On the First Day of Camping...
my true love gave to me...
A car full of kids
and
a 29' camper in tow!
We headed west on Tuesday afternoon,
after the hubs got off of work.
Before that,
we had to load,
and if you took notes from my last post...
you will see that we had just over 3 days
to completely clean and pack this bad boy
and get it ready for travel!
With 4 kids
With 4 kids
for
12 days
(have I mentioned that yet?)
First step is to take everything out,
inventory,
then put all that stuff back
and load up everything else we might
or might not need...
One of the kids' tasks
was to refold the the gigantic outdoor carpet
that came with the camper
a little more neatly...
NOT to make human
burritos with it!
(a little homage to Texas right there)
The kids were so excited about this camper,
that they just wanted to hang out in it.
So while daddy and I were cleaning
and packing,
we popped a movie in for them.
Mr. T was already making himself at home
and passed out on the couch!
Good to know he was relaxed in there.
Tuesday afternoon,
we had the kids loaded,
camper hooked up...
and
it only took us 20 minutes
to get out of the cul-de-sac
because I kept remembering
things I had either forgotten
or forgotten to do...
- make sure all the doors were locked (for the 4th time)
- turn thermostat way up so we weren't paying to
cool a house we weren't using
- make sure the $25 automatic fish feeder was hooked
up so it could feed our $10 worth of fish
- making sure we had the second set of keys to both
the car and the camper
You know - those kindsa things.
Here is what our hook up looked like.
Are we really doing this???
The hubs had a conference in Asheville for the first part of our
trip.
So we headed to the KOA East Asheville
for our first few nights.
We arrived Tuesday night
and pulled out Friday shortly after lunch.
Once we got there,
the kids made a beeline for the river
we were parked beside!
Then Ms. Priss headed inside
to play with her Squinkies...
it was a little drizzly outside for us girls.
Keeping those stinky boys dry was a JOKE
during this trip!
Once we got set up Tuesday night it was really
too late to cook anything.
So we headed down to the Mexican
restaurant we had passed on our way in.
I have to confess,
I had a Jessica Simpson moment
and actually told my husband it was kinda funny
that they had mixed the name of the restaurant up
to make it sound like and "old country" restaurant.
I thought it was "Ole" as in "old"
not "Ole" as in espanol!
OHHHHH!!!
Made sense to me...
we were in the mountains,
right?
Regardless of what it was or wasn't called...
I got to have my margarita sitting by the river...
having a San Antonio Riverwalk moment.
(tough life, I know)
When we got back,
we met our neighbors...
On our way to the mountains,
I received an e-mail telling me about the homeschool days
happening in September at the Biltmore Estate.
It was August...
we weren't coming back in September.
So I sent an email
and was graciously provided with a pass
for me and the kids to get on the grounds
of the Biltmore for DIRT cheap!
So Wednesday,
we dropped daddy off at the conference,
packed our lunches
and headed to the Biltmore Estate for the day!
I had no idea how long we were going to stay
but the gates didn't open until 10am
and we had to get daddy at 4pm...
so we went prepared for the long haul.
Once we finally got up to the house,
we decided we needed a potty break
before we headed inside
(since they won't let us use the ones inside!)
But on our way to the potties...
we found a cafe
with pastries
and coffee...
so we HAD to stop.
And you can't take food into the house,
so we had to wander around a bit
so I could casually drink my coffee.
We split 3 different pastries 5 ways...
well, 2 of them were only split
4 ways...
I let them get filled up on the first two
THEN I cut the cinnamon roll.
(wink, wink)
We headed through the house and the kids did GREAT!
I attempted to make it as interesting as I could
and the boys were interested in more of it than I thought
they would be.
The littles...
not so much.
But they were still wonderful!
After we spent a lot longer
in the house than I thought we would,
checking out all the rooms
imagining what it would be like to have dinner
at those gigantic tables
and read all of those books
and have mommy and daddy sleep in different rooms...
(no thank you)
We headed down to see the bowling alley
and the POOL!
What?
No, kids, we cannot
put a pool or a bowling alley in our house.
No, I do not want a house that big because
I can't keep the one we have clean!
After we were done with the house,
tummies were crumbling
so we climbed back in the car
and headed over to a newer section
of the property.
It has been years
since I have been to the Biltmore
and since my last visit
they have opened up a whole new section.
The Village and Winery!
Oh yes!
Right up my alley!
We ate lunch in the car because in the short 2 mile drive
from the house to the Village,
Mr. T passed out!
So we let him sleep for a bit
and ate our lunch in the car.
Then I bribed my poor children with
ice cream
IF they would behave
and let me walk through the winery
(and taste 1 or 20 wines).
They even had grape juice for the
underage patrons to "sample".
They did well
and they entertained the barkeep.
Haha!
So we went and got ice cream
and yet another coffee
to dilute all of the wine I just drank,
um "tasted".
After our ice cream
we wandered around the stables
and the playground at the Village
for a bit,
then realized it was time to go get Daddy!
Had we really just spent 6 HOURS there?
We headed back and played with our neighbors again...
only this time they brought friends!!
And it didn't take a whole lot of convincing
to get this guy to go to sleep that night!
The next day we did a little shopping after dropping daddy off
at the conference and then
just relaxed around the campsite.
I tried to organize stuff,
the kids played.
Then Friday was moving day,
so daddy took the car to the conference.
Before he headed out
he and Lex did a little early morning duck feeding.
I thought that was a sweet picture.
Lex in her jammies
and
daddy in his work clothes
feeding the ducks.
Awe...
Then as per the norm with us...
the little people have to be in the car
and strapped into their seats before
we start hooking up the camper...
so Mr. T decided to read a magazine.
These guys are so stinking cute!!!
We survived the first 3 days of our 12 day trip...
On to stop #2 on our adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment