mountain life

After three long months of living in Georgia, we decided it was about time to expand Millie's horizons a little and show her the world. So on Friday afternoon, we did just that- we drove up to the North Carolina mountains to gather in a cabin for the weekend with Matt's siblings, siblings-in-law, and niece and nephew! We had such a fun time- and it's safe to say Millie was pretty impressed to discover that there's more to life than North Georgia.

What is this place?! Colorful trees? Forty degrees? And I'm wearing nothing but my JAMMIES?!?

The cabin we rented had an awesome porch and some great views- we were lucky and caught probably the last weekend (or so) of pretty leaves- they were almost all gone, but there were still enough that it was pretty breathtaking! Millie was so impressed that she had to pull a Dr. Evil impersonation:

MWAHAHAHA...how about no, Mommy?

 We had a lot of fun just hanging out, relaxing in the hot tub (with adult beverages, of course), playing with the kiddos, going on a nice 'hike' (on a paved, stroller-friendly sidewalk around a small lake), doing some shopping, and eating...and eating...and eating.

I found a farm stand/bakery on Yelp that I really wanted to check out and it did NOT disappoint! They had SO MANY APPLES (and apple-y things)!!! I got a peck (ummm...yeah, if you don't happen to be an apple farmer, a 'peck' is basically a fancy word for a crap-ton really heavy bag) of insanely delicious and crispy Pink Lady apples for $9!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And also quite a few other things...

Wanna know what's in the box and bag? Yeah, I know you do. How about a dozen fresh apple cider doughnuts, four apple fritters, and several caramel apple cookies? HOW YA LIKE THEM APPLES??! (No, I mean really. Literally.) It's a really good thing apples are so healthy and the healthiness of them negates all of the calories, right? Right.

All of my excitement about the apples really wore Millie out, so we had to go home and nap by the fire. It was pretty tough.

Once she regained her strength, we headed out for our hike around the lake. She enjoyed it for about half of the walk...too bad it was a walk AROUND A LAKE (about 3 miles total) and so there were no shortcuts back to the car once she started expressing her displeasure! Too bad, so sad!

Pre-walk, when she still liked us.

Eventually she fell asleep and when she woke up, she liked us again, so that was a big relief. She was glad we decided to head back to the cabin, though. She needed to spend some quality time with her cousin Eliana!

Having some girl time in the back of the car. And by "girl time" I mean that Eliana was smiling and 'talking' with me while Camilla did nasty and unspeakable things to her diaper.

Yes, minion? Come visit me as I rest upon my throne.

What's fun is that Eliana is 2.5 months older than Camilla, but Camilla has already passed her up in size. That wouldn't be particularly noteworthy except for the fact that the last time the girls were together, Eliana was SO much bigger!! So this was pretty crazy to see! But they are tied as far as Amazing Special Features go: Eliana has the most fabulous hair I've ever seen (99th percentile for sure), whereas Camilla focuses all of her hair-growing-energy on her eyelashes. It's good that they each have an area to excel in!

The weekend went by way too quickly. Before we knew it, we were headed back home. But not before a final meal. We didn't want Millie getting too used to a life of luxury and fancy beverages in the hot tub (not that she engaged in any of that, but still. She must have sensed how fancy we were.), so we had breakfast at a place a little more down home, if you will.

That's right. Country Vittles. And lemme tell ya, them was some good vittles. We opted for normal things like eggs, biscuits, and bacon, but not for lack of scarier menu options! We were quite tempted to get the liver mush plate. I mean- LIVER MUSH?! What doesn't sound delicious about that? And for dessert, the vinegar pie! YUM! Sadly, I just didn't have room in the ol' belly for vinegar pie (and also I had half a dozen cider doughnuts in the car waiting for me), but next time...for sure.

So that was Millie's first trip out of state and I think it was pretty successful. Especially the part where she didn't cry through either of the long drives (a little over 3 hours each way)! Hope your week is off to a great start, and if it isn't...then you should probably consider swapping your cereal for some liver mush in the morning. I hear it's the breakfast of champions!