recent happenings

Last week, we took a day trip up to Asheville to visit the Biltmore. Brad had gotten free tickets through a work friend, so we picked a weekday (when it wouldn't be busy) and headed on up there. I hadn't gone since high school, and Brad had never been.

 

Noah did SO well. He even walked some of the tour and didn't try to jump on any beds or anything. :) He liked the tunnels in the basement, and his favorite part of the whole trip was the bus ride to the house.
When we were getting dropped back off at the parking lot, he starting waving and saying, "bye bye"... not because we were leaving, but because he wanted to go "bye bye" longer in the shuttle bus. lol.

I won't bore you with a ton of details of the house, but if you're in the area, definitely go for a visit. Especially if you watch Downton Abbey. It's very very similar to that. Except I recommend going in the spring. I mean, it was great for a free trip, but it would've been nice not to be so flippin cold!

(dude. bright sun. yikes.)

 We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but we did grab a quick shot with Brad's phone of Noah and me at the indoor bowling alley. The quality sucks, especially since it was pretty dark down there. It is what it is. Photos of me with Noah are rare, so I'll take it.

 

Because Noah did so amazingly well, we decided to give him a treat. They had a little vintage toy shop, full of old timey type things like spinning tops, marbles, etc. They also had plenty of Melissa & Doug toys and these cool clocks (which Noah was mesmerized with). He found some trains, so we grabbed him one of those. And I was kind of surprised that the price wasn't too bad... $6 for a high quality, metal train that makes sound is better than those Thomas ones.

We also stopped by the candy shop, and his little eyes couldn't believe all of that chocolate behind the glass. He got a chocolate covered graham cracker, which he only ended up eating a few bites of (momma helped him with the rest...).
I'm kind of regretting I didn't get any cute candy shop shots with my fancy camera, but it was a little hard juggling everything (purse, backpack with Noah's stuff, stroller, etc).

 

We had a really good time. Brad was a little creeped out by some of the darker hallways, saying how he'd hate to visit at night. It did have a little bit of a haunted house type vibe goin' on. I'd like to take one of those tours where they show you the secret tunnels and doors and stuff.

You can get a better idea of just how big the house is by comparing how small Brad and Noah look standing next to it (bottom right, with the stroller). Now that I'm a mom? I kept telling Brad how I couldn't imagine raising kids in that house. I would be scared to death one of them would fall down the stairs or hang off a balcony or something. Or I'd lose them in a secret passageway.

Other Random Happenings:

The tickets we got expired March 1st, and part of the reason we waited so long to go was because Noah kept getting sick. I swear it's the school. He gets therapy there on Mondays, and it seems like by Thursday, he's sick again. Thankfully, it was just a fever this time, but it was still sad to watch him feel so lousy.

 

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I've already decorated for Easter. I got my snow, so I'm good to move on now. 

 (bunny bums make me happy)

Actually, even though I'd like spring to show up early, it'd make for an awful summer. The mosquitos around here are ridiculous, and an earlier spring means more mosquitos (and other bugs). I'd rather wait a couple more weeks than get eaten alive.

I've also been planning Noah's Easter outfit. I'm so excited about it that I'm not even telling Brad what I have planned yet. Mostly because he'll probably veto it. He tends to do that when he can't see the whole picture yet. Seriously, half the fun of having a kid is dressing them up, and dangit, that's what I'm going to do.

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We got a knock on our door recently. It was a surveyor telling us that our fence was on our neighbor's property by a few feet. Brad was super annoyed, since we'd had our HOA send out someone to check out the property lines before we built it. Turns out, that guy wasn't official.
So Brad went ahead and moved it now before it got too hot. Our neighbors behind us have a little girl who is about a year older than Noah. She was adorable chatting Noah's ear off, and most of it just went right over his head. He loves playing with other kids, and it cracks me up that little girls are drawn to him. They must think he's a great listener. ;)

 

Toss in a few hours of play doh and some therapy appointments, and that's pretty much the last couple of weeks for us.

Happy Tuesday!