Blowing Rock Weekend

On Thursday, Aaron went into work for a couple of hours. Once he got home, we packed up the car and headed to Blowing Rock, NC-- it's in the mountains and about 350 miles from Wilmington. That day, Henri (the potty trainer) was insistent on wearing underwear. We forgot to have him change for the trip and "try" before we left... so we weren't 10 minutes away when he said, "I need go pee." It was one of those "Yay!" moments and "Are you serious?" moments at the exact same time! The drive up went well... thank goodness for a dvd player! Our drive took a little longer than expected (due to a scheduled detour to Land Rover Asheville), so we didn't get to Blowing Rock until close to 7 PM. Our hotel was right in town, so we walked to Mellow Mushroom for dinner. Thinking the kids would be wiped out after a long day... we went back to the hotel to have them prove us wrong! They were crazed-- jumping, wrestling, yelling-- from being cooped up in the car all day. It took a long time for them to settle down, but eventually they gave in.

Friday, we went to the Tweetsie Railroad. We got there right after they opened in the morning and it was quite chilly. We rode the train... now we heard a story about how it worked in Alaska during ?? time... so it was really old. Anyway, they had a "skit" during the train ride. We would stop and the sheriff and his deputy, the "dumb" crooks, and Indians would put on a show that was supposed to be funny. However, Henri wasn't amused! He was so scared of the pop guns and the act was a little too real for him. After the train ride, we went up to the "Country Fair" area. Claire really wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel. We made a pit stop at the cars before we got there... Chase and Henri rode with me. Chase steered... Henri was not comfortable with that! So we made it to the Ferris Wheel. Claire rode with Aaron and I got the boys... or should I say chickens?!! As we started going up... Chase said, "I made a mistake." Henri's energy and grip on me were overwhelming... I tried my hardest to make the boys comfortable. Pointing out the mountains... saying, "Weee!!" Then Chase said, "I want to get off." I had him tell the operator himself... usually he wouldn't... but he was DONE. We got off early and watched Claire and Aaron go around about 5 more times. Claire LOVED it. Once we were done in that area, we took the Chair Lift to the other area-- which was only accessible by chair lift or bus. It was very cool. It was so high up... we were as high as trees... a good 30 feet in the air at the highest! Henri could have gone on it a million times! We saw a bunny munching on some clover... it was a very cool ride! We had such a great time at Tweetsie... the lines for rides were so short... waiting 5 minutes was a maximum! We rode rides 2-3 times and never felt rushed (unlike Disney). After Tweetsie, we stopped by the Outlet Mall. Aaron was carrying Henri and I guess the day had worn on him... he fell asleep in Aaron's arms... head on his shoulder. Aaron learned that it's hard to shop while holding a sleeping child! Oh, and Friday was day #2 of Henri wearing underwear and NO accidents! He's a big boy! After Henri got a good nap in, we went to dinner and then walked into town for ice cream and playing at the park. Once again, we had another crazed night in the hotel room. Something about kids and a hotel bed and jumping!

Saturday morning, we had the most expensive breakfast of our lives. I had an omelet, Aaron: poached eggs all fancy and fresh squeezed orange juice, Chase and Claire: waffles, and Henri: bowl of fruit... all for $70!! It was a really good breakfast, but STILL! After breakfast, we went trout fishing and gem panning. I watched the fishing... everyone caught one... ok, Chase caught 2. Then we panned for emeralds, rubies and other gems. It was fun for the kids to look for "pretty" rocks. We then tried to go to Linville, NC for the Highland games (lets just say lots of people in kilts). We sat in some traffic, then when we got there we learned that we couldn't park on top of the mountain (Grandfather Mountain)... so we got $25 extorted from us ($5 per person) to take a bus. We got to the top and learned that it was going to cost more money to get into the games AND it was lunch... and well... their food selection wasn't the best for kids. So down the mountain we went... good thing... it started raining. The kids got lucky and the closest eating establishment was McDonald's (in case you don't know... McD's is a no no for us and we only go there in emergency situations). All day, Claire had been asking to go swimming. So, on the way back to Blowing Rock Aaron kept his eyes peeled for a swimming hole or creek. All of the sudden, he pulled off the road and turned around. On the side of the road there were about 6 cars parked and down the hill was a beautiful creek. We spent about 2 hours there letting the kids play in the frigid water! At dinner, Henri fell asleep on my lap around 6:30. The night wasn't so crazed... we sat outside talking and watched "Wipe Out" before bed. Oh, and day #3 of no diapers for Henri!!

This morning, Henri was the first up at 7:20! Yes, he slept 13 hours! We packed up the car to leave and then walked up (to a much cheaper place) for breakfast. We got on the road and quickly made a stop when we saw the "Blowing Rock" sign. Chase was completely freaked out and his nervousness transferred to Henri... Claire had no fear! It was absolutely beautiful. I took lots of pictures, so check them out!