Whew! We just got back from one of the most adventurous yet restful trips we've taken with our kiddos, and I'm excited to share here with you! Today, I'm sharing the first half of our trip, next week I'll share all about the skiing half of our trip, and then the following week, I have tons of info about Beech Mountain's children's programs, ski school, etc., as I looked for info everywhere before we left, and just couldn't find it.
I have missed sharing personally like this, and I know that five years from now, I'll open up this post and tear up over how little my babies seem. So thankful to be back on the blogging journey with y'all! OK - on to part one of the trip!
The obligatory "We're off!" group text with the grandparents.
Is it even a road trip if it doesn't involve Chick-fil-a or gas station food? Our kids probably look forward to road trips solely for the "no rules" snacks we allow, I crack up watching them RUNNING around gas stations, we definitely have a large presence!
The kids always cheer when we go over this bridge because it marks the halfway point to one of our favorite places - Savannah, GA! We've been stopping in Savannah since Isabella was 8 months old, and it never disappoints.
We stopped at an old family favorite - The Lady and Sons. It's super easy to find, there's parking all over, and we used to really enjoy the food. Our last two meals there haven't been the best, but it's fun nevertheless. If you're a Paula Deen food fan, The Creek House is better...just sayin' ;)
We've always gone up the elevator to be seated, but this time we ended up on the ground level, which gave the kids a great view of the carriages passing by. We were also very happy to be in the company of another young family back in the corner, so rather than being 100% THE LOUDEST people in the restaurant (Hey, Annie!), we were only 50%, haha. That helps so much!
I can only imagine how pretty this town is during the Holidays! This was our first trip there outside of summertime.
Lucky for us, there was a cupcake shop on our way back to our car, and since all food rules were out the window at this point, we let 'em at it!
Technically, this is a drive we have done many times in one day, but we love to ease in to vacation when we can, so we left a day earlier than necessary and stopped for the night.
Eleven at night but full of sugar and excitement.
The next morning started off extra fun with a trip to the ER :) We woke up in Columbia, SC, and Jesse's neck just didn't look right to me. He had a peritonsillar abscess back in November and his glands/tonsils have been very reactive ever since. Poor bud has an upcoming surgery that he is unaware of right now. When he moved his head, talked, or swallowed, it looked like he had two marbles in his neck and I was worried that he was on the verge of another episode, so we called around and since it was Sunday, the only place he could be seen was at a local children's hospital ER. I didn't want to wait until we were up a mountain with snow on the way before we had him checked out, so since we were a day ahead of schedule, we went on in. Thankfully there was no wait, so we headed in, and I decided to have Eli checked out as well since he had a cough going (which I wasn't very concerned with but I thought we'd just go for it since we were already there). All was well, we got a "just in case" prescription, and the doctors really got the kids excited to ski. CAN I JUST SAY, whatever hospital this was (I can't remember lol) YOU ARE AMAZING. Jesse was seen by two doctors before he was even seen by a nurse or anyone from registration, they were SO kind (is everyone like that in SC??), and we were in and out by the time John and the girls found us a Starbucks.
Now that Mom was relieved, we hit the road, stopped at Blowing Rock, and then got an early check in to our Air BnB.
God bless John and his long, selfie friendly arms!
Once we had three kids we switched from hotels to VRBO/AirBnB and it's totally worth it just for the kitchen alone, but we always hold our breath when we walk in because we never truly know what to expect. This was hands-down the best house we've ever rented, super clean, beautiful view, etc., and we plan to rent the same one next year.
A quick stop for dinner at Come Back Shack...
...and a little hat hair action :)
Why is grocery shopping so much more fun on vacation?? We grabbed groceries, stopped at 1st Tracks for boots all around...
...and braved the cold to carry the bags in. At this point, John and I were missing the sunshine state lol!
Popcorn by the fire, groceries put away, and all tuckered out and ready to get the ball rolling!
The kids were up bright and early for smoothies with a view!
Then we headed out to Hawksnest Snow Tubing for the kids first snow adventure!
How cute are these puffy little marshmallows?? It was a crisp 28 or so this day, and we were getting a crash course in the gear/gloves/cold department. Moms of little ones, how long does it take you to put all of this on your kids every day? How are you not three hours late everywhere you go??
Hawksnest was TOO MUCH fun, worth every penny, and we left considering a second day later in the week. If anyone is headed there, FYI, there are photographers everywhere, and they grabbed some great shots of our kids. We bought 5 digital images at the kiosk afterward for around $30, and it was totally worth it to see their faces from that view!
We came home, thawed out with some cocoa and popcorn...
...and then made some veggie chili and brownies for a night of board games by the fire! All of my snow vacation dreams were coming true at this point ;)
The next day we planned to be our first day on the slopes, but we had so much wiggle room in our schedule that earlier in the week we decided to wait it out and enjoy a snow day with the kids. My younger three had never seen snow falling and we didn't want them to be with their instructors and apart from one another when they saw it for the first time.
Bet ya cant find the Floridians ;) They were in and out ALL DAY. Out for ten mins, in for an hour, repeat, haha!
That afternoon we headed up to Beech to pick up our gear for the remainder of the week, and that's where I'm going to leave ya today! The first half of our trip was so restful and fun, but the second half was like a completely different vacation, and I can't wait to share more next week!
Thanks for hanging out with me today, Happy Monday!
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