. But, since Lydia loves her Crocs so much we went to the local outlet store and bought her a pair of 'winter' crocs. I've never seen two little kids more excited than Lydia for her new Crocs and Titus for his new cowboy boots!

The next day we went walking the shops up in Gatlinburg. 

Y'all it was bitterly cold and we were NOT appropriately dressed, ugh!! 

Total mom fail!!

All through Gatlinburg there were these amazing pumpkin people set up. I took dozens of pictures of them with the kids, lol. Thankfully my children were good sports and even looked for the pumpkin people to strike a fun pose with them just to make mama happy! 

Like I said, my little treasures really enjoyed the pumpkin people, lol!

After walking the shops in Gatlinburg, we took the children to play putt-putt. 

The last day we were there we took the children to The Island where they have lots of shops and carnival type activities, as well as live bands. It's really a fun place to explore.

We took the babies to make a 'Build-a-Bear' while at The Island. They were so cute making their bears, ugh melt this mama's heart!! Lydia absolutely loves Precious the kitty and Titus is quite attached to Billy the bear. 😍

Two of our middle kiddos decided to do the giant and very scary obstacle course. 

Yeah, I think I was more scared than they were, perks of motherhood, I guess. 🙈

Joshua and Daddy went on the giant enclosed Ferris wheel also located at The Island. 

That pretty much wraps up our family vacation to the Smokies. My husband and I did do a little Christmas shopping at the outlet shops and then we took the children to eat out a couple of times (a rare treat reserved for vacations). We also did a lot of sleeping late and relaxing in our cabin which was a nice reprieve from our normal over-filled busy days.

In an effort to be genuine and authentic I must confess our family vacation was not without it's ups and downs. Trust me we had many 'hiccups' along the way. Regardless of those unfortunate situations, it was a lovely time to get away as a family. I've come to realize large family vacations are simply an excuse for drama and par for the course. Hopefully our children will realize, one day, that it was their parents earnest desire to create treasured family memories on these crazy, chaos-filled vacations we drag them on. 😊

With Love & Hope, 

Jennifer