Thursday, October 31, 2019

Halloween

A bumblebee and a clown for trunk or treat:



 Cinderella for book character day at school:



We were joined by our good friends Carleigh, Markus, Conner, and Ruby for Halloween. It was cold but the kids still had fun and got tons of candy. 
Queen bee and a creepy clown:






 Also in October - Amelia got her first love note from Landon:
 Leaf collection:

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Mountains!

Our third day in Asheville we visited animals and took a hike at the WNC Nature Center, drove on the blue ridge parkway, hiked above the clouds at Craggy Gardens, and drove and hiked up to the top of Mt Mitchell. We finished up with an oil change at one of those drive through places where you stay in the car while they change your oil. Gavin was amazed. 






























Biltmore!

On our 2nd day in Asheville we visited the Biltmore house and grounds. I wasn't sure how the kids would do here but they both loved it. Amelia got restless/tired of walking after the 1st hour or so, but she hung in there and we made it all the way through the house. The credit card machine went down as I was buying tickets, because of the delay we got free audio tours which helped a lot. The kids' version was narrated by the Biltmore family dog and helped keep them entertained.



  This balcony and its view was my favorite part of the house:











 After we finished inside the house we ate some really good ice cream, Amelia picked out a necklace at the toy store, we took our Biltmore house pics, and toured the gardens:











 By this time Amelia was pooped out so we let Gavin go look at the big koi ponds by himself. I had to yell at him a couple times not to lean over the water, I was afraid he'd fall in. As he was walking back I heard him tell people "there's a fish in there that lets you pet it..."
 After a pizza lunch offsite we returned to the estate to tour Antler Hill Village and Winery in the rain. We tried some free food and drink samples at the winery (Amelia immediately spit out the wassail on the floor) and bought wassail mix and fudge to bring home.

Amelia spent a lot of time playing with the old fashioned toys in the barn: