Trip to North Carolina!

This past weekend we took a trip to North Carolina to see and visit with friends! So fun! Matt was able to meet with a few clients, too - icing on the cake!

Jay loved watching the planes and the airport ground vehicles move about as we waited to board the plane.

We took a non-stop flight to Atlanta, GA and then rented a car and drove 3-1/2 hours to our friends' house just outside Asheville, North Carolina. We left our house at 5:00 a.m. PST and arrived at our friends' home just after 5:00 p.m. PST so suffice it to say it was a long travel day. Jay did really great on the 4-1/2 hour non-stop flight and was a pretty good traveler in the car, too. We were all tired and ready to hit the hay.

Friday morning Jay enjoyed playing with his instant friends, Cole (almost 7) and Harper (4) before we headed out for lunch and Matt's meetings with his clients. Friday evening we enjoyed a yummy spaghetti dinner, put the kids to bed, and we headed to bed shortly after (still catching up on the lack of sleep from the day before).

Saturday was such a FUN DAY! Jay woke up right on schedule (having completely and successfully converted to the 3 hour time difference), took his morning nap, and then we all headed out to see the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. If you ever are in that area it is a MUST SEE!

We arrived and went straight to the stable area to eat lunch in the stable house. The meal was incredible - very good food. The vegetables, fruit, and meat comes mostly from what they raise right there on the 8,000 acre estate. The flavor of the food was wonderful - you could tell it was fresh produce, etc.

August 14-30 they are featuring a flower carpet. Normally it is just a gravel open space, but during these two plus weeks they bring in all these flowers and lay the sod to make this beautiful garden display.





Here is the view from the far side of the flower carpet looking back at the Biltmore House. Harper and Cole are checking out the inside of this fountain.
We took a walk to explore the rose garden, greenhouses, and other gardens. Here is a picture of Matt and Jay taking a break in the shade in a gazebo-like area.
Below is a picture of the three kids together posing for a picture Joanna was taking of them.

The red and white impatience flowers were beautiful along our walk.
Jay needed a diaper change about 30 minutes into our scheduled tour through the house (which took 1-1/2 hours total and we weren't dilly dallying). Matt took him for the change (since he has visited and seen the Biltmore several times) and found it easier to just enjoy the beautiful day outside. Jay especially loved playing in a fountain while waiting for us to finish the house tour. He would reach in and pull out the pennies, dimes, and nickels and hand them to Matt who would then throw them back into the fountain when Jay wasn't looking.

Jay took his afternoon nap on our way home from the Biltmore Estate. We then decided to go to a local pizza parlor for dinner. Dean, another friend and former housemate of Matt's, joined us for dinner. It was great to connect with him, too.

I had to take this picture. Jay was enthralled with this funny print on the wall of the pizza parlor. He faced it at the table where we were seated. He would throw his hand or both hands in the air and point at it making sure we all saw it. He would just stare up at it too, as evidenced in the photo below.

Loving his bites of pizza crust and bread sticks after finishing his main meal items.

After putting the kids to bed Joanna, Mark, Matt, and I stayed up late -- and I mean very late, like almost middle of the morning late -- talking and visiting up a storm. Oh the pleasures of excellent friendship and fellowship! There is nothing much better...makes us all long for heaven all the more!

Sunday morning we attended church at Covenant - the church Matt used to be an active member of when he lived in Asheville. It was great to see so many friends even though the visit was short and sweet.

We joined Mark, Joanna, Cole, and Harper back at their house for a casual lunch. Then we packed the car and headed down the road to Atlanta again.

We stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant for dinner. I enjoy taking the opportunity to visit that restaurant chain since we don't have them out here on the West Coast and since there was one almost every 17 miles or so, we had our pick of them. :) The food was terrific (especially the buttermilk biscuits) and it was just what we needed to finish out the hour drive to Atlanta we had left to go. I have posted a video of Jay playing with his buttermilk biscuit after finishing his meal. Watch closely at the beginning of the video - I love his little shaky shaky dance.

We stayed at a hotel Sunday night close to the airport. It made for an easier morning catching the first non-stop flight back to Seattle via AirTran. Again, Jay did really pretty great on the very long flight. Sis Molly picked us up from the airport and we enjoyed a bite of lunch with her and her boyfriend Scott before going home and settling in, unpacking, doing a load of laundry, and generally relaxing the rest of the day away.

Jay is ALMOST completely adjusted back to Pacific Time today...just an hour or so off his normal schedule, so not bad! Hooray! I didn't exactly enjoy the 4:00 a.m. wake-up call this morning but I was able to get him back to sleep after a while and he slept until 6:00. When he woke up then I could tell he was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Mark and Jo - thanks so much for allowing us to crash at your place for the long weekend. We loved every minute spent with all of you. Thank you just doesn't seem to completely and accurately express our appreciation.