Are these the mountains?

This is the question that we heard many, many times on our way to North Carolina last Thursday. We are currently in a beautiful cabin/house in the woods just outside Asheville, NC. My brother and his wife came down from Maryland and we caravaned up here with my parents for a nice long weekend in the mountains.

Here we are just over the border:

We were pretty tired Thursday Night, so we called it an early evening. Friday Morning we headed out to the Biltmore. This was my third trip to the house, but my first with two children. It seemed three times longer than I remembered, but we were also with someone who's legs were a third the size of ours.

When we first got to the house, you can imagine our surprise when we saw Tommy Tuberville working the desk. We swear it was him - it was freaky. Of course, I had to take a picture (even though it's not that great a shot) - that's him over Garet's shoulder:

Although the kids did as well as could be expected, we had to take a lot of breaks along the way. This place isn't named "America's Largest House" by accident:

An unexpected bonus to the day was that Steven Curtis Chapman was doing a concert that evening on the grounds. We were able to listen to the sound check. I will admit that it was a very somber experience watching him sing after everything he has been through the last couple of months:

Here is the entire Christy Family - Kristen, Brian, Dad, Mom and our family:

Yesterday was Brian's Birthday (Happy Birthday!!) and so we topped off the night with an amazing cake that Kristen made - it looked like a reese cup and yes, it tasted just as good.

This morning, we headed over to the Blue Ridge Parkway to experience some nature. Our first stop was the Visitor Center. We started a "passport" for each of the kids, so we had to stop and get the kids their stamp for the National Park book.Being the adventurous parents we are, we decided to take the kids on a mile and a half hike. Even though we had to carry Kara the whole way, it wasn't so bad. Levi was our official hiking guide and walked most of the way all by himself:

He made sure to point out all the "dots" on the trail so we wouldn't get lost: "I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map" - Dora:Garet's cool picture of us walking through the tunnel:
We made it!!:

Tonight we are having a nice big meal at the house and then our immediate family is heading over to the SC coast to the beach!