Days 188-191: The Mountains Never Disappoint

Last Thursday, we all doubled down on getting every conceivable scrap of work finished because we had big plans for the weekend. We grabbed lunch at home Friday, and then we jumped into the car for a weekend in the NC mountains. We love fall in the mountains, and we found the perfect cabin, which we will absolutely return to for years to come. We had seven acres to ourselves and zero cell signal. We did have wifi, so we could stream family shows, but we completely disconnected--no email, no calls. It was lovely.

When we got to the cabin Friday, we settled in, and the boys fell in love with this arcade table in the basement: 

Brad loved introducing Evan to some of his old arcade favorites:

And Evan enjoyed trying to figure them out:

Issa and I had a blast making dinner, and then we gathered on the deck for Uno:

It was freezing, but it was so fun to sit under the fairy lights and play cards:

Once it just got too cold, we moved inside and turned on some tv. Shortly after, Issa saw a little mice family run out from the fireplace--the price you pay for being in the middle of the woods. The house was so clean we had no clue we might have visitors. When we went to go to bed, however, Brad and I found a little pile of acorns under our pillow. We contacted our host, who was mortified, and pointed us towards clean sheets and a night refund. We were laughing hysterically. With us being there, we some them stick their noses out a couple of times in the morning or evening, but there was no other sign for the rest of the weekend. The kids did name them, though, and it will likely be one of my very favorite memories.

Saturday morning, we got up and enjoyed coffee on the deck:

And we loved watching these wild turkeys: 

Two groups met and had a little turkey stand-off, which was hysterical!

Before lunch, we went for a hike on one of the trails on the property, which gave is a great chance to snap a picture of the cabin from across the creek:

We loved having the running water to listen to while we were on the deck, and Brad even splashed in the cold, clear water.

We managed a family selfie at the top of the trail:

After lunch at the cabin, we went apple picking at Altapass:

This orchard specializes in heirloom varieties, so we picked yorks, which are tiny and tart:

The kids had a blast using the picking stick:

And racing up and down the hills to get the best apples:

It was a perfect day for apple picking:

We came home to the cabin for dinner and a camp fire. We actually stopped at the store to get a hatchet so the boys could reclaim fire wood from the trail:

There were smokes and shadow puppets and much fun had by all.

Sunday morning, we had one last breakfast before we packed out. The kids accidentally twinned in their new orchard sweatshirts:

And Brad and I remembered to grab a selfie:

We packed in enough time to just enjoy the deck one last time. These are my favorite people:

 I'm so incredibly grateful for a weekend away to just laugh and be. It was just what we needed.