Where have we been?

So, it has been about a week since I posted anything.  We have been on vacation., our first vacation in years.  This was our first real family vacation since having kids.  We rented a house in the mountains and just enjoyed the Smokeys.  I'll share just a few pictures with you from our trip:

We visited the Oconaluftee Indian Village in Cherokee, NC.  We learned all about life for the Indians and how they make their various crafts.  My favorite part of this was being able to stay and watch the traditional dances (pictured above).  They even had an audience participation part at the end and my niece, oldest son and myself all went and danced.

The next day, we took a trip on the Great Smokey Mountain Railway.  My oldest son LOVED the train ride.  He loves trains anyways, thanks to Thomas the train.  He thought he was riding Thomas the train the whole time.  He hardly once left the window.

On another day, we drove on the Skyline Highway that goes between the Tennessee and North Carolina border.  The picture above is the Bald Waterfall.  It was nice and despite the fact it rained on us off an on the whole trip, we did get some nice pictures.

This is my oldest son enjoying the view at one of the Skyline overlooks.  We did get to go over a mile above sea level!

This is my daughter.  She is enjoying the view from another Skyline overlook with the binoculars her daddy bought just for this trip.

Another view from another Skyline overlook.  This one had no barrier between the overlook and the edge... mother's worst nightmares right there with a two year old who runs right up to the edge while mom and grandma are running after him yelling, "STOP!"

It was nice to get to have vacation where we did not have to worry about a thing while we were gone, except the occasional run towards the edge of a cliff, or running down a steep hill so fast you can't stop or even the constant reminding that we can't go jump in the stream with its raging rapids...

I loved that my children were able to experience a new part of the country they had never seen before.  My husband and I love to visit the mountains and walk along trails, and we want to get our kids liking these things as well.  My son learned two new words while we were gone, river and mountain.  The baby learned to play peak-a-boo all by himself in the car.  They all got to experience life in an Indian village as well as see nature up close. We hope to take them back someday when they are older and can enjoy the long walks/hikes more and where I can rest my mommy heart to know I won't have to make a mad dash after my two year old who is running towards the edge of a cliff!