Family Vacation 2015-Aquarium and Gatlinburg!

 Our second day in Gatlinburg was spent at the Ripley's Aquarium and in Gatlinburg.  The aquarium was very neat, but incredible crowded.  People were moving along a pathway and if you stepped out of line from your party (to take a 3 year old to the bathroom, for instance), it was a struggle to get back to your party.  But the girls were good to stay near us and it really was cool.

 The girls had their own disposable cameras, and they used them a ton at Ripley's.  However, since Elise understood she only had 27 pictures she could take, she kept asking me to take pictures for her.  Like the seahorse.  Though I'll admit: I thought he was cool, too.

 The sharks were probably my favorite.  It was surreal to be hanging out so near them, though thankfully well protected behind the glass!  We got to see one get fed (I wasn't quick enough with the camera for that).

 Part of the aquarium did what I hear aquariums do a lot: took you underneath the animals.  It affords you quite the view!

 Erin and Elise both petted the crabs (I think that's what they were--ha!), but weren't lucky enough to get to pet a ray--they were sneakier.

 I'd say the penguins were Erin's favorite.  She was so excited to see them!  Happy Feet is one of her favorite movies, so that could have something to do with it.

 We stopped and took a family photo with the penguin outside the playhouse.

PawPaw with the girls on a cool bench in Gatlinburg.

After the aquarium, we walked a little around Gatlinburg.  Sean described it as Branson on steroids.  It was chaos.  Crowded everywhere you walked, traffic paying no attention to pedestrians, and vice versa.  We had lunch in a restaurant that was highly recommended to us by a lady passing by who heard us talking about where we might eat lunch.  Pancake Pantry didn't disappoint.  The girls mowed their pancakes, and everyone else enjoyed their meals, too.  By the time we were done with lunch, we were ready to head back up the mountain and leave the crowds behind.

 The great thing about our cabin was the reservation included access to 3 pools in the area.  We headed out to the nearest pool to our cabin (about a mile away) and Elise had a blast swimming with her Daddy.

 Erin played some in the baby pool, but was just as content to hang out at the table near the area where Sean and Elise were swimming!