Mountain House

We have been talking about doing a mountain trip in the Asheville area ever since we moved to North Carolina. Every year we find some reason to put it off. This year especially we had a lot of reasons we could have put it off and not made it happen. I am so glad we did it anyway. It was such an amazing weekend together as a family. This was our last mini vacation as a family of four and I won't ever forget it. We found this cabin on air bnb about two years ago and I had saved it hoping we'd be able to go sometime. It is on 26 acres of land. The owner and her sister who live in the two houses on the property were the only others around. It had a beautiful little pond on the property with a paddle boat, had two swings for the boys, and had walking trails through the woods all right at our doorstep. We brought all of the food we would need for our entire stay. We stayed for three nights and only left the property twice, once to get ice cream in town and second to drive just to the bottom of the hill to a little gem mine for Everett.

The cabin was 5 hours away and the boys did amazing on the drive there. It felt like just our normal quick drive to the beach. The drive home felt much longer and was a bit rough but I am always so impressed by how well the boys do on long drives.

Boat rides in the pond were probably our favorite thing to do. It was so peaceful and beautiful. Listening to the birds was so nice and everything was so green. The weather the days we were there was perfect, not too hot.

The property this little two bedroom cabin is on is magical. The most magical thing about it were the hundreds of fireflies every night at dusk. We tried waking up Everett one night to see them. We even carried him outside but he just wouldn't wake up. He got pretty worn out exploring during the days.

Everett absolutely loved the gem mine. He had so much fun sifting the sand and found so many fun gems. He thought it was the greatest thing ever. Nathan thought it was silly feeding the goats but had a very frustrating time when it came to sifting the sand. He couldn't figure out why he couldn't dump the sand right into the water instead of the bucket.

We grilled every day and night. The grill took a little getting used to because of the coals but by the end of the trip Stephen was a pro. We had s'mores almost every night and they were so good. He ate so well for every single meal.

There are so many doors in the cabin and it was fun to open them up while we were hanging out and cooking and the huge deck was so fun.

Our last morning there we took the boys "fishing" on the pond. They were so cute to watch. Everett got really good at casting his pole and Nathan lost his mini pole. It was pretty sad but he was fine when we told him we would get him a new one.

What was so amazing about this little getaway was the escape we all desperately needed from this trialing year. It was just what we needed to reset and relax.

Nathan: Spring

My sweetest little Nathan how I love you so. You are such a beautiful little boy with beautiful brown hair that is so fun to leave a little on the longer side. You are such a little cuddle bug. I could just stare at you all day and sometimes I can't believe that you are mine. I am amazed at how smart you are. You are talking so well and one of my favorite things you do is repeat everything said to you. You are starting to learn some of your letters and you can count to ten and recognize numbers 0 to 10. I am constantly amazed at something new you have learned or have started doing. You have a very stubborn spirit about you and want to do things yourself, more so than your brother ever did. You like to throw yourself on the floor when something upsets you and you tend to be a little on the dramatic side. It must be so frustrating not being able to do everything Everett can do even though you try so hard. I constantly want to record everything you say because your voice is just so sweet. Sometimes it is the simplest little whisper and other times you are booming what you want to say in the deepest hilarious voice.

April

You do this hilarious growl sometimes and a huge vein on your neck will bulge.

Some of your favorite books right now are anything with trucks. You love road builders, busy trucks on the go and chicka chicka abc.

Some of your older favorite books are paw patrol, goodnight numbers, goodnight goodnight construction site, and read to tiger.

Your favorite shows are little baby bum and paw patrol. You can say chase and rubble. Rubble is your favorite paw patrol pup.

Your favorite colors to say are yellow and purple.

You are almost always hungry and will usually eat more food than Everett at mealtime.

Between you and your brother I could see you being the first one to ever end up with stitches because of your wildness.

If you see a pair of shoes lying around than you want to wear them.

You have so many bumps on your head and cut up lips from falling all of the time.

You have started saying "oh" after we tell you something. It is so precious.

After meals sometimes you will head to the floor and eat what you missed or dropped while eating. 

You are so smart in so many ways.

One of my favorite words you say is hot dog.

Frog and donkey sounds are my favorite to listen to you say.

While playing one day I realized you can count to four. I had no idea. It is also so cute when we say 7 you immediately say 8.

May

It is so funny when you tell us to "sit dare." You are usually referring to the couch next to where you are sitting. It is especially funny when we pour a bowl of cereal for ourselves and you run to the table as fast as you can and point to the bench saying sit there so that you can eat most of it.

You started saying Everett (Evreet). You still refuse to say Nathan. You will say me instead.

You've started calling me mommia and say it about 100 times a day.

You like sucking on one finger during stories.

June

One of the most precious things is walking in to kiss you goodnight and seeing you cuddled up like a little bug on dads lap while he sings to you.

When you first learned to count to ten you would count so slowly.

You have this hilarious look you will give us sometimes where you will look down at the ground but your eyes are still looking up at us.

Every time you bonk your head or hurt yourself on something you like to show us the spot where the hurt happened. If you can't remember exactly where it happened you guess in the general area and point to it.

It is hilarious trying to get you to say Nathan. You just refuse to say it. When we ask who you are, you refer to yourself always as Bubba.

For a week or so instead of the regular songs I'd sing to you at nap and bedtime you asked me to sing the wheels on the bus and the five little froggies song.

You love getting into the shower.

You can say most of the colors now and know all of the paw patrol pups names now.

My favorite thing about you right now is repeating everything that is said to you. Is is precious. You like to repeat lines in books as well. 

When we say smile for a picture you give a big grin and say cheese.