The day after Christmas, we packed up & headed to a cabin outside of Asheville, NC to meet up with some of Greg's family. Look at this great little place that Greg's sister Gena rented for everyone!!! (Actually, it wasn't so little....it had 4 bedrooms, a full basement, 4 bathrooms, 2 large porches, a hot tub, and lots of room for everyone to hang out!)
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| Nice view! |
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| They were in the hot tub within an hour of arriving at the cabin. |
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| Sunset view from the hot tub! |
Gena's partner, Julia, fixed a yummy Italian dinner for everyone, and the kids spent the evening exploring the cabin, making "hangouts," and playing with Ripley the dog.
First thing Tuesday morning, Abby wanted to go in the hot tub! Julia was the only one crazy enough to join her!!
We had plans to go snow tubing that day, but the weather wasn't cooperating. Instead, we had a lazy morning at the cabin, playing with new Christmas presents & games, hanging out in the hot tub, and having a chicken taco feast for lunch.
When the weather cleared, we decided to do some hiking & exploring around the property....
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| The owner had alpacas and llamas! So fun for the kids to see them! |
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| We hiked up pretty high! See Granddaddy down there in a blue shirt!? |
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| A little later on, Greg took the kids on a separate trail, and they hiked all the way to the top of the mountain!! The kids were so pumped to have a "cloud background" in their picture :) |
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| The cabin didn't have Wi-Fi, which meant Nate spent a lot of time outside throwing the football. He is obsessed these days! |
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| Bro time on the porch |
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| Daddy finally tried out the hot tub!! |
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| Around 5 pm everyday, a man came to feed the llama & alpacas. Nate got to help!! And Abby got down there just in time to see the tail end of it..... |
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| Shopkins game with Aunt Molly & Julia |
Gena & Julia surprised Greg & I with a night out in downtown Asheville! We left the kids at the cabin with Granddaddy & Mum Mum, and headed to Bar Taco for dinner. SO GOOD!!! Then, we went to Breakout, an escape room. It was Greg's first time and let's just say he was a bit shell-shocked and confused on how to solve all the riddles and puzzles! It was my 3rd time trying to "breakout," but since all the rooms have different themes, this was my first time to get handcuffed & blindfolded (Our theme was "kidnapping.") Such a fun hour, and best of all, we were able to successfully "breakout!!" We were paired with 4 other people in the room, and took a celebratory picture together afterwards.
Wednesday morning, the sun finally came out, so we headed to Wolf Ridge ski resort, about an hour away, to go snow tubing.
Although the tubing run wasn't as big as I had imagined, nor was it inside the ski resort, we still managed to have fun!
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| Caught red-handed trying to throw a snowball :) |
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| Julia crashed into us at the bottom! |
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| Abby's favorite thing was doing "trains" where you connect your tubes |
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| We had lots of fun doubling up! |
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| Right before we left, Aunt Molly & Mum Mum gave it a whirl! #redneckbowling |
Greg and I took a run together, and this little blondie was waiting for us at the bottom, trying to jump on us!!
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| Both kids rode down on my tube! I couldn't see, but it sure was fun!!! |
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| The owner had a tool to make the perfect snowballs! Nate snagged one. |
Snow tubing (and driving back & forth) took up most of the day, so we took it easy the rest of the afternoon, had more hot tub time, and played a few games. Gena & Julia did an awesome job of thinking of fun games for the whole family! This one was hilarious.....one person would roll the dice, wearing kitchen mitts, trying to get doubles. While another person would be unwrapping a huge ball of saran wrap, trying to unwrap all the prizes hidden throughout. The kids really got into it!
Once again, Julia fixed a yummy dinner - Christmas ham, potatoes, green beans, etc - and then we played one more game called LCR. Nate loved it, because it involved money!!! After lots of laughs, we turned into bed for the last time.
One more swing on the porch before we left Thursday morning....
Thank you again to Gena & Julia for a great adventure!!
When the weather cleared, we decided to do some hiking & exploring around the property....
