More Winter Fun

The last day we were there, the roads finally cleared enough for the Great Smoky Mountains National Parkway to open up. We drove through it and over to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. I really wanted the kids to get to see the Christmas lights in these two cities (they are amazing - unlike anything I have seen, except at Disney's Hollywood Studios), but we were afraid they would close the parkway when night time arrived (which apparently happens quite regularly) and we would be stuck with a much longer, out of the way drive to get back to the house. We did stop along the parkway, though, and play in the snow. It was much deeper and still very soft, so we built a snowman, had a snowball right, etc.

Our attempt at a snowman :-)

The picture above makes me think of a "real" winter, or a Christmas wonderland, etc. :-)

This was right near the house we were staying at... looked like a nice snap shot.

Ansley in front of the house where we stayed. The last night we were there we roasted marshmallows and made smores. Mmmm... so yummy!

She was so excited to make a snow angel!

Forget spending a bunch of money on snow activities! The first full day we were there, the neighbor's son, wife and grandson were spending a few nights with him- they lived in Asheville but had no power due to all the snow storms. The grandson was a few years older than Cole - he came over with some pastic sleds and asked the kids to come out and play. The kids had so much fun sliding down the hills, though we were a little worried about them sliding right into the river. Chris stood guard to catch any runaway sleds. I got this picture of Ansely and Luke right before they slid into the house. They were having so much fun until the went into the bushes and then the house. Luke wasn't so happy about it after that!