One of my bucket list items for
before I turn 40 was to take my kids to see snow. Being Florida born and (so far) raised...the only snow they have seen has been on TV or the few flurries that came down a few Christmas's ago (but didn't stick). We have seen ice - when on the rare occasion it does get below freezing and someone leaves sprinkler's on...it makes a "winter wonderland" in the neighbor's yard. But even then...they really don't have a
good idea of what snow is.
So over the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, we flew up to North Carolina hoping to see snow. On Friday, we took a direct flight into Charlotte, and drove two hours to Asheville. Watching the weather, we were hopeful that we would even see snow that first night. And we did! Saturday morning we woke up to snow!! Although...only a light dusting. Nothing that really got the kids excited.
BUT we had planned ahead. We drove 2 hours into the mountains up to Beech Mountain/Banner Elk, NC. On the way there...there was even less snow. We started getting worried. Was this trip going to be a dud??
About 15-20 minutes outside of Beech Mountain...the snow was getting thicker and thicker. There was a good 5-6 inches on the ground everywhere...and it was still coming down!
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| Snow bunny, Kendall. |
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| Carson is the little guy sitting down on the green saucer. |
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| Here he comes! |
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| Almost there.... |
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| Down and running off to go again. "Awesome" and "Epic" was the quote I heard as he was running... |
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| Here comes Kendall on a toboggan. |
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| Smiling ear to ear. |
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| K, Daddy & C all heading up the hill. |
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| Daddy & Kendall together on the toboggan. |
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Almost at the bottom.
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So each child went down the hill 2 times on their own. When Daddy & Kendall went down, Carson waited patiently on the top of the hill...getting colder...and colder...and colder...until he just couldn't stand it anymore! By the time Jeff and Kendall got to the bottom of the hill on the sled...Carson was crying uncontrollably.
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| Daddy trying to warm Carson up at the bottom of the sled hill. |
We went inside a little pizza place across the street from the sled hill to let the kids warm up. You see...even though I grew up in Missouri...apparently I have NO memory of what is needed to "survive" in the snow. We borrowed ski pants from a friend...but didn't have good warm/dry gloves or boots. So poor Carson's fingers and toes were so cold they were hurting...and our little Florida boy is just not used to that!
So we got the kids warmed up and rested a bit...then headed back outside to hopefully have a little more fun. No more sledding...but there was a snowball fight, snow angels, and a snowman!
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| Daddy doing a snow angel. |
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| Carson wading through the snow. |
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| Actually throwing a snow ball! |
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| Daddy let Carson throw it right in his face! |
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| Making the snow man. |
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| Even Carson did a snow angel. |
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| Posing with the completed snow man! |
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| Even Carson was having fun with the snow man. |
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| Daddy LOVED playing in the snow with his kiddos. |
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| Snow ball fight! |
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| "Bury me Daddy!" |
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| Here is proof - Carson actually did have fun in the snow! |
Once we were done playing in the snow, we went inside again and had some great pizza...then decided to move on. We drove around a little and found this frozen lake somewhere off of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
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| Jeff "had" to go down the stairs to see the lake. |
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| Came back up with a slab of ice that had broken up. |
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| Impossible sometimes to get a good picture of the two of them... |
We then headed to an area called Blowing Rock... beautiful views...but COLD...
The next day we went to the Biltmore in Asheville. What can I say. Gorgeous! We will definitely be back!!!
Overall it was a wonderful, fun, short little trip. One that we think we will try to take every year! Next year....better gloves and boots!!!!
Next item on my bucket list? HALF MARATHON!!! I am deep in training now - only 6 1/2 weeks away....
