North Carolina

One day while visiting my friend Trish, something caught my eye. She has one of those nifty photo frames that allows you to upload digital photos and it scrolls through. I noticed one of the photos was breathtakingly beautiful. She told me it was a picture taken at her Mom and Dads place in North Carolina where they have a second home on the "tippy top" of a mountain. Within minutes of conversation, she invited us to go up with her family for a weekend. I jumped at the offer and the trip was planned and airfare purchased in only a couple of days. We were all so excited for the trip because Steven, Amanda Lily, Ben, Josh, and even little Gracie have become close friends, and I knew they would all have a great time together. We adults have done our fair share of bonding as well, and find allot of pleasure in just chatting and hanging out. So, we knew we were all in for a great time.
The cabin was awesome, and Ms. Patsy (Trish's Mom) was a wonderful hostess. She made me feel right at home, even giving up her kitchen to me one night to make dinner. She made us feel like just another part of the family. The nature was just as breathtaking as the photos in Trish's frame.
By the time our flight landed and we got our rental car, it was dark on Thursday night. We drove up and up. I told Trish once we arrived that when she said "Tippy Top", she wasn't kidding. We would have never made it up the mountain without 4 wheel drive.
It did not snow while we were there, but we all jumped into the SUV's and went down the mountain to Maggie Valley where we found "Tube World" The boys slid down the artificial snow while Amanda Lily and I built snow people. The weather really teased us because it was VERY COLD, just no snow......our rental car's doors were even frozen shut!
We went on a nature walk and the kids had a blast throwing themselves down the incline and rustling around in tons of leaves. They even climbed up a huge rock.
Another good time was watching Larry and George sling the kids down the front lawn on cardboard and snow saucers. The photos don't do the front yard justice, but it is a pretty steep hill that the kids loved running and throwing themselves down on.....or just rolling. Watching them made me dizzy. I also got a kick out of wondering which were the bigger kids, the children or dads.
The boys went off on the four wheeler in search of firewood, and we roasted marshmallows on sticks to make smore's.
It was such a relaxing, laid back weekend. None of us wanted to leave. We are so blessed to have good friends in our lives who are willing to share their lives with us.


PS....Amy, you are the reason I am still blogging. I almost abondoned my blog completely until I got your comment. (:

PSS There are photos in the slideshow on the right