The Brown Fambly: Camping and the Aquarium

One of the things we were super excited to do was go camping in the GREAT Smoky Mountains. I guess Kyle really hadn't done that so it was a new experience for us. We also decided to take Jackson along. Travis got a camping spot and the boys-er, men-went up early to set things up. Luckily the campground was only about a half hour away-if that. They then came back and picked up everyone else.

It had been raining quite a bit so finding DRY wood was pretty much impossible. However, they got a fire started and put some wood up around it to get it drying. One of the forest rangers came over and chit-chatted with us. He informed told us to make sure our food was in the car because there was a bear den about 400 yards away. I asked Kyle if that was a little farther than a football field to which he apologized to everyone and said it was four football fields away. Later on that evening it started to rain, and rain, and rain AND RAIN. It was pretty bad and we were debating going home. Gladly we stuck it out though. We had also forgotten the ketchup and mustard for our hot dogs so we improvised and put potato salad on the the dogs. It was yummy! Later that night we had smores which were delicious of course. Jack had a lot of fun and surprisingly it wasn't that bad of a night. It was the first time I left my little girl for a night. I missed her and held her a lot the next day but I'm glad we got the experience. When we got up Jill cooked us some pancakes and eggs followed by another helping smores. Then we packed up and moved on out. I think in a way the rain was a blessing because it kept the bugs down and there are A LOT of bugs there.

There's a slight slope that Jack had a ball walking down over and over and over

Cambria helping Jill carry wood

Jack's too close to the fire

Salvaging the fire in the rain

Do you see the river in the background?

This is a keeper

In the morning. I guess it had rained some more through the night but I slept peacefully through it.

After we got back from camping and everyone had showered and rested for a bit we went to the Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg. There were lots of really pretty fish and I think Jack really enjoyed it. He loved spending time with his uncle and Jenna who showed him the cool fish in the fish tunnel. A funny moment happened in one of the play tunnels at the aquarium. Jackson LOVES LOVES LOVES his cousin Jordan. When he was down in a dark play tunnel there was another boy about Jordan's age going through as well. Jack came up to this boy and gave him a BIG hug while squealing with delight. I'm pretty sure he thought is was Jordan but the kid was a good sport and patted Jack on the back. Children are so wonderful.