North Carolina, A Trip South

This year for the Big Gentry Family vacation we decided to visit our friends Brooke and Christina and their two little ones Isobel and Jude in North Carolina.  They are good friends we made when we were at the University of Utah and we have managed to stay well connected to them.  I have loved North Carolina since I worked there one summer as a camp counselor and have always wanted to get back.  Brooke and Christina recently bought a house in Greensboro that had plenty of room to house us; so the cards seemed to aline and we booked our flights.

We had a fabulous week hanging out with our friends.  Berkeley was in heaven as he had two friends as a constant play date for an entire week.  

We flew in to Raleigh/Durham and decided to visit the Children's Museum called Marbles there.  It was one of the funnest children's museums I have been to, it was so much fun for the kids.  There was a lot of sticker shock while we were visiting; we were pleasantly surprised that the Children's Museum was only $5!!!  What a deal compared to prices in Boston! 

After we wore the kiddos out, we drove to Greensboro.  The next day we went to the Greensboro Science Center, which was super duper fun.  It had just added an Aquarium which the kids loved.  The best part was that our Museum of Science Membership in Boston got us into this museum for FREE!  Score!

Berke was nervous to touch the sting rays, but finally did it with the help of his dad.  As you can see they are both pretty excited about it (can you tell Berkeley is a mini Christian?)

The Science Center also had some really fun exhibits about the body, reptiles and other fun things.  Berke got to pet a lizard and a snake which he was pretty nervous about, but he overcame his fear.  My favorite reptile was the two headed turtle and the 95 year old sea turtle.  They also had a mini zoo at the Center (yep, they had everything) and we got to see a newborn Gibbon, a red panda and enjoy the petting zoo.

The fourth of July was spent very patriotically, naturally.  We enjoyed a fabulous parade in downtown Greensboro; the kids loved collecting candy and waving their flags at the floats.

These two are two adorable daddies had a great time together.

We listened to a fun kids band, played some drums and then became too hot from the humidity and had to head home to cool off for a bit.  Once we were rested and fed, we went to the most American sport around, baseball.  We sat on the grass and cheered on the Greensboro Grasshoppers.  In the bottom of the 9th it was a tie game and one of the "Hoppers" with 2 outs hit a home run!  It was a great ending to the game.  Some of us enjoyed the fireworks show afterwards; others of us had to have their mom cover their ears tightly to drown out the sound and continually ask when it was going to be over.  

I really love how diverse and beautiful the land of North Carolina is; we drove 1 hour through  lovely country sides to Hanging Rock State Park and enjoyed the day at the Lower Cascade Falls.  It was beautiful and shallow enough for the kids to explore and have fun.  Here is our whole crew!

Berkeley can always be found in the most unexpected spots, he always keeps me laughing.

Other Greensboro highlights included getting pedicures with Christina, eating Krispy Kreme donuts and pimento cheese, visiting the civil rights museum, playing with Stella the coon hound and having a goofy and fun date night where we were able to explore downtown Greensboro.

Did I mention the Berkeley and Isobel became the best of buds; they played so well together and wore each other out every day!

Sunday our family gave Brooke and Christina's family a break; we drove down to Asheville to meet up with some other friends who were in Brevard, NC for the summer.  We left early and met up with Ben and Jihey at the most delicious breakfast at the Sunny Point Cafe.  Asheville has a culture much like Cambridge, MA, but it much more beautiful.

After breakfast we spent the day exploring the Biltmore Estate.  We have visited the Breakers, which is the mansion where the Vanderbilt's spent their summers which is amazing, so we wanted to see what their "regular" home was like. As you can see this is not your typical home.  This "home" has 250 rooms, 111 of which are bedrooms.  It was remarkable to tour the house (even though we went quickly as to keep a certain 4 year old entertained), to see how these people lived.  

Not only is their home gigantic, the entire estate is HUGE!  We walked through some of their gardens which were beautiful, drove a 1/2 hour within the estate to see the old farms and the winery.

I have always wanted to stomp grapes since I saw the episode on I Love Lucy where she does it.  It was a pretty gross sensation, but I'm glad I did it.

Every day on vacation was filled with rain, but it didn't stop us from too many activities.  Sadly we left our umbrella in the car while visiting the farms as we thought we were in the clear of any rain.  We were wrong!  It started to DOWN POOR.  While we went for cover for a bit, Berkeley decided it would be much more fun to run and play in the rain, so we did that too.  We were drenched by the time we got to the car.

The next day both families drove to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina.  We enjoyed the warm ocean waters; we swam, played and enjoyed the sand as well.  I loved swimming in warmer water and wish so badly that the New England beaches were just a tad less chilly.

After fun in the sun, our kiddos were pretty pooped.

Brooke and Christina were such  wonderful hosts.  They let us take over their house, made us delicious food, played tour guide, and stayed up late every night talking and laughing.  We all had such a fun time together that we are hoping to get together again soon.  I still love North Carolina and could see myself as a Southern Bell at some point in life. The South will always have a special place in my heart, I just love it!

It is crazy to think that this is our last big vacation as a trio, next summer when we head out west to visit our families we will be a family of four!