camping trip {with way too many pictures!}

This past weekend we went camping in the Smokies, just for one night. It was Thomas and Jamie's first time ever camping! Overall, we had a fabulous time (Thomas claims that it was "life-changing" and he wishes he had done Boy Scouts), but it was colder than we expected it to be and we got drizzled on for most of the trip. We also got stuck in horrible traffic on the way back and had to spend nearly 2 hours in Gatlingburg-Pigeon Forge-Sevierville, these annoying little tourist trap towns right outside the national park. Still, I think we will do it again. Oh, and a shout out to our friends Tony and Linnea for letting us borrow their tent and sleeping bags!

We started our day with a 3 hour hike in the mountains. Jamie walked about half of the time, far more than he ever has before! Seeing his interest in and reactions to all the scenery, plants, rocks, etc really made it so much fun. 

 

 
 

 

Jamie's 2 favorite parts: playing in the water...

...and finding this snail.

 

this picture really doesn't capture how terrifying this bridge was

 

not a ton of fall colors on our hike, but we did get some!

 After we got to our campsite, had lunch, set up the tent, and got Jamie to take a nap, we went on another (much shorter) nature hike. This time Jamie decided he wanted to be held the whole time and we hadn't brought the backpack carrier because it was so short and he'd done so well on the first hike. So that got a little old, but it was still fun and very pretty.

 
 
 

When we got back, it was already getting close to dinner time, so Thomas got to make his first ever campfire. Jamie was keenly interested in helping as well. It was a success, and we had a yummy dinner and then, of course, SMORES!

 
 
 

Jamie's first ever smore.

Thomas and I had planned to stay up and play games or talk after we put Jamie to bed, but it was so cold and rainy that we gave up on that plan and just went to bed with him. I think he loved that we were all in the tent together. Jamie's wiggling made it hard for the two of us to get much sleep, but he slept great and that's what really matters! In the morning Thomas made his second successful campfire, and I made breakfast over the fire before we packed up and headed out. 
 
 

One thing I forgot was Jamie's gloves, so he spent the morning wearing my extra socks on his hands.

Next time we do this I sure hope it's drier, but in spite of the incessant drizzle, we had a lot of fun! Jamie was an amazing camper, and Thomas loved it so much that I'm sure we'll actually being doing it a lot more in the future.