Hiking back to camp

 After lunch we were well rested and were on our way back down the mountain to our campsite. Like last year we went back down the AT and down on Lower Mt. Cammerer. 

 This part of the AT even though it was going down is pretty rocky and is one of the more challenging parts of the trail. Both Eric and myself were pretty surprised how fast we made it down to the split. It seemed we were making much better time this time around and so far we both still had a good amount of energy left. 

 When we took the turn off to Lower Mt. Cammerer we were happy to be on pretty level ground for the most part. It really is a nice trail and this time because we weren't as exhausted trying to just make it back, we were able to enjoy the site more. We were not sure if we just didn't see this nice little waterfall or if it wasn't here last year. But it was a nice little site : )

 Toward the last mile or so left back to Cosby there is this outlook. Last year there was debate on whether or not we wanted to go up and see it. But I was pretty much at the end of my tank and Olivia was about done with the carrier we decided against it. This year we were still doing good and we didn't have Livvy so we went ahead and did the extra 400 yards. 

 This was the only bridge out that we came across. And this is pretty much were the campground starts, so it was at the very end of the hike. The picture doesn't make it look too bad but with the rain and just having hiked 16 miles we just wanted to get across safe so we could get back to camp and relax. 

We did find a stop that wasn't too deep and not a lot of rapids and thankfully we both may it across, and we found the bridge on the other side just lying there. Hopefully it got out back up ;) 

We got back in much better time this year and still had about 2 hours of light. We wanted something hot and filling. It had started to raining again when we were at the outlook but by the time we made it back to camp it had stopped again. But we were a little wet and pretty hungry after being out on the trail all day. We went with a one pot type of meal and did shepherds pie in the dutch oven. It was great and tasted really good!

We thought we both deserved a treat so we went with s'more panini's and hot chocolate for our evening treat. After a long day of hiking it was nice to sit back and relax and enjoy the time outdoors. Thankfully it didn't rain anymore and we had a dry and quiet night : )  

Hikin' Mt. Cammarer again!

When Eric and I decided to kid Mt. Cammerer again, we had learned some thing for last year and with doing it a second time we new a little more what to expect from it. 

With not having Livvy this year and no longer nursing we were both hoping that our stoppage time would be less then it was last year. Although this year we had another challenge, the rain. Unlike last year when we had clear sunny skies. It had rained most of the night and in the early morning it was still raining a little but we wanted to get up and get started. 

Since we were both up pretty early and hoping the rain wouldn't last too long we go up and dressed when it was still dark. When we started up the trail we discovered we had an additional challenge… the sign. We had planed to hike Low cap and Lower Mt. Cammerer, and neither one of us could remember where the bridges were located. But since it was just the two of us we continued with our plan. 

I think both Eric and I would agree that Low Gap is the toughest part of this hike. You are climbing a good elevation in about a 2.5 mile span. I still needed to take one break before we hit the AT but other then that I felt I was in better shape then I was the previous year so we made it to the AT in a little better time. 

At this point we were relieved to see the split for the AT. We were both grateful the the rain had stopped at this point and we only had it the first mile or so into the hike. We stopped and rested and got some breakfast and we were headed up the AT. 

Since it had rained most of the day the humidity was awful but it was still a nice hike up. This year we hadn't seen any other hikers to this point so it was nice to have the trail all to ourselves. It was a little foggy this year but we could still see some nice views as we hiked up the mountain. 

We ended up making pretty good time on the AT, and I have to set when I seen the split off to Mt. Cammerer trail I was a little surprised that we had made it as quickly as we did. At this point it was just under a mile to go to get to the observation tower. 

Unlike last year we had the place all to ourselves. This seemed to be a pretty popular trail but we spend about 45 mins here looking around and eating lunch and no one else hiked up. After resting we packed up our stuff and started our hike down the mountain. We were planning to go down Lower Mt. Cammerer so we wanted to make sure we still had lots of time to get back to camp. 

Dinner in the Smokies and the rain!

Since we had an earlier lunch after we got our camp set we were ready to start dinner. Even though it was July Cosby is a little farther up in elevation so it was cooler then you would think. 

For dinner we had a couple of dutch oven meals planned out. At this point I from all the cooking we had done at home and when we were over in Smokemont I have become pretty comfortable cooking in them and was starting to branch out and making more complex recipes. 

Since we didn't have the boys with us either we could be a little more creative without having to worry about them complain. I had done a little prep work at home for out chicken cordon bleu. So after I had the coals all heated all I had to do was put my bundle in the oven and sear it and finish cooking it in the sauce. 

About have way through cooking it started to rain so Eric and I quickly moved everything under the screen tent. The picture really didn't give it justice, but we put it on top of some stuffing with the sauce and cheese and we were able to have a filling warm meal in the cold raining evening. 

While we were eating dinner, I also made this jam crumb cake. With the exception of some sweet spots with the jam it and if we were at home I would have put ice cream on it, it was a yummy and successful dessert too : ) 

Back to the Smokies

This year for the forth of July Eric and I decided to go back to the Smokies to hike Mt. Cammerer again. This year it was just him and I as my parents took the kids to be with them for a few weeks. 

It was a lot different not having any kids with us and getting everything together. Because it was just just we decided to take our new backpacking tent to test it out for our overnight hiking trip we had planned for later on. 

After getting everything in the car we loaded up and headed out. We had breakfast on the way so we really didn't have any stops until lunch. We did stop and switch drivers a little bit after we went through Nashville so Eric could get some sleep. After hitting some construction and a pretty bad rain storm we made it to Panda Express for lunch. 

After lunch the rain had lighten up a bit which was really nice because I am not a huge fan of driving in the rain. We did hit some more construction but thankfully we made it safely to Cosby Campground. 

Since it had been raining on and off all day we didn't want to take too long to set things up. Our spot was pretty much the same site we had last year, just one spot over. This way we were not up too much on a hill and it was right next to a little stream. It was a very nice spot and thankfully we were able to get everything set before it rained again! 

Bathroom progress

For our shower we had to completely remove everything and ended up having to replace the two side of the wall. They way the original shower was put it had really no water barrier so when we took out the wall there were some issues with mold.

After getting the mold taken care of actually a few years ago now…this is really how the whole bathroom project came about in the first place. Eric was able to put up all new stuff and made it right so we wouldn't have to worry about any more mold once we put up the new tiles. 

Livvy loves to help in the bathroom so she was helping me scrap some of the goop that fell when we put up the yellow stuff. 

Swedish day

Since it was Father's Day we let Eric pick the country that we were going to study that week. He decided to go with with his roots and picked Sweden. 

This was an interesting country to pick things from. There were a lot of things that I knew my family wouldn't touch.. including myself. So I decided to go pretty basic. Since Eric is not a fan of mushrooms I wanted to find a recipe for swedish meatballs that didn't have cream of mushroom soup as a base. After looking into anyhow that is more a short cut version anyway. 

I was pretty successful at making the meatballs too. It is a recipe that I would do again. The boys did pretty good with the meal even with the potatoes involved. 

For dessert I found this cream and custard cake. Since this was back in June I honestly don't remember the name of the cake. I did have to do a few adjustments to it simply because some of the ingredients for the cream inside I didn't have and probably would not have been able to find it around here. It turned out really good and we all enjoyed it even though it was huge!

The last thing we did was play a this memory game. Later I found out its actually danish….oh well ; ) It was a little challenging will Livvy, taking more then one piece and moving the piece around, but we had a pretty fun day!

Fathers Day breakfast

For Father's Day this year the boys wanted to make Daddy a surprise breakfast as part of their gift. It was nice having the later church so we had a little bit more time in the morning to get things set. 

That week the boys were looking through some recipes and decided what they wanted on the menu. They went with banana waffles, strawberries and hash browns. They wanted to do as much as they could so I was more around to make sure that things got cooked right and they didn't get burnt. 

The night before we were able to get everything we needed for the breakfast at the grocery store. And the next morning they were excited to start cooking so I didn't even have to wake them up :)

Thomas helped mixed up the batter for the waffles and Sup was in charge of the hash browns. Thomas was able to chop up some bananas to put on top of the waffles and Sup took care of the strawberries. 

After everything was cooked they put everything on the plate. As the water was going for the hot chocolate they were able to make the plate look pretty yummy. Livvy was still sleeping through most of the prep which was nice because I was able to help the boy a little easier with the breakfast. 

The boys were pretty impressed with their hard work and couldn't wait until to bring Daddy breakfast in bed : ) After we got Daddy his breakfast, Livvy was up and the rest of were able to enjoy the yummy breakfast too! 

Daddy's girl

As summer started to come around the corner so did a lot of outdoor chores, which included mowing the lawn. Unlike the boys Livvy doesn't mind the loud noises of things so when we were outside she wanted to help mow. 

Daddy did pretty good with her. He was able to hold her and they both pushed the mower around the back yard. 

She has so much fun pushing it around with Eric that when he was done she wanted to keep going. We kept a close eye on her but it was nice to see that out of our three kids one was more then happy to help  ; )