Trip to the Mountains

Mike casually mentioned one day, "Hey, do you think we should call up the Newbolds and see if they want to take a trip to the mountains for Veteran's day weekend?" And of course I was online with Sarah minutes later to find a place. We searched that night and more the next day for a place reasonably close by and pet friendly. We ended up finding "Alpine Cottage" in Cherokee, NC, a beautiful log cabin in the mountainous, western side of the state. We packed up the car and headed out minutes after Mike finished his last flight of the day on Friday and met up with the Newbolds six hours later at a Red Roof Inn just short of our destination. We stayed the night and then - after a yummy Cracker Barrel breakfast - left the next morning for our wooded haven in the Smokey Mountains.

We had a wonderful, relaxing, super-fun time hiking, hot tubbing, marshmallow roasting, sipping coffee-n-Bailey's, stuffing our faces, laughing and enjoying watching our girls experience the mountains. We ate chili and Sarah's awesome potato soup to warm up the cold nights. And then we ate some more just because we could. "Hey, who cares?! We're on vacation!" we said many times. We played board games and chubby bunny (I'll explain) and chatted fire-side late into the nights. The girls had a blast and were real troupers on our hikes.

It was the perfect get-away with great friends! Some highlights...

Our cabin, complete with gas fireplace, flat-screen TV and hot tub!

Even Junah had to dress warm. :)

I unsuccessfully attempted to rescue Eden from Colin who was trapped between very slippery rocks out in the middle of the creek. As I reached out for her, I shifted and ended up submerging my left foot and ankle into the creek. Colin and Mike decided to "roast" my sock and shoe. Several other falls by Colin, Eden and Maren resulted in more wet pants and shoes, as well as plenty of laughter.

"Baby Jack" joined us for hiking one day as well.

Gotta love having strong men to carry the goods!

Enjoying the beautiful landscape.

Newbold Family enjoying the scenery from the porch. We are so thankful they joined us!

THIS is a glimpse of the fun game called "Chubby Bunny." The goal is to get as many marshmallows in your mouth as you can while still being able to say 'chubby bunny.' Colin was the winner with more than 17 marshmallows stuffed in his cheeks! Mike chose to stuff his cheeks with a burrito instead. haha

This picture cracks me up because Sarah and Colin look like they are having a casual conversation albeit loads of marshmallows in their mouths.

A seasoned hiker by the time we left.