Our Trip to Appalachia

Last week, the boys and I road-tripped to North Carolina. Chris dropped the kids and I off in Asheville to stay with my sister, then continued on to Raleigh for work. We were welcomed by her next door neighbor who was hanging out his 2nd-story window, sans shirt, while eating a bowl of cereal and hollering "so, where's the baby daddy?". I just knew this trip would be highly entertaining. The boys and I had a blast exploring the mountains with Kasey. Our first day started off with a hike to Catawba Falls. We never made it to the big falls but we saw a mini-version that was good enough for a 2 and 4 year-old. It was a really cool experience because there was a local dog that walked with us the whole way and kind of acted like our guide. We also had a fantastic tour-guide in my sister who continuously spouted off information about the mountains and all its flora and fauna.

The river where I almost turned back. Thankfully Kasey is much more bold and sensible then I am. Kids don't need to cross walking over the slippery rocks - just take their shoes off and wade through the 6-inch deep river.

Later that afternoon we headed to one of the many parks in the area. After such a busy day, we all slept well that night.

The next morning we beached-it at a local lake. We took what we thought was a "short-cut" up to the lake so we wouldn't have to pay for parking but which turned into a half-mile trek... up-hill... both ways.

Despite the small quarters, the boys and I slept really well at Kasey's. I mean, Eli didn't nap, but by the end of each day, we were all exhausted and probably could have fallen asleep anywhere. Although, I am sure my sister is happy to have her space back since Colin took up her living room, Eli took up her kitchen, and I completely invaded her bedroom. We sure travel with a lot of stuff. I blame the kids.

Friday morning we checked out yet another park, hoping the early morning heat wouldn't be nearly as stifling as the afternoon. We were wrong. That afternoon we headed to ice cream and air-conditioning.

Chris joined us that evening, at which point we headed to a hotel because there was no way another body would fit in Kasey's apartment, and got to spend the day with us on Saturday. We went for another hike Saturday morning at Bent Creek then headed to downtown Asheville for the afternoon. The boys played at Splashville for an hour before we walked around town taking in the street performers and noshing on pizza at Mellow Mushroom.

Splashville

Stopping for a cold drink at Green Sage.

Living statue

Reading books at a book store, trying to beat the heat.

This living statue gave the boys a Hershey kiss after I gave her a tip.

Tap-dancers

After the boys went to bed that night, I got to check out some of the mountain night-life at Shindig on the Green. Folk music and cloggers galore.

We all had a great time and were sad to go. It felt like we were on the go the whole time we were there and there's still so much we'd love to do. Hopefully we'll get a chance to go back soon.

Daddy Day

The boys were so excited to celebrate Father's Day with Chris this year. Chris had told them ahead of time that he wanted to watch a movie with them - one of their all time favorite activities! Plus the boys picked out chocolate gold coins to give him and were excited for Chris to share them. The day started out with the boys bringing Chris coffee and gifts in bed. Then they came downstairs for breakfast - a recreation of Cafe Zola's snowball waffle (a waffle covered with vanilla ice cream, coconut, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream). We watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone after that and then got more ice cream from Mr. Freeze after lunch. The day ended with a delicious cookout. I think Chris enjoyed his day. Happy belated Father's Day to all the great dads out there!

**Please excuse my husband's bedhead - I caught him in all these pictures before he had a chance to shower.**

Strawberries Galore

On Saturday the boys and I went strawberry picking at Whittaker's Berry Farm. The berries were incredibly plentiful, thank goodness, because I think the boys put more in their mouths than in our box. The type that we picked, Honeoye, doesn't have a very long shelf-life, so after we got home, I spent the rest of the day making strawberry bread, strawberry-rhubarb buckle, strawberry shortcake, strawberry jam, and prepping the leftover berries to freeze. If I hadn't been so worried about the berries completely deteriorating before my eyes, I may have taken pictures of the goodies I made. As it was, the were literally getting squishier by the hour so instead I'll just share pictures of the berry-picking fun.

Riding Bikes

Just getting some outdoor playtime in during the brief reprieve from rain today.

Eli's Anoplasty

Yes, that is what his 5th surgery was called. Today Eli had minor outpatient surgery to correct a protruding mucosa from his, well, I think you can figure out where. The procedure itself lasted maybe 40 minutes and we hung out in recovery for a little over an hour. Eli, as per usual, was such a champ. He started off the day excited to go to the hospital, complete with all his accessories. The nurses loved him with his cool-dude shades and backwards hat.

He was excited to wear the special hospital jammies and was happy to replace his "watch" with one of their's.

He had fun picking out his mask and thought bubble gum smelled the most delicious.

After he came out of surgery, he was asking for Mama, but quickly changed his tune and only wanted Daddy.

They gave him some tylenol with codeine and he mellowed right out and was pretty chill for the ride home.

Once we got home, he ate a regular lunch and watched part of a movie before his nap. He's doing great and the doctor said that he has great muscle tone in his nether-region. Now we just hope that we'll be able to get him to practice using the proper muscles so he can potty train like other kids. We're definitely feeling positive about that situation because right before he was taken back to surgery, he asked to use the potty and actually went #2. Woo hoo!