asheville, NC....our july 2013 trip!

matt won a trip through work to asheville, NC... so we packed our bags and headed east! it was such a fun trip!

the girls were way excited!~
the drive through the mountains was absolutely breath taking!!
our hotel was FABULOUS!! we stayed at the swanky omni grove park inn! apparently some big names (like the OBAMAS) stay there on a regular basis! our room was the F.scott fitzgerald room, he used to stay in this room in 1935 and write while on vacation! theres a little history for ya!

our first day....we checked in and napped....
then explored downtown asheville, were the bele chere festival just happened to be going on.the Bele Chere is an annual music and arts street festival held in downtown Asheville, North Carolina...lots of fun things to buy...and "interesting" people to see!!!
we also found a SWEET (free) splash pad! that finley LOVED....and danika didnt so much...so daddy got pretty wet having to hold danika!!!
we ate lunch at fudruckers and the girls thought our corner booth and their cups with straws and lids were the coolest things ever!
then we went back to the hotel and found the BEST playground there! (and thats where we spent a lot of our vacation time!!!)

 

the next day, we ate lunch at the swanky hotel restaurant out back on the patio overlooking the mountains! we also spent more time at the playground and then ate dinner at an uber cool brewing company, ahseville brewing company, which had the coolest atmosphere and best food!

 

the following day, matt got up and played golf, and then he came home and napped with the girls while i went to the hotels spa and got an hour long massage!@!!!! ummm, hello heaven!!!!
and ive got to mention this...danika went tinkle on the potty!!! this one day, this one time, and not ever since! we werent (and arent) even trying to potty train her, she just wanted to sit there like finley...and i guess it was the right time cause she tinkled!!! and thats the end of the danika tinkle on the potty story!

the last day, we spent at the WNC wildlife preserve...i thought it would be like a zoo....i was wrong! way off base! but we still had fun running around and exploring all the sights to see!
for dinner, we found another tap room, barleys tap room and pizzaria, that had awesome food and an even better atmosphere! it was late, but the restaurant/ pub was loud (it was trivia night) so no one heard our occasional wines coming from our sweet girls...but then matt and i got smart! and let the girls play with our phones while we enjoyed our food!!!! (rookie parents figure it out!)

our trip came to an end....and we drove home, making a detour through maggie valley for some more breath taking views of the mountains@!

the trip was great! we ate at new places every day (besides the mentioned restaurants above, we also at at a sonic and a bojangles which i had never been to either), played our hearts out at the playground, went swimming one day, and enjoyed the mountain air!
the girls were just happy with no "real" bedtime, sleeping in a HOTEL, and getting to watch their little tv's in the car (we have portable DVD players we put in our car when we go on trips)!!!!