Biltmore

Our October adventure was a trip to Asheville to visit the Biltmore for Fall Break.  The mountains of NC are gorgeous in the fall, and we had the most beautiful two days to explore!  Mark and I hadn't been to the Biltmore since before the children were born, and the activities on the estate have expanded since then.

We chose to stay on the property in the hotel at Antler Hill Village.  This area has a village green (which had a live band playing all afternoon/evening), quaint shops and outdoor dining, and a barn & farmyard.  We saw blacksmithing, wood working, and broom making demonstrations, historic farm equipment, and lots of friendly animals in the barnyard:

Since we were staying on the grounds, we had access to the expansive Biltmore gardens and trails.  We hiked around the Bass Pond (which was more like a huge lake), wandered through the terraced and Italian gardens, and were in awe of the breathtaking seasonal mum garden:

After a glorious afternoon of enjoying nature, we checked out the outside of the massive Biltmore House:

The porticos reminded me so much of my beloved Venice.

We had reservations to tour the Biltmore House the next morning, so we returned to Antler Village for a fun evening of outdoor dining and music.  The village is self-contained, and we allowed the kids to walk to food trucks and the ice cream shop to order dinner on their own.  They were thrilled with the independence and Leah was absolutely thrilled about the mini glass bottles of ketchup that she was given with her take out order.  "They can be my souvenirs, Mommy!".  We giggled at how sometimes it really is the simple things:

The cotton candy sky was beautiful, and L&L took pretty pictures of the sunset:

Photo Bomber

After dinner, we danced and enjoyed the band on the Village Green:

On Monday morning, we had timed reservations for the Biltmore House.  We had audio guides included in our tour, and this was a perfect way to learn about the history and architecture of the house as we went from room to room:

Every room was stunning, and I was delighted that some were decorated for Christmas already.  The already opulent Biltmore House is at its finest during the holiday season and people make special visits during winter months to ogle the lavish decorations.  Each room was amazing, but the library was my favorite:

We even spotted a century-old rowing machine in the basement gym, which appealed to Luke:

We had the best time on our Biltmore getaway, and are thankful for this Fall Break adventure!

It's Fall Y'all!

It's fall, which means it's time for Wake Forest football.  WFU is having a record-breaking season this year, and we are loving every minute of it!   

It's been awesome to be back on Deacon Hill for the first time in two years.  Here are some pics from our fun fall in DeacTown:

My big birthday present was family tickets to Wicked.  Mark and I saw this show when the kids were very little, and we were excited to take L&L:

Best way to spend my birthday afternoon!

Leah checking out the orchestra pit.

Bean and Poppy visited for an October weekend to watch their favorite NC grandkids play soccer and perform in the marching band.  We were having too much fun to take pictures, so I only have this one of Luke trying to prove that he's taller than Poppy now:

Fall also means critters, and the return of Percy and Simon (the opossum and racoon who visit our persimmon tree each night):

Some people in our family are more enamored with our annual animal friends than others of us, but who doesn't love those adorable ears and pink nose?

Simon brought his whole family to our yard this fall... I peeked out at 5 a.m. one day and saw 4 of them!

(4th raccoon is only visible by tail on left side of frame as he scurried away.)

Leah also caught this frog on our screened-in porch as he hopped out of a planter.  Thank goodness for my fearless kiddo!

Another unique species was also spotted this month:  Three middle school boys at the bus stop.  We crack up at their morning routine of sitting on the street (because it's apparently too taxing to stand) and playing video games and music on their phones as they wait for the bus:

Leah's fall weekends have been filled with soccer games, and Luke has lived and breathed marching band this fall, but those are posts of their own.  

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Room Makeover

When we moved into our house, Leah was three, and we had her room painted a similar shade of pale pink as her nursery in SC.  Over the past 7 years, her room has evolved slightly, but has mostly remained the same. 

We started with a rocking chair in the corner and read books out loud to our baby girl as she sat in our laps:

 The rocking chair was replaced by a bookshelf as Leah got bigger.

  

Pink room circa 2014:

Since then, bins of stuffed animals and toys have been placed into the closet...

...and there's no vanity stool anymore.

This pink PB Kids chair has been a constant since Leah was a baby, but is too small for our big girl now:

Leah's bed has on the low setting ever since she was a wiggly toddler who could roll out:

And the most precious pink wall art has hung in her hallway:

For the past year, Leah has been sleeping in a tent on top of her bed.  Starting in summer 2020, she has "camped out" every single night.  She bought this tent with her own money, and it's her favorite color.  We agreed that next year (before middle school), we would re-do her room to be more grown up and include turquoise:

In the meantime, our neighbor recently re-did her teenaged daughter's room and posted a cute chair for sale on our neighborhood website.  I thought this would be perfect for Leah's new room and planned to stash it away until next summer.  When I talked to my neighbor about our proposed new color scheme (gray and turquoise), we both practically squealed with glee, as those were the EXACT colors of her daughter's previous room.  She had an entire roomful of Pottery Barn teen bedding, window treatments, wall art, bins, and accessories to pass on to us, and we were SO excited to receive these gifts that we started Leah's room make over right away:

We painted the walls a light shade of gray and added the furnishings that we were given.  Our only other changes were to add nightstands, replace the window finials and have a new ceiling fan installed.  By a stroke of serendipity, our church consignment sale coincided with the timing of Leah's room makeover, so we were able to donate all of Leah's pink room decor to the church preschool.  It makes our hearts happy to think that another little girl will have so much pink joy in the future!

Here's the finished product:

Bed height raised.

The cute gray chair that started it all.

New nightstands.

We love the polka dot rug!

New hallway wall art.

One of my favorite touches is the unicorn canvas that Leah painted.  It's been on a shelf in her closet, but now has a prominent place on the wall:

We even inherited some cute bathroom accessories:

Leah absolutely loves her new room, and we are thrilled with the results:

One funny story about Leah's room.  We were given a square turquoise pillow that I had monogrammed for Leah's bed.  I asked the shop to embroider the initials 'LWG' onto the pillow.  This was how it turned out:

The first letter looked like a G to me (and every single other person who has seen the pillow!), but the store adamantly insisted that it is an L, and I was misinterpreting the initial due to the circular font.  It now makes us giggle every time we look at it, and it's a great lesson to learn on a $12 pillow vs. an expensive monogrammed gift in the years to come.  Clearly this is not going to be our monogram shop or font of choice in the future.  We are taking suggestions re: a new first name for Leah so that I don't have to throw the pillow away. We'll consider anything starting with a G.  Comment below...