Jim asked the girls where they wanted to go for spring break. Wren said North Carolina because she'd been reading Robert Beatty's books (the Serafina series and Willa of the Wood and its sequel), and they are set at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. So Jim planned a trip to NC. We had to skip some school (mostly Wren and Tiny) because Ever's spring break (pursuant to the Oceanside Unified School District schedule) was different from the Littles' break at JCS Mountain Oaks. The teachers were mellow about it, though.
We flew out on Saturday. Happy travelers:
The girls played limbo while we waited SO LONG to get our rental car in Charlotte.
We found a branch to attend in Charlotte Sunday morning. It met at the end of a strip mall, and almost everyone there was Black. The congregation was highly interactive, and it was an amazing experience. I absolutely love to see the Church in all these different places, blessing the lives of all sorts of different people.
After church, we ate some snacks and strolled through a park.
Tiny's favorite tree is the willow. We spent a long time with this one, as Tiny tried to reach and play with its branches.
This pic I can't cut because of Jim and Ever.
Ever wrangled a whole bunch of branches, and we had a discussion about swinging out over the water. I was very cold (on the right, black jacket), but Tiny was fine in not very many clothes.
The vast majority of trees were still bare, but everywhere we went, there were some with beautifully colored leaves or blossoms. I loved them so much.
We stopped at a Bojangles (fast-food fried chicken and biscuits) for lunch. Jim thought it seemed Southern and important. The food was bad, but the girls had a lot of fun trying to reenact the sports photos on the wall.
Here's a close-up of that one.
Jim helped Ever with the face.
On the road to Asheville, Tiny read or reread one of the Serafina books.
We stayed for two nights in a really cute house in Swannanoa, just east of Asheville and south of Pisgah National Forest. The neighborhood was a little dilapidated, but we loved the Airbnb. I didn't get any pictures of it other than this one out the window. (The Littles are down by the creek that runs through the property.)
Sunday afternoon, we went for a walk around a little lake/park. Wrenzy made like one of the local geese.
Tiny entertained herself with a tar/slime-like black substance, trying to pick up as much of it as possible with a stick.
Monday was Biltmore day. The place is absolutely amazing.
We visited this statue at the top of the hill across from the house.
Then the children rolled and ran all the way down.
Out front, Wrenzy helped Tiny with front walkovers.
I loved this outdoor patio area with vines growing all over the overhead structure.
The gardens and grounds were magnificent. I'd love to return when the trees are leafed out.
Wrenzy took my phone and went nuts taking photos of all of the flowers.
Wrenzy got so weary hiking up this hill.
I love the pic below. So good with Tiny and the fuzzy background.
Ever joined Wren prostrate.
Tiny rested briefly, but her energy quickly returned.
The waterfall on the property was a little underwhelming.
Wrenzy got super upset about something incredibly tiny, so times were tough for a while. Ever tried to fix her with a heart-to-heart (behind the little tree).
Tiny started collecting flowers and leaves and building an organic edifice of sorts.
As I am blogging, I am reminded that Tiny wore her jammies all day. That's confusing.
Cute Bear.
Scary-faced Bear.
Tiny carried and added to her organic edifice forever and ever.
Always, these two lag and talk.
When we got our audio guides, the man handing them out asked, "Three kids?" We answered in the affirmative. After we finished in the banquet hall, we were talking about some interesting tidbits we'd learned, and one of the girls said something about how the room was four giraffes tall. I was like, "How do you know that?" She said, "The tour." I thought, Hmm. I didn't hear that, but I guess I was not totally focused while I was taking pictures. I must have missed that. We kept talking, and the girls kept knowing things that Jim and I didn't, and we knew things that they didn't. The girls were saying things about the family dog, which I hadn't heard anything about. One of the girls said something about wishing it wasn't narrated by the dog, and finally we figured out that they had different audio guide devices and were getting a whole different story. Ever and Wren wanted the regular tour, so we hurried back to the beginning to switch theirs out and then catch up with our tour.
Tiny's favorite room was the library.
Pizza for dinner. The way these girls eat is inexplicable. My efforts notwithstanding, table manners remain elusive.
Ice cream for dessert.
