Thanksgiving tree trip

Madison's school had their Feast on Monday

We left for our Annual tree trip to Boone, NC on Tuesday. Alan was watching the weather, and they were calling for lots of snow on Wednesday, our original day we had planned to leave. We left around 1:30 and got there and unpacked.

Glad we did because we woke up to this!

Madison liked playing with the snow inside. Alan would scoop some in a bowl and she would use her 'people' and play in it for a while.

On Saturday, we decided to go snow tubing at Hawk's Nest. Both Alan and I bought tickets so we could alternate with Madison on the tube while the other had Riley. Naturally, Alan didn't get any pictures of me with Madison. She had a lot of fun when actually tubing. She complained she was cold a lot though.

Christmas Decor

You can read our post about our annual tree trip here. Well here's the rest of the story..

We got the tree home and Alan managed to get this massive beast into the house since I'm not much help. We quickly learned that our tree stand was not big enough to hold it up so Alan made a run to Lowe's to pick up a tree stand made for bigger trees. Got home and it didn't work either. Fast forward to a couple of days and 3 tree stands later(including 1 that actually broke!), I had went to Home Depot to pick up 2 stands that we hadn't tried. When Alan got home, we tried one of them, only to have it not work either. Alan laid the tree down to give us a minute to think and he noticed a huge crack in the tree trunk! It went up the tree as far as we could see-at least half way! Alan went to get his knife to see how deep it was and it was about an inch deep.. So glad the tree wouldn't stand up now, as frustrating as it was. I'm pretty sure it would have fallen at some point.

The next day, we went to a local nursery to pick out this tree. It's not nearly as tall or pretty but it will do and Alan had no issues getting it up. Here's the finished product.

Madison had so much fun decorating this year.

 Our stockings

Madison's tree outside her bedroom

Christmas tree trip 2013

We originally planned on leaving very early Wednesday morning but the cabin owner called around 6pm Tuesday night and advised us to come on up due to snow coming in over night. She was kind enough to give us the extra night for free! She was worried that we wouldn't make it. Luckily I had packed mine and Madison's bags earlier that day so all that was left was our dogs stuff, Alan's things and odds and ins. We were on the road by 8pm. We got to the cabin by 11:30pm. Madison fell asleep watching Monsters Inc in the car around 9:20 and woke up when we got her out. We got unloaded and Alan took her to bed while I unpacked a bit. 

We woke up Wednesday morning to this...

We decided that Alan should go into town to get some groceries before it got too bad. I'm so glad he did because it snowed all.day.long! We were snowed in! We all stayed in our pjs all day and got a bit stir crazy! Luckily Thursday the sun was out and it stopped snowing. We went into Boone and ate lunch at Bojangles, ran to Walmart(the only place open) to get some things and burn a little energy and then headed back to the cabin where Madison and I took a short nap. 

We headed back out for supper around 5pm and decided on Cracker Barrel. Limited choices again. Bath and bed for Madison and it was Alan's night to lay with her until she fell asleep. I cozy up with some hot chocolate and watch tv. He finally got up at 9:40! We stay up a while then head to bed.

Friday- We got up, got ready and headed into Boone. We stopped by the Carter's outlet on the way and got M some pjs at 50% off. We then are lunch at Bandanas(a local BBQ place) and then came back to Blowing Rock, where I wanted a cupcake, only to find the place I like was closed down. Alan dropped me off at Kilwins and I got some fudge and a caramel apple. Then we came back to the house. After a failed attempt at Madison napping, we walked around the pond at the house for a bit and then we left the house again around 5 to go to Walmart, the grocery store and we stopped at Jimmy Johns to get a sub to bring home. Bath and bed for M at 8, after we ate. Alan laid with her again because she wanted to lay on his chest, and she can't obviously lay on mine with my 8 month tummy. Not that she would prefer me over him anyway. 

Saturday- we decide to get breakfast at Cracker Barrel in Boone around 10:00. After that, we went to the original General store in Valle Cruisis and then back to the cabin to let Wilma out and dress warmer. We went to Blowing Rock's Christmas parade at 2 and then Alan took Madison back to the cabin while I shopped downtown. I found Madison's Elf, Sophie and our first Family of 4 ornament and a few things for Rileys room. I met up with Alan around 4 and we went back into Boone to the mall, outlet mall, took M to see the lights at Chetola and then stopped to eat at Six Pence in Blowing Rock.  Madison stayed up later than normal while we packed up and I laid with her until she fell asleep while Alan watched the USC/Clemson game. I got up once she fell asleep and we stayed up a bit.

On Sunday, Madison woke up to Sophie's arrival(hanging from the fan) and was amazed! 

 

Alan read her the story of her and she watched cartoons while we finished packing up. 

 We stopped by the tree farm, picked out our tree and headed home!

Christmas tree trip 2012

We left Saturday and came home Monday. We found a cabin right outside of Boone, NC and booked! We asked my mom and stepdad to go so we could spend time with them and they could spend some time with Madison. Plus they've stayed pretty busy these past couple of weeks. I didn't take pictures of the cabin but here they are from the VRBO listing.

 
and the view..

There were also horses on the property. They didn't care for Wilma much but they were really sweet and let you pet them.

 

 

Before we checked in on Saturday, we went to the Blowing Rock Christmas parade. Madison loved the bands and cloggers.

We also stopped by the Valle Crucis General Store and Santa was there. M wasn't having that though :(

We went to breakfast at a great local place Sunday morning and then a seafood place that night and brought food back. Monday morning we cleaned up, left the cabin, stopped by Hardees for a biscuit on the go and stopped by our tree farm to get our Christmas tree. Here we are in front of it.

 

and some random pics.

See the tiny tree planted on this huge trunk?