The last couple of weeks has seen my house filled to the brim with our visiting family.

After all of the usual sight-seeing trips, there was one place we hadn't taken them yet and that was to the Stuga ( Little Swedish Cabin by the Lake). 

Picnic baskets packed, sunscreen and mosquitoe protection in tow, we headed up to the Smoky Mountains to have a day filled with forest and water fun. 

The awe and wonder never gets old when a child discovers the treasures of nature. My nephew took his father's camera for the first time and couldn't stop taking photos of all his discoveries.

His sister on the other hand loved being on the water so much but was worried about all of the family we left behind on shore. It was a dilemma for her to pick paddling with me and her mother or staying with her family on land.  Her ultimate decision was to come aboard and out to sea, or on the lake rather, with us. Following closely behind us was her cousin "O" who decided to "Tom Sawyer" it across the lake. Side note: Yes I notice he doesn't have a life-jacket on. Yes I hollered that fact to him and yes he went back to shore to get one. But I took this photo before all of that happened. 🙂

The rest of our day was spent just relaxing and hanging out together as well as eating great food. I love these last days of summer don't you?