Family Mountain Weekend

Well, I don't know if East Fork Ranch will ever be quite the same. Yup, we did it....we took the plunge and loaded up the kids and half of our house into the car and made the trek to N.C. for a little family time. It was great fun and I think that Pratt and I realized that we need to make more time to do things just as a family.

We started out on Friday around 11:30 or so and what should have taken only 5 hours ended up taking nearly 7. We made our first stop only an hour down the road to grab some lunch and we ended up spending way too much time there. Shelby is notorious for saying she has to go potty and not really having to go or claiming that she isn't finished when she really is so we waited in the parking lot of the Ruby Tuesday while Shelby sat on her super cool new travel potty. I think that she just really liked the potty and didn't want to get off. When we finally coaxed her off and got some gas we were able to get back on the road only to be told by our little princess in the back seat that she had to go potty again. I tried to change the subject and distract her, but then I started to think, "Oh no, what if she really does have to go potty??? I don't want her to have an accident in her carseat. That would make a smelly rest of the trip." So, with all disregard of the law and what is safe I set up her new potty on the floor of the car and let her sit on it at which point she did potty. Well, this basically went on for the rest of the trip and I have to give her credit because everytime she said she had to go she went. We finally pulled up to the cabin around 7:30 and Shelby was so excited. JP could really care less; he just wanted to sleep. Instantly Shelby put on her hat and never took it off except when she was sleeping.

The next day was so nice because I got to sleep in until 6:30 (I know, it is really sad that I now consider getting up at 6:30 as sleeping in.....). JP was ready to go and Shelby followed shortly behind. It was a fun morning though because we just did whatever. There was no one rushing off to this or to that. Once we got going we went to this great little restuarant for the best pancakes ever. No kidding, these are the best!!! Then we hit the grocery store on the way back to get necessary provisions. After a very short morning nap from JP we headed back into town to do some shopping and have lunch. It turned out to be a very beautiful day and not as cold as I thought it would be. Of course being from the south we had JP bundled up to the hilt. Poor kid couldn't even move underneath all that we had on him. He just sat there so still and would only move his eyes around as he had this perplexed look on his face. At one point when I set him down on the floor he just tipped over backwards. Thank goodness his puffy jacket was so puffy and allowed for a softer landing!!!! Shelby really enjoyed the rest of the day just hanging out and playing with daddy.

The next day (Sunday) was JP's FIRST birthday!!!! Oh my, I really can't believe that my baby is one already!!! What at first seemed like a time that would never come because I was sure I would die before it got here had arrived!!!! We spent the whole day at the cabin. It was supposed to snow that day, but it didn't. During the morning we took the kids down to the river, looked at the trout ponds and went to see the horses. That night we had Wilton and Amanda Graves over with their two kids, Wilton and Ellie, to have a little celebration over the huge milestone of the day. Shelby had so much fun playing with Ellie and Wilton that she is still asking about them and wanting to go back to the mountains to play with them. We were so glad to have them over to help celebrate and it also gave us something to look forward to during the day that kept us from getting cabin fever too bad. Pratt and Wilton had a great time talking about, well, I am not really sure what they talked about, but if I had to guess I am sure that it had something to do with work, house building, and wine. Amanda and I mostly talked kids (why is it that all I talk about these days with other friends are kids.....hummmmmm...I wonder:-) Anyway, we had a great time visiting with them and catching up on all that had come to pass in the two years since we last saw each other.

This is JP on Sunday. We were all bundled up for a fun day of throwing rocks in the river, visiting the horses, and just walking around. At this point we kind of knew that it wasn't going to snow, but I still had high hopes.

Shelby loves her brother sooo much!!! Sometimes when she hugs him, she hugs him so tight that I think that his eyes are going to pop out.

This is Shelby and Daddy talking to the horses. She wasn't nearly as timid around them as I thought she would be.

Doesn't JP look older in this picture??? Maybe it is just me since I knew that he turned one. Oh, what a joyous and sad occassion all at the same time.

Here is the great cupcake making fest. Shelby did a great job helping to stir the batter and frost the cupcakes.

Monday morning came fast and early as JP was up at 6:00!!! And I promise you that all the sudden he looked like he grew a couple of inches and lost so much of his baby look. He really looked like a little boy. It was so sad and so exciting at the same time. We loaded up the car and then Pratt headed over to Cold Mountain with Wilton to take a look at the community they are doing over there and I took the kids over to play with Ellie. Once Pratt got back we loaded up and headed out (and not a moment too soon as the temp. that day was a freezing 25 degrees!!!!!) We had such a wonderful time and can't wait to go back. Like I said before, Shelby is asking us to go back....I want to eat dinner in the mountains. I want to play with Ellie in the mountains.