Wednesday, September 5, 2012

camping at elkmont

Last weekend we met some college friends in the Smoky Mountains at Elkmont campground to camp for 4 nights.  It was a great time catching up.  It is a tradition with several families at their church, there was actually 135 of them there.  Met lots of new people that we look forward to seeing next year as well.


I have learned... take a few activities for the younger kids.  It is a great babysitter so we can sit and relax for a little bit while we are there.



 The older 3 kids spent all day everyday in the river.  It was great to be able to let them go on their own for hours at a time.  They caught crawfish so we boiled them and ate them one night.  It was a first for all of our kids.


Tubing and playing in the river was a hit with everyone!










We saw a bear, saw (and heard howling at night) coyotes and this little guy (below) was hanging out on a rock right where we were putting the kids in to tube down the river.  I have no idea what kind of snake it is but when our friend went to smash it with a rock it lunged into the water and we never saw him again, we probably swam with him and didn't know it!


Hope took a nap everyday but sweat terribly when she did, it was very humid there.


It was a great trip and we can't wait to go back.  No showers, no hot water so we bathed in the river one evening to get the funk off of us, we were clean for a few minutes anyway!  The kids chased turkeys and saw deer.  We had no cell phone coverage from Thursday until Monday and it was nice!  Beside the flood that came Sunday night, it was a perfect trip.  The tent is still drying out at my parents house!  There is a lot to enjoy that the Lord created.

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