North Caroline December Trip

The morning of the trip, the girls were SO excited! Caroline woke up first and ran in to wake up the big girls. 

We worked like crazy to get the car packed and food packed (I always pack all kinds of food for our trip - and the makings of sandwiches for our road trips) so that when Ron got home from work, we were ready to get in the car and go!

Here we go! #rosspartyof5familyvacay

We drove for a few hours and then stopped somewhere in Georgia for lunch. Oddly enough, there were NO northbound rest stops in Georgia. TONS of southbound ones though. lol So we did some research and found a park not too far off the interstate. It really was a beautiful park. Right along the river, and it was nice and cool. 

I probably would have been happy there. You know, I bet people who live there have no clue how beautiful that park is. I would be there all the time!

Another 4.5 hours later, we arrived at our cabin. I found the cabin one of those VRBO sites, and it was called Creek N Woods. This was II. We pulled up (after meeting the owners and they took us to the cabin) and I was instantly enamored.  It was just perfect... exactly what I was wanting.

After the tour from the owners, I sat down in front of the fire place and just took it all in. I could have sat there forever. 

So, here's a quick tour.....

Going upstairs (which, of course was a total "ride" for the girls!), into the loft...

which had 2 twin beds. The girls claimed those real quick. 

In the room right off the loft was a nice big room with a queen bed...

This is where we put Caroline and all the girls' clothes. 

On the other side of the loft was a wall unit and a full bathroom.

downstairs was another full bathroom and laundry room.

Our room, with a nice king bed.

The dining room area right off the kitchen (which was fully loaded with everything you needed to use to cook!)

and back to the living room...my favorite place. 

Yep - I opened up that wine and took it all in!

That night, before the girls went to bed, I tried to get a cute fireplace picture....

haha... yeah. right.

Thanks, Caroline.

Ok, let's try the tree then??

Nope.

Ok - whatever. 

Here's the front of the cabin....

side porch (it had a wrap around porch! I was in love!)

The next morning, the big girls and I woke up pretty early. They took a puzzle off the shelf and we started working on that... we worked on it the whole time we were there. We were "THIS" close to finishing it! 

It was strange... it doesn't get daylight 'til way later than what I'm used to. The mountains kept it darker for a while.

This next picture was after 8! It was crazy....

Now that it's light outside... let me show you the back of the cabin.... to the right is a HOT TUB. You guys. I was so bummed I didn't bring out suits!

The creek running behind it. 

Perfect little scene to take in while drinking my morning coffee. 

This "backyard" was just perfect for the girls. They loved being back there. 

Cutesy little girls.

Taking a "hike" behind the house... I love this shot. 

The big girls and I were playing in the woods for a bit. 

Look how happy they are... so in their element.

Autumn and her treasures. She always finds treasures. These treasures happened to be the ice that was in the creek. Unfortunately, these treasures did not last.

My gosh. These hams. I love them. I really try to remember that they days are long, but the years are short. I will miss these little hams being so little and squishy. 

A little bit later we found a snow-tubing place that was opened. It was super weird, but we were on a mission! 

It was SO cold this day. 

Caroline, of course, couldn't do the snowtubing, but she just kind of hung out in her own tube. She was okay with that. 

Brooklynn only went twice. It was pretty intense. I'm impressed she even went a 2nd time. haha.

Autumn, my little dare devil, would have done that all day. She just kept going and going. 

Riding up!

Then, we headed to the gardens to walk through the lights... mind you - it was THE coldest night. Like 20 degrees. Um. If it's going to be that cold, it needs to snow, my friends. 

The lights were beautiful though. 

Saturday, we were going to attempt to go hiking. Unfortunately, it was rainy. So we didn't get to do much hiking. We did find a fall that we "hiked" to... in the rain, and mud. 

But we did it!

And instead of having a picnic lunch in a "park" or wherever, we had to have lunch in the car.... on the side of the road. haha

Whatever.

We got back to town and found an AMAZING Christmas store. I could have spent an hour in there... but alas, Caroline (Miss Destructo), was in the building with us. 

Then we headed to downtown Asheville.

I'm going to be honest. It's not one of our favorite places we've ever been to.

We did, however, run into Santa at his chocolate workshop! That was super cool to the girls. They were amazed! haha

Found a fun little toy store...

Back to Maggie Valley, we go. 

Our last meal there, we went out. Caroline was really enjoying her applesauce. haha

Then, we had to make ONE last stop.... 

the purple place!!  EVERY time we passed this place, I was amazed at how purple-tastic it was.  Ron finally was like "do you want to go to the purple place?" Um, YES! Yes, I do.  I was glad we went... I always like to get a piece of jewelry every time we go somewhere... and this place was PERFECT for that. I could have spent FOREVER in this store. It was pretty amazing. lol 

The next morning, we woke up early, and drove for another 9 hours. 

It was a quick trip. But I'm glad we finally took some time out to go somewhere. 

And I will say, Caroline did A LOT better than I thought.

I might be planning our next trip now... maybe ;-)