Two nights and lots of fun in Asheville, North Carolina, while visiting our friends, Sue and Chris, and their three dogs, one cat, and six chickens. (Sadly, two chickens were nabbed by a raccoon on our second night, so now there are four, in a newly reinforced coop.)
Asheville has a lot to recommend it and we enjoyed a great tour with Chris while Sue was at work. Naturally, some of my best memories are dominated by food. Had some spectacular barbecue at 12 Bones, which is apparently President Obama’s top choice in town. Then, on our way out, we stopped for breakfast at Biscuit Head, which is in the running for my favorite breakfast restaurant in the world.
Below are an assortment of phone shots from our Asheville stint.
Carrier Park with an awesome play structure reminiscent of one of our favorites in Saint PaulGriffin throwing a ball with Streak and RuffBeautiful optical effect on the shadow of a leaf floating in a brook. (What causes this?)Maggie on the grounds of the Biltmore EstatePosed group at BiltmoreThe Stocco Roys (and Quaker) at BiltmoreAwesome breakfast at Biscuit Head (Maggie had the biscuit with sausage patty)Brisket biscuit at Biscuit HeadAnother happy customer
We survived the night, dry and free of unwanted atmospheric voltage. Not a great night’s rest, alas, but we’re thankful for our new, more spacious tent.
Two quotes from our journey thus far:
Monday, 4:30 PM:
Maggie: “Griffin, laugh when I say ‘Chicago.'”
Griffin: “Why do I have to laugh?!”
M: “Chi–Ca–GO!!”
G: <no laughing>
M: “Laugh Griffin!!”
G: “I don’t want to laugh. Chicago!”
M <yelling>: “NO! I want to talk about ME!!!”
G: “Chicago. Chicago. Chicago.”
M <yelling>: “NOOOOOOO!”
Tuesday, 8:30 AM:
Sarah: “Ok guys we’re going to stop here because I need some coffee and Daddy needs to go to the bathroom–”
Griffin: “–and I need an Icee!”
“I want to talk about me.”“I’ll have an Icee for breakfast please.”
Midsize thunderstorm on our first night, as we camp by a river that’s four feet over flood stage. Luckily, the deluge held off until after dinner and the weather reports suggest that it will be short-lived. (But wow is it coming down right now!)Radar screenshot Some trepidation about the lightning, from all of us, but the kids were remarkably brave.
Griffin: “I really, really like thunderstorms but I’m a tiny bit scared of them.”
New tent is keeping us dry thus far. Cozy despite the weather
Sarah’s out of town. I’ve been solo dad for the weekend. It’s been good. But despite best intentions, I do occasionally lose track of my progeny and have to track them down. Today I documented two unexpected incidents.
Aerial Snooze
Maggie was down for a rest. I rested for a while too. Griffin was awfully quiet. I went to investigate.
Nap time.
Griffin is sleeping on a bit of lumber about four feet off the ground. (He rigged the precarious “bridge” earlier to create an easier method for Maggie to get into the climbing tree.)
Dumpster Diving
Later, after Maggie woke up, they slipped out the side gate while I was mowing the back lawn. Upon my successful pursuit:
Dumpster!
Nothing is cooler than the neighbor’s giant red dumpster. (Yesterday, Griffin asked for my help deciphering all of the warning stickers, then proceeded to ignore them.)
Perfect weather for time out on the water. We couldn’t believe how warm the water was already—the kids loved it.
Some of Griffin’s favorite things at the cabin this weekend:
Finding agates
Swimming
When I was in the front of the canoe doing the driving.
Having butterscotch candy from the candy jar
Kayaking with Mama and seeing lots of turtles. We found a log with ten turtles on it. We called it turtleland.
Seeing pictures of the flying squirrels
Going to the dock and balancing on the edge
Snuggling with Mama and Daddy in the loft when we woke up
Some of Maggie’s favorite things at the cabin this weekend:
Finding special rocks
Finding some shells with Mommy while you guys going somewhere [Griffin and I dropped Sarah and Maggie off to do some beach-combing while we continued canoeing around the lake.]
Having jellybeans
Going up in the high high bunk bed
Seeing baby squirrels [in addition to the baby flying squirrels, which the kids didn’t get to see, we uncovered a red squirrel nest in the pump box for the well]
We are very lucky to have a variety of activities for our kids here in the Twin Cities, and one of them is an amazing circus school, Circus Juventas. Now that Griffin is a little older, we thought he might enjoy a structured physical activity that would emphasize gross motor control, teamwork, and wasn’t too competitive. Having heard amazing things about the circus program, we thought it would be worth a try this winter. Turns out he loved it, and he loves performing!
We were truly not prepared for how these kids would blow us away this weekend! The school is ages 3-18, and every single one of the kids we saw at the performance strutted their stuff and showed off their hard work. I can’t tell you the number of times I uttered, “WOW!” during the nearly three hour performance!
Here are some video highlights from Griffin’s performance. The first is his dress rehearsal. The second is a highlight from the actual performance on Saturday as he and his friend, Gabe, performed on the German Wheel.
I’ve also included a clip from the unicycles act, just to give you a taste of the older kids, as well as several still shots of the many other acts we witnessed! Enjoy!
Early on Maggie’s birthday, while I was blearily making my breakfast in the kitchen, Griffin quietly padded downstairs and hunkered down at the art table. In less than an hour, he produced a series of eight surprise paintings as a gift for his sister. After drying them on the radiator, he kept them in a secret pile until we opened presents in the evening. He presented each one to Maggie with a title and a short explanation.
The Park It’s not a play park. It’s just a park that you can run around in.
Sunny Day on the Beach It’s about a beach that’s blue and sunny. It’s always sunny. And it’s always fun to play at.
A Tree Losing its Leaf “This a tree that lost its leaf when it was spring and it was just a little maple tree that didn’t have any other trees around it. It was in the middle of nowhere and no one gave water to it and it was just in the middle of nowhere.”
Funky World “This unknown world that has a green sun and the houses look like hand prints. This funky world is like so funny.”
A Tree With No Leaves “This tree is so new that it doesn’t even have its leaves yet. It’s just like a little baby tree and it is a maple tree.”
The Roller Coaster “That’s a roller coaster that has only roller coasters in the fair.”
The Cave “It’s a cave with all these teeth and some scary eyes and the purple line if you were wondering it is a spike in the cave.”
The Alien “This alien lives in space and it’s always happy and it has one eye and this is a green eye and it’s always smiling unless if it’s mad.”
At dinner tonight, hours before Griffin’s 6th birthday, Sarah inaugurated the event by telling Griffin the story of his birth. (If you need a refresher, see one of our earliest posts on this blog: Birth Story.) It began with us simply reminiscing about what we were up to six years ago: watching Watchmen at the Grand Lake, wondering how the incredibly loud soundtrack would affect the as yet unnamed baby, hoping it might encourage him to come out. Sarah so uncomfortable at bedtime that she needed the bedroom to herself. Me reading A Midwife’s Tale on the couch. Both of us eager to meet Griffin.
As I listened to her retelling the story, I felt like I had slipped into the movie version of our lives. Of course it was real life, so there were plenty of un-cinematic interruptions, but fundamentally Griffin was mesmerized, and the whole experience felt exactly right. He asked questions, filled in details that he remembered from past conversations, and wanted to hear the story to the very end. He laughed in disbelief when I described seeing his crowning head, and then how he refused to proceed any further for hours.
When Sarah wrapped up, Maggie demanded, “Mama tell MY story!” Sarah told her she’d just have to wait for her birthday.
Spring break = five epic days of adventure at the cabin.
(And time to serialize the experience!)
Chapter I — Crevasse
Our adventures began as we drove up the dirt road to the cabin and discovered a section covered with thick ice. The culvert under the road had frozen solid so a marshy stream began trickling over the road. In the course of the winter it produced a few feet of thick, glacier-like ice. (It had the same blue color associated with glacial ice.) This was only a mild obstacle due to loss of traction until we encountered the crevasse—water had cut a channel directly across the road, easily two feet deep. On our way in we didn’t spot it in time and jolted across it. If it had been any wider, it would have been bad news. As it was, it just gave the shocks a workout. (A neighboring cabin owner with sharper eyes turned back rather than trusting his car to make it.) On our way out on Monday we laid logs inside it to provide support for the tires.
Pointing upslope, where the meltwater cut into the ice.Griffin, measuring the depth.We were lucky that it wasn’t any wider.
Chapter II — Lake Ice
One of our main goals this trip was to cross Spring Lake and to continue exploring the trails on the south bank. (I would link to a post about our January skiing and snowshoeing adventures, but I haven’t posted it yet. Must remedy that soon.) Unfortunately, the lake ice was thinning and we weren’t brave enough to cross. We saw some ice fishermen out on our first day, so we assumed it was solid, but upon scouting we found too many dicey areas for comfort. Hearing the ice loudly crack beneath my feet sent me scurrying for shore. With the warming weather the lake remained vocal throughout the trip, providing a soundtrack of otherworldly groans, crystalline pops and cracks, and occasional booming detonations.
Spring Lake
Preparing to head out
Scouting the ice
Sarah demonstrating some ice safety techniques
By Sarah’s feet you can see one or our ski trails from January.
Contemplating an icy plunge.
Chapter III — Bushwhacking
Deciding to remain on the north shore, we went on some extended hikes, including one where we left the trail and bushwhacked for a few hours. We clambered over (and under) fallen trees, examined fairy doors on mossy tree trunks, debated the origin of animal spoor, and got remarkably confused about our location. (Google Maps, of course, sorted things out for us, but we were astonished at how quickly the unfamiliar landscape threw off our direction sense once we left the trail.) The pictures below, from a few different hikes, don’t do justice to the beauty. Click on any image to see a larger version with the option of viewing all of them as a slideshow.
