We spent a lot of time walking the strip in Gatlinburg during our trip. We had been here with the kids 2 years before when Drew was 6 and Mikayla was 4 and they remembered that trip pretty well, especially as they saw things that were familiar as we walked this time!
They had fun rolling this huge ball of what appeared to be rock in the water.
Our babies even got to star in the movie, Forest Gump while we were there. Don't you remember the "Bubba Gump Shrimp Company" and the lunchbox and box of chocolates sitting on the bench beside Drew?
Craig looks on with Drew and Mikayla at the Believe it Or Not Museum.
After lunch, we decided that we would mine for gems. This place was one of the many on the strip, but it was really neat. It had a store in the front where they were taking "Old Timey Photos", and then you went to the back of the cave to do your rock mining. We were the only ones mining at this time, so we had the whole "cave" to ourselves!! The gentleman is explaining to Drew and Mik just what they need to do - the huge bucket is sitting on the bench beside Mikayla and they both couldn't wait to dig in.
Mikayla is having so much fun shaking her sieve to find out what's under all that dirt. Craig looks in his own sieve to see what he has found.
Mikayla shows off one of her small gems that she found!
Craig helps Drew look for precious gems!
Wow, Drew! Those are big!!
Wow, Mikayla that is big, too!! 
Drew really inspects some of the gems he has found.
After we finish mining, this nice gentleman comes back to tell us the names of the gems we have found. He tells us that we have found some beautiful emeralds, rubies, garnets, sapphires, etc. He even shows us some that we found that are big enough to be made into beautiful jewelry. I will have some of these precious gems that we found made into jewelry for me one day. I'd love a nice ring, necklace, and earrings. We had so much fun mining gems as a family, and we got some really nice pieces from this experience!!
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