road trip- days 4 & 5

we left ridgecrest with rain looming. we watched the fog roll across the mountains and sit, heavy. our hopes of riding the blue ridge parkway were crushed. don't get me wrong, we tried, and almost died. ( john would probably disagree about the almost dying part.) the lovely fog that we witnessed moving in was no longer so romantic. we couldn't see three feet in front of us. after trying for a while we finally turned off into a town and suddenly could see! and what to our wandering eyes did appear, you ask?

john thought he was in a fog induced dream land, but no, it was true! a whole restaurant dedicated to pork ( lucky for me and the kids, they offered other foods as well)! we had to stop in for our obligatory north carolina bbq. now, mind you, we are texans, and as texans, we are picky when it comes to bbq. this place for sure passed the test. however, they serve cole-slaw and fries with their bbq. what? no baked beans? no potato salad? we went ahead and ordered potato salad. being used to the mustardy german variety we were surprised, and yes, a bit offended, to see that they made their potato salad with sour cream. no thank you. strange potato salad aside, i must concede that we have never been to a friendlier restaurant. let's just say that buddy and moonpie do quite well in the mountains of north carolina.

we continued driving parallel to the blue ridge parkway, making our way up to a tiny mountain town near west jefferson, nc. this is what i had really been waiting for. we reserved a little cabin in the woods on the grounds of an organic farm! this place was perfect! it was situated up the mountain a bit from the farm. i am remiss to say that i have no pictures of our cabin, but you can visit it here. we loved it here. the cabin was a two story timber frame, with a full kitchen, wood burning stove and hot tub on the deck! and the view of the mountains was incredible. we hiked, played down by the river, swung from an old vine stuck in a tree, made soup and smores, read and played cards.



buddy most enjoyed making leaf boats. that sweet boy would have stood there all day sailing leaves down the river. i loved that this simple act brought him so much pleasure. moonpie had a notebook and pencil in hand and spent time drawing out elaborate river wildlife food chains. this time, down on the river bank, was so sweet...

we even ventured into virginia. the drive was breath taking, but we really just wanted to be snuggled up in our cabin. so after a brief visit to galaxa, va, we headed back 'home'.

there were christmas tree farms all over this part of the country. i think the kids grew tired of hearing me say "look out your window- a christmas tree farm!". i was amazed at those trees lining the mountains. i really wanted to bring one home, but john, sensible man that he is, vetoed that idea.

upon our return home our host, farmer sally, came up to visit us. she took the kids and john down to tour the farm and pick some arugula. moonpie talked about the greenhouses all day. i thought they were just going down to move the cars around, or i would have been all over that tour. i stayed up in the cabin to make an apple crisp for an after supper treat.

just thinking about that night warms me up inside- the four of us, by the fire light, eating our homemade chicken soup and apple crisp. that little moment in time is another that is stored in my heart. my sweet babies and even sweeter husband, enjoying the quiet and the 'just being' with one another.

as much as we enjoyed visiting the asheville area, i must confess that i could have stayed in this cabin the entire week. moonpie has already begun her plans of the cabin we are going to build one day.

one day...

road trip- day 3

our second full day in north carolina, we decided to go apple picking. from the time i discovered that north carolina is one of the largest apple producing states in the nation, i knew we had to make this part of our trip. some folks may go to dollywood, we go apple picking. the kids were looking forward to this more than any other thing. i was so thankful that the weather was clear, cool and sunny that day. perfect for apple picking.

we found a small orchard that still had some apples left for picking. this was harder than i had anticipated. i contacted several before we left (through this link) and found that just a few were still producing. fortunately, this one was pretty close to us- and the drive was beautiful!

there were several road side stands on the way to the orchard selling apples, honey and mountain cabbage. mountain cabbage? can anyone let me in on this mysterious variety? we saw it every where- and it was huge. i wanted to buy some so bad- but i didn't have a kitchen (this however didn't stop us from picking a bushel of apples!).

the apples we picked were rome beauties. i had never had this variety before- oh my! they are delicious! our favorite part was that when we picked one to eat, it was as though they had just come out of the refrigerator. they were so nice and cold. very crisp and sweet. i say that was my favorite part, but actually, i more enjoyed the sheer delight of my children. moonpie's pockets were full. she looked like a little chipmunk as she flit from one tree to the next singing the johnny appleseed blessing. and buddy couldn't really be bothered with picking. he was too busy eating. these are the small moments that i treasure- all stored up in my heart for later.

all in all we picked a bushel of apples (that's about 60 pounds). that seems like a lot, but i actually wish we would have picked more. we ate half a bushel just on the road!

as you can see, the kids came up with some really awesome poses. you will see this trend continue...

after picking, the kids wanted to go hiking again. i asked one of the workers if there was any good hiking around. after a strange look she told me that we were just 10 miles away from chimney rock. you know- where 'last of the mohicans' was filmed. umm, yeah, we had to check it out.

i had seen chimney rock mentioned in my research, but for some reason, i hadn't planned on us going. but i'm glad we ended up in the area, because it was really beautiful.

check out that view!

after hiking up to the rock, we hiked way down to the waterfall. they say the hike is about 20 minutes to the falls. that must be for people who are more destination focused. we, being more about the journey, took about 45 minutes to get there. we had fun identifying trees, finding lichen and moss, and checking out the enormous root 'caves'.

and then just when you start wondering 'where is that waterfall, anyway?', you are greeted with the sound of falling water.

we turned the bend, and found this:

obviously, a picture from the i-phone can't even begin to capture how beautiful it was. but trust me here, it really was beautiful.

on our hike back up we met up with a couple that was riding their motorcycles through the mountains. they were lots of fun and had really great stories to share.

after our hike, we ate some apples and called it a day. on the way back to our hotel we stopped in black mountain again for dinner. black mountain is a neat little town. it is a nice mix of small town charm and culture- all in the middle of the mountains.

by the time we got back to our hotel that night, we were beat. we had to rest up for our next day- the blue ridge parkway!

road trip- days 1 & 2

we left at 4 in the morning on monday and drove straight to new orleans. we thought that waking at that time would ensure us a couple of quiet, sleeping hours from the kids- no such luck. moonpie didn't sleep all day until we hit the bed at 8pm. buddy slept off and on in the van throughout the day. they were as excited as we were about our trip!

our first leg was the seven hour drive to new orleans.

our gps system was actually set for cafe du monde! after a less than desirable lunch, we gorged ourselves on beignets while sitting on the river front. we were all covered in powdered sugar!

i'm pretty sure moonpie is holding a rogue beignet in her hand here- sneaky girl.

we have always loved going to new orleans, but this is the first time taking our kids. it's funny, as we were looking for lunch options, i told john "i don't see any kids in that restaurant, maybe it's not really family friendly." that's when he pointed out "i haven't seen any kids ANYWHERE". and that was true. lots of people sitting in bars at 10am, lots of nudey pictures in store front windows, but no kids. note to self.

from there we drove into montgomery, al to stay the night. we hadn't expected to do much in montgomery, but we really did enjoy walking around their historic buildings, (re)learning some history. from there we stopped in atlanta at the centennial olympic park and played for about 2 hours. that is a great park! after a late lunch, we were ready for the final leg of the trip- getting to our hotel in ridgecrest, north carolina.

we arrived at ridgecrest late that night, so it was a wonderful surprise to wake up to mountains covered in autumn. moonpie ran into our bedroom shouting "open your window!". and there they were- what i had been dreaming about for the past year as we'd been saving and planning. while in this corner of north carolina we spent time in asheville, montreat, black mountain, and chimney rock.

on the grounds of ridgecrest:

all the kids wanted to do our first morning was hike and collect leaves. twist my arm! we hiked up to this beautiful lake (seeing some small waterfalls on the way up).

moonpie playing 'pirate on the ark' outside of our hotel:

ridgecrest is beautiful. however i was a little hesitant to spend much time in the mountains around there. upon arrival we were handed a notice that said they had been seeing some black bear activity on the grounds. what??? let me give you a little piece of mandi trivia. i am terrified of bears. i mean, i've never been the clutches of a bear, so i should say that i'm terrified at the thought of bears. ever since i saw that news piece on that man that was eaten alive in his tent in alaska. that did it for me. up until that point i was totally cool with the bear. no longer, my friend.

eating lunch in asheville at the mellow mushroom. best pizza ever!

moonpie thought her giant piece was hilarious!

umm...i'm not so sure about this...the kids...on a bear...

have i mentioned my fear of bears?

the hammered dulcimer shop in black mountain. so cool...

it was at this point that the kids officially had enough of brick and mortar. we escaped to the best park EVER in montreat. it looked like it had sprouted out of the ground. the play equipment was all weathered wood and there was the loveliest little creek running through the whole thing. we could have stayed there forever...

tomorrow's installment: apple picking and chimney rock

a little help. puh-lease!!!

i'm processing half a bushel of apples today from our trip. whew- this is a lot of work! moonpie's stringing up apple rings to dry, and buddy, well...he's playing in the water tub we used to wash the apples. and trust me...that helps- A LOT!

happy halloweenie!

this is one of my favorite weeks in the blogosphere- getting to see all the great halloween costumes all you creative mamas (and kids) have come up with.

we returned home from our road trip the day before halloween, so we had a little hustling to do the day of. mainly because my little buddy man changed his mind about his costume, on friday. my new mantra is that when i can say 'yes' to my kids, i should, so 'yes' it was.

that afternoon we carved pumpkins...

sissy moonpie had decided on being an angel a few weeks ago, so i had plenty of time to make her little tu-tu. and we found those great feathered wings at target. she wore them everywhere up until the day. they really are beautiful.

buddy had originally wanted to be a race car driver kitty cat, but after viewing a 'larry boy' movie on our trip, he changed his mind. can you believe the awesome-ness of that helmet that john made?

here's what larry boy looks like:
and then the kids got to go trick-or-treating for the first time ever! they had so much fun! except at that one house where the dad was hiding in the bushes and dropped a giant skeletal monster from the tree directly above us. buddy was so scared. i have never wanted to punch someone in the face more than that man at that moment. i couldn't believe he did that. to a 3 year old. his wife was pretty mad too. i figure justice was probably served...

here the kids are getting candy from a 10 year old chaquita banana lady. she was super cute!

home again, home again

we are back from our vacation and i have so many pictures to share with you! so many in fact, that i'm going to have to wait a little longer to get them all downloaded. but that is good- because i have something important to share with you.

our family has recently been reminded that over 750,000 children die every year from malaria, a preventable disease. that by the time you finish reading this post, one child has died. please take time to check out bite back- a non-profit that distributes mosquito nets to families in africa. for only $10 your family can send a life saving gift to a family in africa.

my armpits

(don't worry- this post isn't really about my armpits. if you know me, you probably have already heard me talk about my armpits at one time or another. that happens when you don't wear deodorant. your armpits become a fascinating topic of discussion...)

well, i'm officially up to my armpits in laundry and muffin batter. we leave oh so early tomorrow morning for our long awaited family vacation.

and i cannot wait!!!