A Vacation in the Mountains!

Last week Olivia went on her first big vacation! We got a cabin in the mountains near West Jefferson in North Carolina with 2 other couples and their baby girls Alyssa (9 months) and Meghan (8 months). This was also Olivia's first long car ride (longer than an hour) so I wasn't sure how she would do but she slept the first half of the trip and then towards the end I think she got bored and so she started talking and laughing to herself which was fun to listen to. We had a nice relaxing time in the mountains and I was happy that it didn't take Olivia any time to adjust to her new surroundings as she let us sleep in every morning, the earliest she woke up one morning was a little after 8am, the rest of the days she let us sleep between 9-9:30am and even one morning until 10am! I usually don't let her sleep that late, but there were no clocks in the room so I let Olivia be the alarm clock.

The cabin we stayed in...

The kitchen - we had enough food to last us months...

The backyard...


The game room which had air hockey and darts to entertain us. Jared and I chose the bedroom downstairs near the game room and somehow Olivia managed to sleep with us playing air hockey which was not quiet at all and darts...


The hammock that I enjoyed reading in when it wasn't wet from the rain...


The hot tub that we enjoyed almost every night after we put the little ones to bed...


And there was even an Olivia sized rocking chair!


We spent the first day getting settled and doing some grocery shopping. Each couple was responsible for cooking dinner 2 nights during the trip and so we ate really well considering everyone made way too much yummy food! The first night was my birthday so Mee Jean made cupcakes to celebrate.

And it didn't take long for the 3 girls to begin playing.


We spent the first full day (Sunday) of vacation at the cabin...

Fishing...

Playing (future musician?)...


Swimming...

Trying out a new hair-do...

Olivia even got her first wagon wheel which was her first taste of food other than rice cereal. I could tell she enjoyed it by the "mmmm" sounds she made...

And lastly, we enjoyed time in the hot tub.

On Monday we enjoyed a trip exploring downtown West Jefferson which included a trip to a cheese factory where we got to watch cheese being made...the store that sold the cheese was so much more interesting than watching the cheese being made.

You can see how excited Olivia and Meghan are getting to watch cheese being made.

During the time that we were on vacation, my parent's where vacationing as well on a road trip through the Blue Ridge Mountains. They stayed in Boone Monday night and so Jared, Olivia and I spent Tuesday with them exploring Boone.

Then we headed to Valle Crucis to shop at the Mast General Store...

Where I found a very cute onesie souvenir for Olivia.




We then tried to explore Blowing Rock, but got rained on so we headed back to Boone where we found a mall and we shopped and ate dinner before heading back.

Since Grandpa insisted on teasing Olivia with the rubber ducky at Bath and Body Works, he had to buy it for her which was one more thing she had to chew on (I am pretty sure she is teething).

We got rained on all day Wednesday so we stayed in and the girls enjoyed a lot of playing together that day.

On Thursday Jared, Olivia and I did a little sight seeing.

We went to Grandfather Mountain...

Where we saw bears, otters, deer, cougars and more animals...

Explored the museum...

Crossed a mile high bridge...

And saw a fantastic view!!

Olivia took a nice nap in the car as we drove to...

The Linville Caverns...

Where Olivia was praised for being the best baby of the day!

On the last day (Friday), the girls wore their matching outfits (we were not together when we bought these - total coincidence!) and since one had a water bottle to play with, the other 2 had to have one also.

We then visited a winery where we got to sample different wines and got our first and only group picture taken.

This was the only time during vacation when Olivia wasn't her usual, perfect self as she was rather fussy. It seemed she was just ready to eat an hour early and was happy again after that. I think she may be going through another one of growth spurts.

I was sad to leave Saturday because that meant back to reality where mommy has to work again and Olivia has to go back to daycare. I really enjoyed having her the entire week. Olivia seemed rather happy to get home and see her doggy's again. She seems to really like her dogs and is now petting them, laughing at them and apparently she likes the way their tails taste...ewww!