A day at the Biltmore House with a preschooler

I know, sounds insane, right? But it was a really fun day, I promise!

Last weekend (or the weekend before?), we made a day trip to Asheville to visit the Biltmore House. Jim’s parents had received vouchers for free tickets and weren’t going to use them, so they sent them to us. I initially thought just Jim and I would go for an overnight visit (he’s never been!) but we ended up taking Molly with us for the day and had a blast. Alas, we never made it IN the actual Biltmore House, but there was so much to do outside the house. I will just have to take Jim back sometime soon. I don’t need too many excuses to visit Asheville, just the time.

My mom went with us too and was a huge lifesaver, especially in the car! She kept Molly *very* entertained.

When we arrived, we headed straight to Antler Hill to visit the farm, barn, and have lunch in Antler Hill Village. Molly was a little skeptical of the animals at first, but she warmed up to the goats and chickens quickly. She still wasn’t sure about the huge horses when we left.

At the barn, there were some games and toys from the early 1900s as well as some old farm equipment. Molly enjoyed climbing on the horse-drawn wagon and tractor. We also watched a blacksmith demonstration that was really cool.

The next stop was lunch at Cedric’s Tavern and ice cream cones at the creamery. Even the kid size cones were huge and Molly entertained a few customers by swinging hers around a few times, never once dropping it.There were some close calls, though!

Once we finished our ice cream, we got in the car and headed over the main house and gardens. We did a lot of walking but Molly wanted nothing to do with her stroller. She stumbled and tripped at one point running downhill on an asphalt path and ended up with pretty bad road burn. Two weeks later, it’s still a little raw. While Molly didn’t do much complaining about the walking, not everyone else was as enthusiastic about all of the walking. I’m pretty sure we took a three mile hike to see a bass pond. We took one look, turned around and headed uphill towards the car. As soon as we got near the actual house, the sky opened up. Luckily, the path to the car had a canopy of trees and we managed to stay fairly dry.

Thanks, Chris and Doug for the vouchers. We enjoyed our day!

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Answered Prayers

This week has been an amazing week for so many people I know. Sometimes I wonder about the power of prayer; more specifically, how my prayers can affect someone’s health or the outcome of an event. A few years ago, I changed how I pray and now, instead of simply asking for someone’s cancer to disappear or another person to get a certain job, I try to pray for the people in my life to get what they need and to stay strong in the face of adversity or to find peace during a rough patch.

I’m sure it depends on who you ask, but I do know that any prayers are better than none.

Anyway, I’ve been praying hard recently. A former student of mine is being treated at St. Jude’s for Leukemia. Also, a friend’s one-year old daughter was having major surgery to correct a diagnosis of craniosynostosis.

That’s big stuff. Add to the mix a friend who had a baby and another friend who’s trying to have a baby and all our friends and family and I felt like I was asking God for a lot. But He delivered.

John’s scans came back and there is no Leukemia in his body.

Kim’s daughter had a successful surgery and Mallory is recovering well.

Jessica delivered a perfect baby girl on Wednesday. My niece and nephews are healthy. Molly is happy and healthy, too.

Sometimes, all the goodness in this life overwhelms me and I can’t even begin to feel grateful enough.

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Last day!

Today was Molly’s last day of preschool for the year. It’s so funny to think about how much changes over the course of a school year. Molly had a lot of fun at school this year; Ms. Becky and Ms. Michelle were really fun and messy teachers, which makes for the best learning environment. I love to hear Molly singing a song that she learned at school, or call out her colors in Spanish instead of English. I feel confident in our choice for her preschool, and that’s always a good feeling!

Here’s Peaches on her first day of school:

And here’s the picture I snapped this morning:

Molly is enrolled in several camps over the summer, most of them at her preschool, so she’ll stay busy but I’m also looking forward to some lazy days at the pool and not having to rush out the door at a certain time. I know Jim is glad to have a bit of a break from packing lunches, too!

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