Trip to Boone

We had a really fun weekend in Boone!  We were there less than 2 full days, but we had a good time.  Correction:  Bob and I had a great time, Erin had a pretty good time, and Anna hated it.  It was pretty cold - mostly in the 40s - and was cloudy, so that's not her climate at all.  We rented a 1-bedroom cabin with a loft, and the girls had their first experience of sharing a bedroom in the two twin beds upstairs.  They did really well with that, so we are excited for them to share a room at the beach and on other vacations now!  We got there on Friday around 3:30 and checked out the cabin, and had fish and macaroni for dinner as it was a Friday in Lent.  We roasted marshmallows after dinner too.  Saturday, we attempted to find some easy hiking in the area and ended up at the Boone Greenway, which was basically like any other town greenway, but the loop did end at a really nice playground that the girls enjoyed.  We hit the tourist spot of the Mast General Store, which the girls enjoyed looking around at all the old-time stuff and toys (of course) and picking out penny candy.  We had lunch at Chick Fila, then back to the cabin for "rest time" (which only lasted 20 minutes), then Erin joined Daddy in the hot tub.  They both loved that!

We built another campfire and dragged Anna outside for a short time, then had hot dogs for dinner and took a little walk around the cabin.  We also spent time playing inside the cabin with their moose-themed tic-tac-toe sets, board games, and Disney trivia game that Anna managed to sniff out from under a coffee table.  Bob noticed that she managed to find the only Disney-related item in the cabin!

Today we mostly just got up and packed, then headed out and stopped for church in North Wilkesboro at what may be the smallest church I've ever been in, and also one of the longest Masses ever...even for Palm Sunday!  We got back fine, even though it rained the entire trip back.

A few more pictures are HERE.  The cabin was perfect, very clean and seemed to be pretty new.  It was in a little cluster of 4 cabins at the top of a small mountain, but the others were all vacant so nobody heard Anna screaming to go back inside.  We didn't get to do a whole lot because we weren't there very long, but it was lots of fun (for some of us), and was nice to try something new.  The girls both adamantly prefer the beach and kept asking to go there!  Poor Bob, he's outnumbered yet again.  We'll give it another shot when the weather is warmer, but overall, it was a fun time together!

February

Well, we don't  have much to show for ourselves in February   It was a cold, slow month, which was fine with me, but I think everyone else is ready for spring!  Let's see - Friday the 1st, we had a yummy dinner out with neighbor friends and then Erin and Bob went to the Middle Creek Elementary Snowflake Ball.  We had high hopes that she would love it, but she was a little subdued.  She may have been tired, plus overwhelmed about having a party at night at her school.  She still talks about riding in Daddy's car, eating cookies, and drinking water at the dance party at school!  We spent the rest of the weekend of the month in Concord celebrating Ansley's 4th birthday.  It was lots of fun, and the girls loved playing at their house and going to Ansley's party!

Daddy took some short trips for work to New York City (twice, for one day each time) and Boston (one night), where he got to see Tom, Pam, and Jimmy and spend the night at their house.  Mommy's highlight of the month was Anna getting into preschool for next year, Tuesday/Thursday mornings at the church across the street from our neighborhood.  I can almost taste the freedom...the first regular freedom I'll have had in almost 5 years!  Anna was really excited to be there and wanted to join right in.  I'm hoping that will still be the case in September!

Mommy had a fun birthday, going out to dinner without kids while Aunt Maria babysat, which was so nice.  Erin had a Valentine's Day party at school, but it was for kids only...she came home with lots of nice valentines from all of her boyfriends!  We had a party weekend after that with neighbor twins Nina and Lily's 3rd birthday party at Bounce U on Friday night, then Dalton's 4th birthday party at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences on Saturday.  Both were lots of fun, and we really enjoyed them both!  We had yummy spaghetti at Cole's house on Sunday and tried to walk to the park near their house, but Cole and Anna were not too happy by the end of our walk.  Erin, however, loved riding in Cole's wagon.  I guess we've got one outdoorsy one!

The following weekend, we went to our friends Matthew, Caroline, and Joshua's house to watch the NCSU/UNC game and play with their toys.  On Sunday, we got to meet sweet little (big) baby Ike.  We all had a cold last week, but we have survived it and are better than ever now.  That was basically it for the month, just school for Erin and the regular routine!

We're looking forward to a fun March with Erin's track-out starting on the 21st, our trip to Boone that following weekend, and visiting the family in Concord on the weekend of the 16th.  Hopefully we will get to see Aunt Pam and cousin Jimmy when they're in town in a couple of weeks too!  We also are hoping that Erin's field trip to Defy Gravity will happen next Friday since it had to be canceled last Friday due to the "ice" delay.  Anna starts her 8-week dance class on Monday, so she's been busy preparing her outfit for that.  This weekend will also be extra fun with Erin's dance class and seeing Rapunzel onstage tomorrow night!  And, hopefully in March, I will learn to list things in correct chronological order.

We're excited for warmer weather, Easter, and spring fun!