A summer date...
As most of you know, I have 2 children. Caleb is 5 1/2 years old and Kaitlyn is 2 1/2 years old. Never in Kaitlyn's 2 1/2 years have I been away from her overnight (unless you count when she was in the hotel room right next to mine with Grandma). Caleb, on the other hand, has been going away every summer since he was 2 1/2. He goes to Jared's parent's house for a week of "Camp Cousin." This is when all my in-law's grandchildren come and stay for a week. There is a minimum age requirement, though. They have to be 2 1/2. This is Kaitlyn's first ever "Camp Cousin."
I am excited for her, she will/is have a great time. She loves being with her brother and loves her cousin and adores her grandparents. But I was also apprehensive. She's never been away from me. She's a mommy's girl and loves to be with me. I also didn't know how I'd do without her. She's my baby. My youngest. How can she go away for a week. But go away she did.
On Saturday, Jared and I met his parents in Asheville. There was an unexpected festival going on where we planned on meeting so we headed to the local Fuddruckers. When it came time to load the kids into my in-law's car, I hid my eyes behind large sunglasses. I didn't want Kaitlyn to see me sad. So I put on a smile and took pictures with them saying "CAMP COUSIN!". I tearfully hugged my MIL and waved as they drove away.
After they left, Jared and I headed to the Blue Ridge Parkway and Mt. Mitchell. We were going to spend a night or two in the mountains (was going to be Asheville, but neither of us like crowds). We found an extremely curvy street and wound our way up to the Blue Ridge. At the first observation point,
we saw a park ranger who informed us that the parkway was closed a short way up. So we had to make other plans...Okay...we'll get off at the next exit and drive around and come from the north side....100 miles away. While driving this very long route I remembered that a friend of ours lives and works this way. So, supposing we could find her workplace and she was working, we'd take a short detour and stop by. She was working and it was a wonderful, albeit, short visit. We took some beautiful pictures and enjoyed our coffee and fellowship.
By this time, it was getting late and we wouldn't make it to Mt. Mitchell in time so we decided to try to find a place to stay. We checked Garmin guy (GPS) and our AAA tour book and called a couple places. Most were booked but we finally found a place in Boone. We drove up there and tidied up before heading out to supper (it's around 8pm by now). I talked to Kaitlyn on the way out for a couple minutes, but she was busy swimming so I let her go jump in the pool again and gave my attention to my very handsome husband. We had dinner at a small Italian restaurant a couple shops away from our hotel. Wow...this place was good! Jared and I waited at the bar (something we couldn't do with the kids) and shared a half liter of wine. They soon seated us and we ordered stuffed mushroom caps for an appetizer. They were baked and not fried and oh-so-yummy! They also brought us some rolls and herb filled bread to dip in oil and spices. The oil wasn't very flavorful, but the bread sure was! We still had plenty of wine left, so we sipped that as well as some water throughout the entire meal. They brought us our salads and soon after, our main courses. I had chicken saltimbocca with a delicate white wine sauce (to die for!) and some fresh veggies. Jared had fettuccine seafood fra diavolo. Also very yummy! We were very full afterward and didn't have room for dessert. Back to the hotel we went and what was going to be just a short rest on the bed before heading to the pool ended up in a full sleep. I woke up about 5am and couldn't go back to sleep so I headed to the fitness room to work off last night's meal. 30 minutes on the treadmill then to the pool for some splashing and laps. I got back to the room as Jared was waking up and made us each a cup of coffee. We packed up and had a decent hot breakfast at the hotel and headed for the parkway.
We stopped off at Cone House Memorial. What a beautiful home. We stayed there a couple hours. We took the house tour, hiked up to the family cemetery which is part of the Mountains to Sea Trail, enjoyed the scenery and craft store. It was gorgeous. Both Jared and I were trying to figure out how we could own something like this. Wow...it was so beautiful. I definitely want to go back!
After, we continued down the parkway and hiked Linville Falls. Being after lunch we were getting a little hungry so didn't do the longer hike but instead found a grocery store in Spruce Pine and had a simple lunch of sandwiches and Pringles.
We continued down the parkway to Mt. Mitchell only to find out after we got there that the summit was closed for renovation. Bah! So we didn't make it to the highest most point of the eastern US. We could have hiked the next to tallest peak that was only 1.4 miles away, but it was a very strenuous hike that would take about 4 hours round trip. I couldn't believe how long they estimated the time. I'm used to doing a mile in about 15 minutes! Not on this trail! So we decided to try it another day since it was late afternoon. We decided to head back home. About a 5 hour trip. I slept off and on (poor Jared) but it was nice to get home. We weighed in on the Wii (eeks!) and Jared played some Mario Kart while I checked email and LJ. Then to bed and sleep in! No kids to wake us this morning. Jared had taken today off work so we stayed home and lazed for most of the day (except I worked hard in the garden this morning. The gourds were overrunning everything and strangling out my tomatoes and melons. We had our first Collective Farm Woman Melon this morning.
We had mini-bagel sandwiches of fresh veggies and herbs (with avocado and cheese) for lunch. Not sure what we're doing the rest of the day. So weird without the kids, though. I did get to talk to both today and they are having a great time. Kaitlyn's not having any problems. Grandma seems to be really enjoying them and there is a big smile in her voice as she talks to me about everything they are doing. Maybe we should have Camp Cousin more than once a year.... :)
edited for broken link
I am excited for her, she will/is have a great time. She loves being with her brother and loves her cousin and adores her grandparents. But I was also apprehensive. She's never been away from me. She's a mommy's girl and loves to be with me. I also didn't know how I'd do without her. She's my baby. My youngest. How can she go away for a week. But go away she did.
On Saturday, Jared and I met his parents in Asheville. There was an unexpected festival going on where we planned on meeting so we headed to the local Fuddruckers. When it came time to load the kids into my in-law's car, I hid my eyes behind large sunglasses. I didn't want Kaitlyn to see me sad. So I put on a smile and took pictures with them saying "CAMP COUSIN!". I tearfully hugged my MIL and waved as they drove away.
After they left, Jared and I headed to the Blue Ridge Parkway and Mt. Mitchell. We were going to spend a night or two in the mountains (was going to be Asheville, but neither of us like crowds). We found an extremely curvy street and wound our way up to the Blue Ridge. At the first observation point,
we saw a park ranger who informed us that the parkway was closed a short way up. So we had to make other plans...Okay...we'll get off at the next exit and drive around and come from the north side....100 miles away. While driving this very long route I remembered that a friend of ours lives and works this way. So, supposing we could find her workplace and she was working, we'd take a short detour and stop by. She was working and it was a wonderful, albeit, short visit. We took some beautiful pictures and enjoyed our coffee and fellowship.
By this time, it was getting late and we wouldn't make it to Mt. Mitchell in time so we decided to try to find a place to stay. We checked Garmin guy (GPS) and our AAA tour book and called a couple places. Most were booked but we finally found a place in Boone. We drove up there and tidied up before heading out to supper (it's around 8pm by now). I talked to Kaitlyn on the way out for a couple minutes, but she was busy swimming so I let her go jump in the pool again and gave my attention to my very handsome husband. We had dinner at a small Italian restaurant a couple shops away from our hotel. Wow...this place was good! Jared and I waited at the bar (something we couldn't do with the kids) and shared a half liter of wine. They soon seated us and we ordered stuffed mushroom caps for an appetizer. They were baked and not fried and oh-so-yummy! They also brought us some rolls and herb filled bread to dip in oil and spices. The oil wasn't very flavorful, but the bread sure was! We still had plenty of wine left, so we sipped that as well as some water throughout the entire meal. They brought us our salads and soon after, our main courses. I had chicken saltimbocca with a delicate white wine sauce (to die for!) and some fresh veggies. Jared had fettuccine seafood fra diavolo. Also very yummy! We were very full afterward and didn't have room for dessert. Back to the hotel we went and what was going to be just a short rest on the bed before heading to the pool ended up in a full sleep. I woke up about 5am and couldn't go back to sleep so I headed to the fitness room to work off last night's meal. 30 minutes on the treadmill then to the pool for some splashing and laps. I got back to the room as Jared was waking up and made us each a cup of coffee. We packed up and had a decent hot breakfast at the hotel and headed for the parkway.
We stopped off at Cone House Memorial. What a beautiful home. We stayed there a couple hours. We took the house tour, hiked up to the family cemetery which is part of the Mountains to Sea Trail, enjoyed the scenery and craft store. It was gorgeous. Both Jared and I were trying to figure out how we could own something like this. Wow...it was so beautiful. I definitely want to go back!
After, we continued down the parkway and hiked Linville Falls. Being after lunch we were getting a little hungry so didn't do the longer hike but instead found a grocery store in Spruce Pine and had a simple lunch of sandwiches and Pringles.
We continued down the parkway to Mt. Mitchell only to find out after we got there that the summit was closed for renovation. Bah! So we didn't make it to the highest most point of the eastern US. We could have hiked the next to tallest peak that was only 1.4 miles away, but it was a very strenuous hike that would take about 4 hours round trip. I couldn't believe how long they estimated the time. I'm used to doing a mile in about 15 minutes! Not on this trail! So we decided to try it another day since it was late afternoon. We decided to head back home. About a 5 hour trip. I slept off and on (poor Jared) but it was nice to get home. We weighed in on the Wii (eeks!) and Jared played some Mario Kart while I checked email and LJ. Then to bed and sleep in! No kids to wake us this morning. Jared had taken today off work so we stayed home and lazed for most of the day (except I worked hard in the garden this morning. The gourds were overrunning everything and strangling out my tomatoes and melons. We had our first Collective Farm Woman Melon this morning.
We had mini-bagel sandwiches of fresh veggies and herbs (with avocado and cheese) for lunch. Not sure what we're doing the rest of the day. So weird without the kids, though. I did get to talk to both today and they are having a great time. Kaitlyn's not having any problems. Grandma seems to be really enjoying them and there is a big smile in her voice as she talks to me about everything they are doing. Maybe we should have Camp Cousin more than once a year.... :)
edited for broken link