Camping in North Carolina (and Jonathan turns 30)

Over Labor Day weekend, we headed up to North Carolina for a weekend of camping and to celebrate Jonathan's 30th birthday.

Thursday, September 2

We left Thursday afternoon right after Rosemary's preschool open house and drove up to Augusta, Georgia where we were spending the night with Jonathan's sister, Elizabeth, and her family. Jonathan's parents were already there and his brother Zach, was coming in later that night.

On the way to Augusta, our Sonata hit 100000. Bye-bye warranty.

Elizabeth made a delicious lasagna dinner for us and the kids enjoyed playing together. We made a few plans for the weekend then headed to bed.

Friday, September 3

We got up bright and early the next morning so that we could get going on our four hour drive. With carseats and different destinations planned for after the trip, we ended up taking four cars. Janice took care of us though...we all had hearty egg sandwiches she made for us that morning to enjoy on the drive.

Janice and Richard drove.

Zach drove.

We drove and so did Joel & Elizabeth.

We got to Franklin, North Carolina around lunchtime and rendezvoused at a local shopping center since we'd gotten separated over the drive. After looking around at our dining options, we settled on Fat Buddies Ribs for some North Carolina bbq.

Zach, Ben, & Jonathan

Ian, Elizabeth, & Joel. And that red bottle there...that's NOT ketchup. Found that out the hard way. Wow, it was spicy!

Janice, me, Rosemary, & Ezekiel

  Silly faces!

When we were done eating, Janice, Elizabeth, and I headed to Ingles (via Goodwill) to get our food for the weekend while the guys took the kids to start setting up the campsite at Standing Indian Campground.

By the time we were done shopping and made our way to the campground, they were just about finished.

Taking in a deep breath of mountain air.

The main set up

Ian by the fire pit

While Janice got our first dinner ready, we took the kids down to see the stream.

Rosemary wading across the cold water

Rosemary, Ezekiel, and Elizabeth

Jonathan and Ben ventured in also

On the way out to Zach, Rosemary took a tumble into the water. She was completely unfazed.

Heading back

Ben didn't like being too far out, but he enjoyed playing with the rocks right at the edge of the water.

Elizabeth and Ezekiel

Ian wading out. I think all the kids came back drenched.

When we got back to the campsite, Janice had our chicken pasta alfredo with broccoli ready for us.

The kids lined up along the bench for dinner.

The guys built a big fire and we roasted s'mores for dessert that night then got the kids ready for bed.

Saturday, September 4

The next morning was cold! Jonathan got a good fire going so we wouldn't freeze.

 The kids enjoyed some bananas while Janice made a special breakfast for Jonathan's birthday. She made Paula Deen's Bananas Foster French Toast. It was easily the most decadent and delicious french toast I have ever had. It was SO good. It felt like we were eating dessert for breakfast.

Afterwards, a few of us had to finish getting ready so we took silly pictures with the kids while they finished up.

Ben and Ian were showing me their muscles. They're so strong!

Once everyone was ready, we loaded up the cars and headed towards Highlands, NC. We were going to stop at Dry Falls, a waterfall that you can walk behind, on the way.

Dry Falls

Zach wore the coolest shoes while we were hiking. (No, I'm not talking about Shape-ups, Mom) :-) I'd never seen them before, but I'm usually late on these kinds of things anyway. They're Vibram Five Fingers. Aren't they crazy?

Ezekiel behind the falls

Ben thoroughly enjoyed riding in the backpack carrier with his daddy.

Checking out the falls

We met a couple from Highlands while we were at Dry Falls and they recommended a restaurant in Cashiers, Cornucopia, for lunch. They warned us that it would be busy, but that it was worth it. It wasn't too far out of the way from where we were planning on going next so we decided we'd give it a whirl.

We eventually found it and it was indeed busy. While we were waiting we met a man who used to play football for the Gators.

We enjoyed huge glasses of sweet tea

Happy birthday, Jonathan!

The meal was great...and huge...and worth the wait!

After lunch, we loaded up again and headed to Whitewater Falls.

A sweet moment with grandma and Ben

Whitewater Falls

There was an easy walk to the falls that we all took. After that, Richard, Janice and I stayed at the top while the rest did a loop trail down the mountain and met up with them later. While there, we talked a bit with the park volunteer and found out that he was from Micanopy! He was a great wealth of information and very willingly shared with us about the Gator game despite being a Bulldog fan.

We started to head back to the campsite once everyone was back, only to have to turn around because of a downed power line. Thank goodness for GPS though! It routed us along some scary (to me at least) gravel roads, but we eventually made it back.

We got back late to the campsite, but Elizabeth got taco soup ready for us fast. It was another delicious meal.

It was dark by the time we all finished eating.

That night we had birthday cookie for dessert

The kids did so well sleeping in the tent, except Ben would not stay in his sleeping bag. That little boy went all over the air mattress in the night.

Sunday, September 5

The next morning was a lazy morning. Between the cold (it had gotten down to 40 degrees overnight) and the full day the day before, we got off to a slow start. Janice prepped another great breakfast for us and we all made our own omelets in ziploc bags.

Once we were all ready to go, we headed up to Albert Mountain to hike up to an observation tower.

The kids definitely set the pace for us. I was amazed at how well they all did on the trails.

Joel, Jonathan, and Ben

We made it to the top then climbed up the observation tower...paying no heed to the yellow caution tape. :-)

What an amazing view!

 

Our family.

   Harris Family

Janice & Richard

From Albert Mountain we drove to Mooney Falls. We took our lunches so we made a picnic beside the falls.

Ezekiel enjoyed his sandwich

Elizabeth

Ezekiel and Janice

Jonathan and Ben

Silly faces with Rosemary

Enjoying a snack with cousins

Joel was the first to venture down to the rocks

Jonathan followed shortly thereafter

We hiked back up then headed back to the campsite. The kids went back to the stream (this time in their swimsuits) and I got things ready for dinner.

That last night we roasted hotdogs to go with the beans and mac & cheese and then had s'mores again for dessert.

Monday, September 6

The next morning, we got up early to get ready and pack up.

There's something so sad about a packed up campsite to me

Ben was SO cold that last morning since we didn't start a fire. We bundled him up in the car.

On the way out, we stopped at this beautiful overlook.

The reason we wanted to leave so early was to get to The Dillard House in Dillard, Georgia before breakfast was done. We'd never been, but Richard, Janice, Zach, and Elizabeth had been and it sounded so good.

The amount of food you get there is INSANE and everything was delicious. It was really hard to pace yourself. It's served family style and the best part is, you get to take the leftovers home! If we lived closer, this would be even better, but as it was it was still pretty great. We had enough in the car with us that got us through lunch.

 Ben enjoyed the blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and whatever other berries they had there...A LOT.

  Rosemary and I walked out to see the animals at the little petting zoo.

Walking back to the cars before heading our separate ways.

We loaded up and followed the route the GPS sent us, which took us through Athens, Georgia. Since we were there, we decided to swing by the University of Georgia. We parked (probably illegally if it's anything like UF) and walked around a bit.

The kids got to run around and stretch their legs a bit. They were such troopers. Once we got out of the mountains the temperatures rose considerably, but they still had a great time outside.

We made it back that night to Gainesville. It was a great trip and so fun with family.

New Trains and a Weekend Alone

The kids spent a weekend with my parents at the end of August. Before heading out of town, Ben got a package from my brother. He opened it and found Henry. From the moment he opened it until he left, that train was hardly set down.

The kids left the next day and Jonathan and I had the house to ourselves for an entire weekend. What did we do other than eat out every dinner?

Jonathan mowed the lawn with his brand new mower.

I made a dress for one of our niece's first birthday

And when Ben got home, he had another package waiting for him from his uncle and family. Again, he was SO excited!

Thanks for the new trains!

As Easy as (apple) Pie

A couple of weeks ago, we checked out "The Apple Pie Tree" from the library. The story is about an apple tree in the different seasons and how the family bakes apple pie using the apples. At the end, there's a simple apple pie recipe. Rosemary saw it and asked if we could make one. I'd never made a pie from scratch, but together during Ben's naptime one day we tackled it using the recipe from the book.

  Our pre-baked pie

Fresh out of the oven

Apple pie a la mode. It was so good even if it didn't look perfect. We'll definitely make it again.

Back to Ballet

Rosemary started back to ballet in early August. She was very excited to be back.

Boy or Girl?

Is it a boy or a girl? Watch to find out.

Our French Feast

Last month we 'traveled' to Spain - this month, it was France. We picked up Anatole, Madeline, and a children's book about Paris to learn a bit about France. One time, Rick Steves was on and Rosemary saw him when he was talking about the Arch de Triumph. She headed over to our stack of books, found the Paris one and paged through until she found the picture. It's pretty amazing to watch when things connect in her mind.

We also got a copy of the quintessential French cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, to find our meal. Trouble was, just about every main dish in the cookbook was swimming in some kind of wine. I know that most of it cooks off, but the thought of feeding it to Rosemary and Ben just seemed wrong. As it worked out though, one of our nieces had just done a week long French cooking camp and was able to recommend a main dish - Lemon (or lime) butter chicken - and suggested asparagus as our vegetable. We added some herb rice and hollandaise sauce and were set. She also assured me that crepes were 'very easy' to make so we decided on doing crepes for dessert.

Rosemary helped make the lime butter for our chicken. And I cheated with the hollandaise sauce...the whole raw egg and hot butter thing just seemed really difficult. So we used the mix.

Some red, white, and blue at the table for our meal

We ended up using just one Julia Child recipe...the one for dessert crepes...which still called for rum. I just substituted with a bit of vanilla.

To attempt to get in the mood for our meal, Rosemary tried on the beret before dinner.

I thought Ben looked pretty cute in the beret.

While Jonathan bathed the kids, I made the crepes. French chefs need not fear, I'm pretty much inept at making crepes. But once they were topped with leftover ice cream and toppings from Jonathan's graduation party, everyone thought they were great.

Now our next stop will be China. And for that, we'll be doing takeout.