Away we go

We fell in love with the mountains when we vacationed there a few years ago and were so excited to go back in October.  Mimi rented a huge cabin for all of us, Aunt Autumn and Uncle Kelly but they bailed at the last minute. So it was just us, along with Mimi's friend Marilyn on the trip.

We had so much fun on our first family vacation with Christian.  Whenever we go to North Carolina we always make sure to stop in Madison, Georgia. It is the cutest little town and as luck would have it, they were having their fall festival!  Isabella was excited to have her face painted, along with EVERY OTHER KID there. I waited in line for two hours while Mimi kept Isabella entertained at the bounce house.  The face painter had a ton of adorable designs - fairies, butterflies, princesses.  What did Isabella pick?  Spiderman!  She was so excited to be Spiderman and was the cutest Spiderman I've ever seen!  Of course, Isabella fell asleep the second we were back in the car.

Isabella was so excited that we were going to the "cabinet" as she called our cabin.  Poor thing, she was so scared when we got there because it was pitch black outside and so dark.  Luckily, she was excited when she woke up in the daylight. We took daily walks around the cabin and explored our surroundings. Isa was hoping she'd see a bear but we never saw one.  As we were walking around she'd whisper, "Shhhhhhh! We don't want to scare the bears!" 

Isabella was her Daddy's shadow the entire trip.  If he went outside, Isa went outside. If he went to the porch, Isa went to the porch.  If he went to the bathroom, well, you get the idea. He loved every minute of it!

You can still see the Spiderman facepaint from the day before.

Mommy and Daddy had a day to ourselves, too!  Mimi watched the kids while we went zip lining and river rafting with Marilyn.  We had a blast! I am usually a scaredy cat when it comes to stuff like that but I did it! I wanted to do zip lining since we honeymooned in Costa Rica, where it is super popular.  But, I chickened out.  I wanted to do water rafting when we were in NC last time but I chickened out.  Not this time!!! I was so proud of myself.  Jose was a great help, too. He was very encouraging and helped ease my fears. 

The highest one was 175 feet!

Isabella had a fun time, too.  Mimi completely spoiled her, of course!  We also had a lot of family time. The waterfalls were amazing and one of my favorite parts of the trip.  Making the walk with Isabella down behind the waterfall was so much fun. She was so excited which added to my excitement even more.  It's true what they say that having children allows you to see things through eyes.  On top of that, we were seeing some of God's beautiful country - the mountains, the waterfalls, creeks, everything was gorgeous!



Yes, that's Christian under the blanket.



Something I thought Isabella would love was ruby mining.  Not so much. I think I hyped it up too much.  Isabella looked at us like, "you want me to play with that mud?  Why is that exciting?"  She was a trooper though!  What she really loved was the petting zoo and horseback riding at Dillard House.  She was adorable as she was feeding the animals.  One goat kept following her because well, she had food. Isabella was convinced it was because she was so wonderful and kept saying, "He likes me! He likes me!" or "He must really love me a lot!"  She also let the animals know who was boss when she'd tell them, "You've already had enough food.  It's someone else's turn."

She LOVED riding the horse which prompted several requests for a pony.  According to Isabella, she NEEDS one. 

On the last day we went to Tallulah Gorge and went on a hike to see some more falls.  I am so glad we stopped because it was a lot of fun.  To get to the bottom we walked down 1000 steps.  That means we had to walk UP 1000 steps to get back.  Jose carried Isabella on his shoulders on the way down but she insisted on walking back up. She was a speed demon on the way back and kept saying, "I exercising."  If only I had that same amount of energy!

Where's Christian????
Although he's not in many of these photos, Christian was there, I promise! He's at the phase where he's still sleeping a lot. He was happy, as usual and full of smiles when he was awake.

My sweet, happy boy!

We brought the portable bed for him. We kept calling him Dracula because he looked like a vampire in a coffin!

It was a great trip and I was sad when it was over. We're already planning it for next year.  Even as I go back through the pictures I think of how Blessed we are to be able to do things like this.  Just being able to spend time with one another and have Mimi there is amazing.  I love you two so much.