The Whited News

Smokies View, Part Duex

Here is part two out of two of our Spring Break posts. The first one was mostly views and stuff but this one has more pics of us doing stuff. I had mentioned that we went to the Ripley’s Aquarium. We were pretty impressed and felt it was worth the $44 it cost us to get in. We saw some four-eyed fish, piranha, barracuda, and frog-fish – but the best part was the huge aquarium with the sharks, eels and giant sea-turtles. Like I said before, we went “underneath” the surface with the sharks and they were swimming directly above us – very freaky. As you can see by this picture, Jackson was having a good time.

We had picnics at local parks on Tuesday and Wednesday. After eating our ham and cheese sandwiches courtesy of the local Kroger, the boys got to play on the playgrounds. I managed to catch a good one of Carse and Kim enjoying the swings here:

And perhaps my best shot of the trip, here is little Carson grinning at me as he was climbing up some steps at the playground.

Two years ago, when we were down there, Jackson (almost 3 at the time) picked out a “silly hat” like the one Steve wore on his Blue’s Clues movie. He just had to have it. You should have seen the look on people’s faces as we strolled through Gatlinburg with his shades and this silly hat on. Here is a shot of him (at the time) by a really cool fountain. I recall that he was dancing and entertaining the passers-by.

(The friggin file will not upload!!!)

Here he is, two years later at the exact same fountain – sans the silly hat.

By the way, if you have never driven through the mountains with two children who both have ear infections, you ought to try it sometime. I think you would enjoy the screams as you enjoy the breathtaking scenery.