asheville, north carolina

last sunday-wednesday we celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary (a month early) in asheville, nc. after 14 months of grandparents asking us to keep henry overnight, we finally caved and ended up leaving henry at home with my parents and gary's mom (they split the time). it was a very romantic and enjoyable vacation ... it was so nice to spend the time together and be on our "own" schedules so to speak. but, we also really missed henry and couldn't wait to see him by the time we returned home.

on the way up we stopped in greenville and had lunch with my sister stacy and her family (no pics though). our drive up was foggy and rainy.
we stayed at the Inn at Biltmore in asheville. it was extremely nice and the service was excellent. would definitely recommend it. the mountain views were gorgeous!

we had a lovely dinner at the Inn ... truffle mushroom risotto, bison carpaccio, short rib, striped bass, a cheese plate and pumpkin creme brulee, all accompanied by some very tasty vino. again, the service was fabulous. the next night we had dinner at the Fiddlin' Pig ... which is a BBQ joint that has live bluegrass every night. I had been excited about this place for a couple of weeks before this trip. it was great! the food was okay, but the music (cane creek) was incredible. I have some sound bites I'll post later. they also had local brews on tap. as much as we thoroughly enjoyed our "elegant" dinner, I can say we loved this casual food/brew/entertainment as much as the other. that is one of the things I love about gary-he can roll along with my wide variety of tastes/interests because he is the same way. the last night we ate at Bistro 1896 in asheville and had some delicious trout. we headed to barley's tap room afterwards for more bluegrass (wise apple) and local brews. we had breakfast each day in downtown asheville (sunny point cafe and over easy cafe)-all very good. asheville is a really quaint, fun and artsy city. we really liked it!

the Biltmore Estate is 8,000 acres with lots of trails, so we took our bikes. the day we rode the high was 46 and rainy but we had a blast. it was a great way to see some of the estate.

french broad river

the Biltmore Estate, former home of George Vanderbilt, in the distance.

the conservatory

neither gary nor I had ever been to asheville and thus had never toured the Biltmore mansion. it was very overwhelming. beautiful and mysterious. hard to imagine/grasp actually living there. no cameras were allowed inside.

mountain views from the terrace of the mansion

plants inside the conservatory

we did have one day of sunny weather - that was the day we went horsebackriding. we had a great guide and it was another unique way to see more of the grounds. gary on "Leon" his wild stallion.

several movies have been filmed at the Biltmore, notably Patch Adams and one of my all time favorites, The Last of the Mohicans.

at the end of the ride ... if you are wondering why we are so far apart, this other crazy lady at the stables was afraid our horses would fight if we got too close together (even though our guide had told us our two horses were good old dependable and agreeable horses). thank goodness she wasn't our trail guide.

the biltmore also has a winery ... so one day we did a tasting. there were some okay wines, some good wines and some excellent wines (Antler Hill). we had a really, really nice time. would certainly recommend asheville as a vacation destination.

who loves you?

bathtime ... henry saying "quack quack" and answering the daily question of "henry, who loves you?"

signing "more," "please" and again answering the daily question. I realize no one probably thinks him answering this question is as cute as I do!

he's almost back ...

henry has had two pretty good days, so I don't want to jinx anything but I think he might be close to being normal henry again. woo hoo!

I asked him to smile for the camera-funny guy!

crazy no shirt guy holding an avocado

new shorts and shoes for mr. H

from Cole's birthday party

henry and ryan hart (gooch and jessica's daughter) on cole's john deere gator

this was henry's mood the whole party (above).

let's all ride in the gator!

ryan and cole

happy third birthday cole man!

we have had a pillow in henry's crib the last three weeks to elevate him on account of his cold. now he really likes it!

henry health update

made the third trip back to the doctor's office this morning. henry has shown some signs of improvement but is still not nearly 100%. he still has some of the same symptoms he's had for almost three weeks now so I wasn't convinced the ear infections were truly gone. however, the good news is that the ear infections are gone ... there is still some fluid in his middle ears and he still has a bit of a cold, but the doctor just advised us to give him a few more days. this was encouraging to some extent ... to another it was not. we have given him "several more days" and he still isn't well and happy old henry. but we are hoping this week it will turn around! I'm sure cutting not four, but now FIVE teeth, doesn't help matters much.

also, over the last few weeks of being sick, henry has developed a little bit of stranger anxiety. those of you who know this little guy know that henry never meets a stranger and is not stingy with his smiles. this is perplexing ... I have been told it is totally normal for his age, but its still weird. this new found anxiety, on top of not feeling well and being pretty darn irritable, is not a good combination. a learning experience indeed! here's to full health and lots of smiles! :)

little moments. big meanings.

today I attended my "nephew" Cole's third birthday party. watching him interact and play with others, listening to him speak so clearly, and reflecting on how life changes so quickly made me stop and think for a moment. seeing him lay down and pet his dog, talking with those family members of his that we only see once a year at his birthday celebration, feeling the warm and pleasant sunshine, and just enjoying a day with family and friends, can, for all those small reasons, bring a big impact. I wrote a post on our blog a couple of years ago on taking each day for what it is worth and enjoying each and every seemingly "little" thing life offers. this post is a sequel I suppose. why a sequel you ask? with the experience of raising a child, you are quickly and constantly reminded that life passes by at speeds you could never before imagine. if you don't stop and enjoy those small things, you will assuredly regret it. only yesterday cole was turning one on a chilly march day with a blue coat and little white shoes. allison was wearing a red dress/shirt and was fighting nausea and such expecting sweet madeline. gary and I were working on starting our family and experiencing bumps in the road. neither henry, nor georgia, nor will, nor adam, nor many others even existed. so, before tomorrow comes I want to continually be cognisant of and give thanks for the goodness today brings. and, even in uncertain economic, political and societal times there is still good in each day. you just have to be still long enough to appreciate these little blooms of goodness before they drift away and, they most definitely will.

snow?

last weekend was the strangest weather ever ... 70 with tornado warnings one day and 3+ inches of snow the next. whatever, I'll take it-I LOVE snow! unfortunately we didn't get to play like we would have wanted to ... henry and I were at the doctor's office and gary was driving family to the atlanta airport. but the dogs had a blast and it was so beautiful. here's hoping that it won't take another decade or more for it to snow again ... it was 75 here today so who knows!

savannah
loved this photo of Bricks (above)
savannah

shelby and bricks

(in fairness, we did not leave shelby or sterling out of the picture taking-they just wouldn't be still for a solo shot)

sterling and bricks

savannah again

shelby

our back yard in white

our house in white

I miss the snow already.

auburn vs. fsu baseball

in effort to try and get some fresh air and enjoy the nice weather last saturday, we parked close to the baseball stadium and watched the auburn versus fsu game.

check out the cap. it even has a little tiger on it. what a little boy! so much for my little baby.

picnic on the tailgate. yes, henry is still under the weather. but he did show some signs of improvement today ... he actually had an appetite and smiled and laughed! so that was extremely exciting! hopefully tomorrow and the next day are even better and things will get back to normal (we hope).

one incredible birthday

last friday night we celebrated gary's 30th birthday with a few close friends and family members. joel and allison gave us this hilarious picture inside of gary's card. how talented are they?!?

the party was at tricia's house

robbie, emma and little jake drove all the way from chattanooga! it was wonderful to see them.

we had a band

abe and brooke drove from tallassee - and the weather was just terrible friday night. big ole fat rain as forrest gump would say.

deirdre and joe flew all the way from maryland - we had a blast with them as always. sure wish we all lived closer.

julie and holly

allison and joel drove all the way from bham (pictured with robbie and emma)

happy birthday gary! gary's favorite, coconut cake.

I think (and hope!) that gary william had a memorable 30th.

thanks to all who traveled near and far!

videos from a couple of weeks ago

clap and touchdown auburn

clap and signing thank you - put hand to mouth and push hand away (almost like the motion of blowing a kiss)

signing more and please

a bear, a robe and a train

these pics are from two weeks ago (pre-sickness) - enjoy!

we had a full weekend, with gary's 30th party, family/friends in town and a trip back to the doctor's office today, so more pics forthcoming at some point. henry is still sick; other than the conjunctivitis clearing up, he is about the same ... still has a cold/cough (that makes him vomit daily)/runny nose and is acting very un-Henry like. he finished his antibiotics on saturday morning and by saturday evening he started running a fever that is still around. after taking him back to the doctor's office today, found out he still has a double ear infection and so a new antibiotic was prescribed. we will try this and see what happens. tomorrow marks day 13 of this "sickness" - breaks my heart to see this baby so sad.

this is a bear I had growing up that my mom brought down for henry. cleveland.

after henry has a bath he has a head full of curls. when his hair dries, the curls straighten out, but they sure are adorable when you can see them.

give me back my milk, daddy!