Yesterday evening we made it into Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We just went for a quick visit after dinner and hiked to a waterfall not far from the Sugarland Visitor’s center.
Hiking Adventure
While we were on the train this morning I saw a cool creek that I thought we could access for a fun creek walk. In the afternoon the kids and I headed out to find our way to the creek. After a long walk uphill on the road, we found a way to get down to the creek, but when we finally got down to it we realized that it was a little more than we were prepared for.
Already having crossed the creek once we decided not to chance it again and headed toward an abandoned mine town that had been turned into a museum. I guess it closes pretty early because by the time we got there it was closed. We had a long walk back to our car on the road. We at least found some black raspberries along the way, to sweeten our trip.
Natural Arch
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Blue Heron – Hike & Swimming
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Cumberland Falls – Swimming & Falls
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Hike to Yahoo Falls & Arch
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Monday Afternoon Bikeride
Skiing
Today Susan and the older kids went skiing. Mimi & Papa gave our kids and the Reagen kids a pass to go skiing at Seven Oaks and today was the perfect day to make use of it.
It was the kids first time skiing and they all caught on pretty quickly. Erin and Nate helped a lot since they have been skiing more recently.
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Muddy Week
We’ve had a bit of a thaw this week, which made for a muddy week at Bean Sprouts and our Prairie Grass Guild hike.
Playing at Rock Island
Lucia’s First Time Skating
I took the afternoon off today so we could enjoy the ice before the warm weather takes it away. The Reagens dropped off some ice skates for Lucia so she was able to join in the fun. She actually kept her skates on for over two hours. She enjoyed skating while holding hands, skating by herself, and making snow angels on the ice.
Ice Skating
It has been cold the past couple of weeks and today the ice was thick enough on the creek for us to get out for some ice skating. The three older kids and I skated and played hockey, Lu played in her snow boots, and Rose and Susan joined us late to play for a little while. Rose was not a huge fan.