Friday, July 25, 2014

Gatlinburg Vacation Trip 2014

So our little family joined Kyle's parents and his brother on a trip to Gatlinburg for summer vacation.  We had a wonderful time and Audrey did GREAT! 


Feeling pelts near the visitor center near our first hike to Laurel Falls

She loved rubbing her feet on the soft pelts!

We found this awesome baby hiking backpack at Once Upon a Child in Muncie which made hiking SO. MUCH. EASIER.  Seriously, if you hike and want to take a baby, get one.  Paid for itself over this trip.

Audrey either rode on Daddy's or Uncle Jacob's back during our hikes.

The backpack even had this nifty stand which allows you to put the backpack down with the baby in it to get her out.

Excited to get out to play in the water at the end of our hike!


Gary's face!



Family picture!

Byards minus Kelsey :(

Sleepy time!

We spotted this while walking around Gatlinburg in front of the Ripley Museum and just had to have a picture.  Everyone around us on the street thought this was hilarious and laughed.


On our way to go Hillbilly golfing!


We took turns holding Audrey while others were golfing.  She loved to crawl around on the greens.


Pool time!  We went twice to a pool at the clubhouse that was near our cabin.  The first time was a little cold, but it warmed up enough.  The second time we went in the morning, and it was perfect!  Audrey loved playing in the water!






Giving kisses.




We went to Biltmore Estate, but we couldn't take pictures inside.  Kyle took Audrey's 10 month pictures there, but I wish I would have thought to just have a family picture taken outside.  Oh well.  It was my third time going, and I love it.  My favorite part is when we had ice cream cones at the end of the day.  It was Audrey's favorite, too.

Ripley's Aquarium.  She LOVED it!  She would alternate between screaming in joy at the fish to turning around and giving kisses to whoever was holding her at the time.  What a happy time for this little girl! 















After the aquarium, we went to the salt and pepper shaker museum.  It was interesting...room after room after room of salt and pepper shakers.  There were more than 30,000 sets!  We ended up getting a Batman/Catwoman set as a souvenir.



Audrey found salt and pepper shakers to be very boring.

We also did some hiking on the Appalachian Trail while in Tennessee.  We hiked for a few hours, and it was very cool in the mountains!  However, I disliked that I felt like I was getting NOWHERE.  Audrey enjoyed the ride and the beautiful sights.


It was a lot of climbing over rocks and tree roots.  We got very tired after awhile, especially Kyle, who was carrying 25 pound Audrey on his back the entire time!  Kyle is very proud that he can say he hiked part of the Appalachian trail with Audrey on his back, though!
All in all, it was a great vacation!