Christmas in the Mountains!

Last week, we headed to the mountains to celebrate Christmas and my dad's birthday with him. The heavens opened and Robbie actually got the time off to go with us! We were so excited to have some time together and just relax. It was about a four and a half hour drive from Raleigh, so we started early Wednesday morning! We left our house around 7:15 and picked up Hannah and Ella, then dropped Ella and Riley off at PetSmart. About the time we were in the Chick Fil A drive thru, I realized we left William's MiraLax at home, which necessitated  a stop at Walgreens for a new bottle. Hannah drove and Robbie sat in the back with William to help him eat his biscuit for breakfast. I was nervous about how that would work out, but he did great with a towel in his lap! Hannah drove for about 3 hours and then she switched with Robbie. I had to laugh at one point because we started seeing mountains and Robbie said, "You know, North Carolina really does have it all; mountains and beaches." I was so weak....we just don't get out much! LOL. William did so great the whole trip! He watched a Veggie Tales movie, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, played with Thomas, snacked, and slept! I actually finally caught up on some reading - I have been reading the last Fifty Shades book for about 4 months! So I definitely got a lot farther than I was! About an hour from my dad's, we took a turn on this tiny highway that went UP a mountain. It had the sharpest turns I had ever been on!!! Hannah and I had sweaty palms! My dad was going to pick up pizza for us, BUT the pizza place didn't open until 4 - which we would later learn would be the way of this mountain town. We met Daddy and Annette at a small diner right in town. It was pretty good! After that, we went into an antique shop and William got himself a new handmade toy truck! It was too cute. We had about a 30 minute drive up the mountain to my dad's. It was a slow trip. As we got closer and closer to the top, I watched my cell service dwindle. By the time we made it to my dad's, my phone read "ROAMING" BOOOO!!!! We had the grand tour of Dad's house - this was our first time visiting it and it is so nice!! We loved it. Hannah, Robbie, William, and I had the bottom floor to ourselves. That night, we made the 30 minute drive into town to eat dinner. Another place we wanted to go to was closed. A lot of the restaurants are only open like two days a week. It is too funny! I cannot imagine though driving 30 minutes to a restaurant!! After dinner, Daddy took us on a tour of the surrounding towns, and we came back and got William into bed!

7:15 and already asking for "choo choos" on the DVD player.

Ready to go!

Breakfast in my lap!

Watching Veggie Tales and playing with Thomas!

Catching up on some reading.

Napping!

Starting to see mountains

Waiting for Papa at the restaurant.

Christmas tree farms were everywhere going up the mountain!

Waving to Papa, unloading the car.

Having a snack!

He was obsessed with this little chair of Annette's. Crawled in and out of it constantly.

Waiting for Papa to come back in.

Throwing a fit because he couldn't touch the tree OR take bows off the presents.

Dinner!

Thursday was a relaxed day. We didn't have any plans of leaving the house. Daddy had to make a run to the grocery store, so we all rode with him and he ended up taking us on a tour even further up the mountain. We even went into Tennessee, not even 15 minutes from their house! It was neat, but my nerves were tore up! Just too high for me, and no guardrails!!! We relaxed and after lunch, Hannah, Robbie and I all took naps on the couches downstairs while William napped! Bliss. That night, we had chicken taco chili for dinner. It was delicious!!! After dinner, we celebrated Christmas/Daddy's Birthday. His birthday was that Friday.  William got an age-old favorite, the corn popper! He loves it! Especially when someone else runs around with it, making it pop incessantly. We all got some great gifts!! It was a nice day to just relax!!

Breakfast!

Mickey is here, too!

Grabbing apples!

Bundled up to take a ride!

Daddy's house far away!

We were technically in TN here!

<3

Those cheeks!!

Watching Mickey!

Appetizer= chips/salsa and margaritas!

Happy to not be at work!!! :)

Appetizer=Cheerios

Opening!

Make it make noise!!!

More opening

Hannah got a cute bag!!

William got a precious doggy towel from our fave, In-Stitches!

Friday morning, Robbie and I were beat! William was up all night. Who knows why! We got up and got our showers and had some breakfast. We got on the road around 9:30. The drive home didn't seem quite as long! We think we found the root of William's problems - a huge molar is coming in!! Jeez. He whined in the car FORever, and finally passed out - right at lunch time. I said, please let's keep going so he will sleep! We finally stopped for lunch around 1:40. We stopped in Winston Salem at Firehouse Subs. William loved it! The rest of the way home, he was pretty happy. We stopped at Petsmart to pick up Riley and Ella, and then dropped Hannah and Ella off at their house. By this time, I was ready to be OUT of the car!! We got home and unpacked quickly. William and Robbie put together one of his new gifts, a Thomas the train track. He had so much fun destroying the track and carrying around Thomas and Percy. We had a great visit! I was so happy Robbie was able to go, it always seems like he's missing out on something and he is a huge help!! We hope we'll be able to visit again soon!!

Saying bye bye to Papa!

Saying Dada over and over as he loads the car.

Passed OUT!

Stopped at Firehouse Subs in Winston Salem for lunch! It was a hit for W!