This past long weekend was the 10th anniversary of a wonderful hiking trip to the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee which Matthew, Oliver and I have had the pleasure of participating in three times. Well ok Oliver twice, once in utero and once as a toddler. It truly is such a joy to be able to reconnect with great friends, share stories and laugh harder than I have in months. So below you will find a bundle of pictures documenting our time there. It was worth every step up and down that mountain...
click through to see all about our adventure.
to start the weekend off we all stayed in an enormous house...technically it could sleep 74 we had a luxurious 43. Oliver enjoyed driving his cars all over the vast porch overlooking the mountains.
happy campers.
roar! it's a bear!
colouring with Mollie.
the two mini dudes; Jack and Oliver.
snoozing.
what is a better way to spend an afternoon in the hills of Tennessee? mini golf, of course.
he's a natural ;)
he went more with the field hockey technique where you just scoot the ball until you reach the hole.
the watermelon weighed more than Oliver.
made it to the top of Mt. LeConte! huzzah. Oliver walked the first hour and then I carried him up the rest of the way in a back carrier. whew!
the prize at the top is hot chocolate all around!
and a new car...Fiber Fuel. it's the little things in life.
drying out.
the epic bunk beds. Each bed is bespoke and was assembled in the room.
chatting and guarding one's cup is the name of the game up on top of LeConte.
settling into a serious game of Scrabble...full of fun words like "ova" and "jefe". good times.
very serious.
a bit of luxury...boxed wine totted up in backpacks and a wonderous spread of cheese and charcuterie. it is just how this crowd rolls.
one of my favourite bits of the trip was getting to meet Jack. He is the son of our good friends, Katie and Jon. Oliver introduced him to planes and cars, the important things in life.
such a happy nugget!
yummy.
love them.
pop of red makes me happy.
games were played.
puzzles were dominated.
chatting with the President, aka Greg.
family shot.
pretty spoiled boy.
Jon and Jack.
awesome experience, Oliver got to ring the dinner bell!
tucking into dinner before heading off to bed just to have Oliver wake up and crazy amount of times! sorry to all of the other folks in out cabin, especially Lauren and Chris :) all in all #LeConteGetEnough2014 was an amazing experience with a bit of rain thrown in to keep things interesting. Thanks Holden Adventure Company!