The Biltmore

We have been trying to visit the Biltmore for years and it just never happened.  Josh was home for the weekend, so we finally made ourselves go on our last weekend here.  It was a gorgeous day, and the kids did great and actually really enjoyed the tour.  I don't know how big the grounds are, miles and miles, but it was so beautiful and peaceful, with trails and lakes and trees everywhere.  I could have stayed for a few days.  The home was incredible, it has something like 250 rooms in it.  They don't allow pictures to be taken inside, and you don't get to tour the whole thing, but it still took about an hour and half.  I can now leave the Carolinas happy.

This view is the view from the balcony where Sidney is sitting below.  There was a nice breeze when we walked out, it was truly breathtaking.  My heaven is going to have such a balcony with a fantastic view and I will take naps there every afternoon.

*I can't get all the pictures to upload.  Getting really sick of blogger.

 

Fall Hike

Yesterday we spent the day hiking in gorgeous Transylvania County, NC.  We couldn't have asked for better fall weather.  The color was really beautiful.  There are 250 waterfalls in that county, and we had been wanting for a long time to go find some.  Then I read that we could go see some where they filmed The Hunger Games, so we joined the crowd and sought them out.  First we saw Triple Falls.  It was huge.  There are three huge waterfalls that cascade down.  The kids had a blast climbing all over the place and jumping all over the rocks.  They had the best time and Jayden kept thanking us over and over for taking him.  He said he wasn't that excited about going to see waterfalls because he didn't think it sounded like that much fun, but then he had the best time ever and can't wait to go again.

Here you can see the top two falls.  If I wasn't pregnant, we would have climbed to the base of the third one.

 Here are all three. Obviously it's way more impressive in person.

 You know Jayden is having a good time when he asks to get his picture taken, which he did multiple times.

 Josh took both kids way up to the top.

Next was Hooker Falls. A lot smaller, but still gorgeous.  We couldn't get the kids to stop leaping all over the rocks.

 This picnic table had a turn table on it that Josh spun them around on.  Too much fun!

Wilmington

Last weekend we made a spontaneous trip to the beach.  We hadn't been in forever, and since we had a boring stay at home summer we decided to go. My sister used to live in Wilmington and has been telling me we need to go, so we finally got around to it. The downtown is really cute and old. We played for hours on the beach, but when I pulled out the camera I discovered the battery was dead.  So no pictures, but that's ok.  Sometimes it's nice not to think about it and just enjoy being there.  Josh took the kids out in the big waves, we took a long walk, built sand castles, hunted for shells, and Sidney and I buried treasure for each other.  It was a really fun day.  That night we walked down the downtown riverwalk.  Jayden thought that part was boring until we found some anchors to play on.  It was a great weekend, I'm ready for more.



Raleigh

We spent the weekend in Raleigh.  Not exactly an exciting destination spot.  Josh has an older half sister he hasn't seen in about 15 or 16 or more years, who just moved there.  They wanted to get together so we could all meet.  We decided to make a weekend of it since we don't have any vacation plans for the summer.  We stayed in a hotel for fun and met up with her and her family for dinner one night.  It was a really fun and relaxing weekend with swimming, napping, and going to the movies.  I only took pictures when we stopped by the temple.  Sidney was so excited to touch the temple, it was really cute.