Oh play me some mountain music

We drove through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on our way to Gatlinburg. I wanted to stop about every hundred yards to take in the surroundings. It was BEAUTIFUL! We did pull off to the side to check out a little stream that ran alongside the main road.  The water was freezing cold & felt great to us.  Charlotte thought it was a bit too cold when she slipped on a rock & submerged most of her body in the water ; ) She immediately started stripping off her clothes & we were laughing thinking about how we need to work with her on being okay with wet clothes until out of the public eye.  We stopped shortly after that & had lunch within the National Park.

We got to Gatlinburg that afternoon & met up with Bob & Jeannine. We spent the afternoon swimming at the hotel pool then got some Mexican food for dinner. It was a low key day/evening which was exactly what we needed after traveling.

The next morning we filled our bellies with some delicious pancakes then our family of four headed back to the National Park to do some exploring.

We found a trail called the Sugarlands Valley Nature Trail that is actually handicap accessible with a paved trail. It was perfect for walking with the stroller.  We walked down to a different part of the stream that we had visited the day before. It was even more beautiful. We stayed there for about an hour just enjoying the surroundings!

some Elo snuggles stream side

Charlee & one of the MANY rocks she threw into the water

Rob helping his little ladies across 

The rest of the family made it into town that afternoon & we settled into our cabin just outside of Gatlinburg. Once we were up & moving the next day we went straight back to the Sugarlands Valley Nature Trail with a few more in tow.

Rob's aunt Anne & her daughter Caroline joined us on our trek through the stream. Caroline is 12 & was the flower girl in our wedding when she was 3. She has turned into such a delightful young lady that we all enjoyed spending time with. Charlotte thought she was pretty cool & spent countless hours with her. Char said more than a couple times "Caroline is my very best friend Mommy!" So cute : ) I was thankful that Caroline made Charlotte feel so special. 

I really could have sat there for hours watching the water rush by & seeing Charlotte examine every little stone before throwing it in as far as she could. It reminded me of a song that I loved in college when I first returned to following the Lord. The song was recorded by Nichole Nordeman & is called River God. The lyrics are just beautiful...

Rolling River God, little stones are smoothOnly once the water passes throughSo I am a stone, rough and grainy stillTrying to reconcile this river's chill
But when I close my eyes and feel you rushing byI know that time brings change and change takes timeAnd when the sunset come, my prayer would be this oneThat you might pick me up and notice that I amJust a little smoother in your hand
Sometimes raging wild, sometimes swollen highAnd never have I known this river dryThe deepest part of you is where I want to stayAnd feel the sharpest edges wash away
And when I close my eyes and feel you rushing byI know that time brings change and change takes timeAnd when the sunset comes, my prayer would be just oneThat you might pick me up and notice that I amJust a little smoother in your hand
Rolling River God, little stones are smoothOnly once the water passes through
I am SO aware of how rough around the edges I am as I continue to deal with sin in my heart such as selfishness or being quickly frustrated with the little girls I had the blessing of spending hour after hour with over two weeks (that frustration usually directly correlates with selfishness). This song reminds me that change does take time & it is only after years of being in that "river" that the sharp edges are washed away & it is only on the other side of eternity that we will no long have to deal with our sin because of what Christ has done. All that to say, the stream provoked a lot of thoughts for me & brought up sweet memories of a time of change in my life when I first discovered this song. 
The next day we surprised Charlotte & took her on a horseback ride.  We were really excited to do something special with our big three year old. Three was the youngest age that could ride so we barely made it! I didn't take my camera with my on my horse since I was already really nervous about riding & it was not recommended but I did snap a few pictures before we saddled up. 

Oh my, she looks so old to me in this picture....she was so proud to wear her helmet

Checking out the possibilities...Char declared she wanted to ride a white horsey after seeing this one.

The whole experience made me laugh. Charlotte was the only child in our group of 14 riders. We had to wait up on this platform while they brought out horses one by one for each rider.  They were all in the stable & what we had a perfect view of was the back end of a dozen horses in a row. They were relieving themselves (if you will) frequently & Charlotte was obsessed. She kept exclaiming loudly "that's a lot of poopie Mommy!" & then what made me really laugh was when one of the horses sprayed out about 5 gallons of urine she said "Wow Mom, that's cool! Don't you think that's cool?" Hahaha! I was glad when Charlotte & Rob got on their horse & the conversation was forced to a close. 

They road on Josephine who I thought was the prettiest horse. I road on Memphis who was not as pretty & tried to bite at my feet.  

My past experiences with horses are as follows:

1. My friends who were in Girl Scouts in elementary school got to ride horses at camp so I wanted to join so I could ride horses too. I don't know that I ever got to. 
2. My best friend Lisa that lived next door to me growing up had some family friends that owned a couple horses. We went out there for dinner a few times & always wanted to ride.  If my memory serves me right, we both got on the same horse without a saddle & her parents laughed from a distance as they watched us lean too far to one side & slowly fall off. 
3. On the way there I was asking Rob about Christopher Reeve....I was nervous

There was not a whole lot of instruction from the guy with a heavy country accent & what he said, he said fast. My heart was racing. We started off on our 1 hour ride & I was thankful every second that Robby agreed to let Charlotte ride with him.  She was squirmy & was D-O-N-E with riding Miss Josephine halfway through. Robby had to coax her to stay on the horse & she made it to the end.  I relaxed a little bit until my horse would either stop to eat grass & the guide would yell "don't let her eat! Pull back harder!" as I was already pulling with all my might or would attempt to bite off one of my toes.  I rode behind Rob & Char & I swear that they must have given Josephine some sort of laxative as I felt compelled to exclaim (like Charlotte) "That's a lot of poopie!"

All in all, it was fun. I think we all agreed that a 30 minute ride might have been better for all of us : ) Also I figured out that if I ever become a cowgirl & I am ordering myself a memory foam saddle. 

After our horsey ride we consumed a delicious meal at Bennett's Pit Bar-B-Que. I wanted to go mainly because our "pit" is named Bennett ; ) It was a fun morning with us & our sweet Charlee-Noonles. 

This day was FULL of adventure! That afternoon we loaded up in our car with Anne & her 4 kiddos to drive over to the edge of the National Park for some ziplining at Climb Works Canopy. 

Robby surprised me with agreeing that we could do this since it was out of what I thought our price range was. He later told me that the horsey rides were for Char & the ziplining was a treat for me : ) I SO enjoyed it! So funny that I was nearly terrified climbing onto a horse 8 feet off the ground but didn't feel an ounce of nervousness flying from tree to tree!

all suited up

Thomas, Jack, Charlie & Caroline & Anne

Here is the adventure in photos....

took a Polaris off roading vehicle to the top

standing on top of the second of eleven platforms high up in the trees

Rob going full speed ahead

my turn!

Me & sweet Caroline

Belaying off the last platform to be on solid ground again

Over all we went across 3 sky bridges, 9 ziplines totaling over a mile of line with the longest individual one being 1200 feet (a Titanic & a half) & descended over 500 feet. They showed us how to hang upside down which I think I would have wanted to do every time if it was an option : ) It was really a fun afternoon & I would do it again in a heartbeat. It will be fun someday when the girls are old enough to do something like that as a family.

This post just about sums up all the outdoor adventures in Tennessee.  I think it is safe to say that we took advantage of the surroundings!