Beckie (Andrea's old breakdancing buddy from Wisconsin) and her husband, Will, drove a whoppin' 16 hours down from Madison to join Andrea, Justin, Camden, and Tristan at Kim's mountain cabin in Lake Lure, NC. We spent one night enjoying luxury at the cabin (Sadie's Retreat) before going camping in the heat at Davidson River Campground in Pisgah Forest.
After setting up camp, we drove to Asheville, where Andrea had taken Beckie years ago before they were both married. They had fond memories there, and Beckie wanted to show Will the mountain city she had fallen in love with long ago! Since we had Camden and Tristan -- and it was oppressively hot outside -- we beat the heat by going to a children's museum in Pack Place (a cultural education center packed with different museums and exhibits). The kids --and us "big kids"-- had way too much fun there!
For dinner, Beckie and Will wanted to check out a North Carolina microbrewery, so we headed to family-friendly Asheville Pizza and Brewing Co. on Merrimon Ave. The kids immediately were fans of this place because it was covered in eclectic murals -- from Star Wars scenes to their favorite super heros-- and the back room contained a huge kids' movie theater with arcade games. Another section of the place had three-dollar movies where you could watch old classics or more current flicks. Again, we're not sure who had more fun playing the games -- the little kids or the "big kids"!
When we got back to our campsite, we made s'mores over the campfire and then passed out in our tents!
The next morning, we packed up our campsite and headed to Davidson River for some swimming and building forts with river rocks!
Unfortunately, on our way home, we ran into major traffic because the Interstate had shut down due to accidents and flash flooding in Charlotte. While we were camping, Charlotte was drowned in up to 6 inches of rain at once! It was a very long drive home to Charlotte -- with Beckie and Will in tow.
On Saturday, we celebrated Abigail's first birthday party at Kim and John's house-- which is now next door to us! :) That night, the boys had a game night with some Settlers of Cataan, and Beckie and Andrea headed up to Michelle and Normie's to learn some aerial silks!
On Sunday, Beckie and Will took Andrea to the local Unitarian Church, since they go in Madison and wanted to see what the church was like elsewhere. The church was just their style; we walked in and saw a nifty drum circle - and the sermon was one that people of any religion could enjoy. The sermon was on the impact of teaching others -- since it turned out that most of the congregation was made up of current and former teachers! Of course, Andrea could relate to the sermon, and it was nice pep talk before the start of the school year!
After the Unitarian Church, Beckie and Andrea went to Michelle's yoga class (where Michelle worked in a cool new hip-rotator move into her lesson!). Following yoga, we then celebrated Andrea's 36th birthday party with games, Justin's smoked pork, Michelle's awesome apple pie (Andrea's favorite birthday treat!), and Justin's chocolate-chip Rice Krispie treats for the kids! Andrea couldn't have asked for a better birthday!
