Another Hike & Bowling

On our final day in Tennessee we decided to take another hike in the Smokey Mountains. We did not make it more than 300 feet before we stopped at the river so the kids could throw things in it and that was pretty much our hike. It was so perfectly relaxing to just sit back and watch the kids be kids. A super fun (and beautiful) little hike:

After our hike, Tyler went to Climb Works (where Brian the big "GM" works) and went zip lining. Since Pattie and I are both pregnant and the zip line lasts for about 2 hours, we took the kids back home for naps.That means no pictures of all that excitement. Although, apparently it was a little awkward. Tyler got placed in a group of 8, in which they were all family, and so he was the odd man out. Apparently, the mom treated him a bit like a child too and would tell him how proud she was of how brave he was being, too funny!

That afternoon we went out to dinner and then took everyone bowling. Needless to say it was a little crazy with our total of 5 kids but I think they all had fun. Steven would light up every time he hit pins and run around expecting to get high fives from everyone. Benny asked me at one point, "Are you proud of all the points I've gotten?" And it was super cute to watch how excited Brice got when it was his turn to hold the bowling ball (Lucy couldn't care less). The best part was we pretty much had the place to ourselves so when the kids did get crazy, there was really no one to bug. In the end Tyler & Brian rocked it, Steven came in next, and then came me, Pattie, Ben & the little ones. Pregnant bellies really don't help with bowling scores, let me tell you ;)

The next day we headed back to Michigan. Once again the trip was pretty much smooth sailing. It may be tiring to leave around 4:30 in the morning but that really seems to help the trip go better. I am so surprised at how quickly it went and how little melt downs there were. At one point we did almost get stuck in CrAzY stand still traffic but after sitting in it for about 15 minutes Tyler saw an alternate route and a way to get to it and we were on our way again. In the end, it was such a perfect trip! SO few melt downs from the kids and lots and lots of fun! I am so grateful to Pattie and Brian for all they did to help us have such a good time!