It's Fall Ya'll!

Literally since we found out we were moving back to NC we have dreamed of taking a trip to the mountains in the fall.  Then we got here, had Davis, life got a bit hectic and we didn't make it that year.  The following year Mike was in Afghan and i didn't have the heart or energy to take my 3 without him.  So this year (and most likely our last year here for a little while) we HAD to go. 

Fall always seems to be such a busy time of the year, even though it's super fun and we weren't sure we'd be able to get away twice, so we combined our family mountain getaway with Davis' birthday trip.  That did cause us to just miss the changing leaves, but the weather was perfect, the mountains were gorgeous and we couldn't have asked for anything better. 

We were all excited about this trip--for slightly different reasons.  Mike and I were excited to relive a bit of our childhood with our kids.  This is really our first family trip, just the five and a half of us ;) and we were ready to spend some slow-paced, quality time together.  The kids on the other hand were very excited about the idea of the "mountains".  Granted, they look quite different, in Hawaii there were huge mountains basically everywhere, they just don't remember.  So the sight of these NC mountains was like seeing them for the first time.  I quickly snapped this priceless picture of their first sighting. Total Amazement there folks. 

As soon as we arrived in Boone it was dinner time, so we stopped at Dan'l Booke Inn to get some yummy food.  The kids really enjoyed the experience there.  Holden was taken with the "mountain chicken" (i don't think we've served him chicken legs in over a year--back we he told me there were "rocks in his chicken").  This time he was more open to eating around the bone and asked for seconds! 

We opted to stay in a cabin a little outside of Boone. We arrived Thursday night in the dark.  I didn't realize how tucked away this cabin was, but we had A LOT of trouble finding it.  We were so tucked into a mountain and surrounded by trees that none of our GPS systems would work.  It was so dark that we'd drive by houses/driveways and streams and not even know it.  The directions written out of us by the management company were all but useless because we couldn't see any of the landmarks.  I looked back at one point at our unusually quiet kiddos to find Holden scared to death.  I asked him what was wrong and he told us he didn't want to "sleep in the forest".  We promised him there was a nice house waiting for us and that everything would be fine, but my skeptical little boy did not find any peace until we finally found our cabin and Daddy went in and turned on all the lights and check for wild animals to ensure our safety.  

The next morning when we awoke, we realized we weren't quite so secluded.  There were 2 houses in sight of our own, and plenty of others as we were driving back into town.  Holden announced on that ride that he wasn't scared anymore.  :) 

Did i mention it was GORGEOUS?  

We definitely had plans for the weekend and did some fun things, but we also just putzed around and enjoyed the scenery as well.  One day we stopped in Valle Crucis for sandwiches from the amazing Ham Shoppe--now called something completely different, i just can't remember--and then intended on having a picnic closeby.  Of course our littlest family member had other plans and fell hard asleep in the car, so we just pulled over near the Mass General Store, and sat on the tailgate eating yummy food and talking.  Daddy even walked across the road to buy us some fresh apples from a produce stand. It really doesn't get much better than that. 

 

We also stopped to have some ice cream at a roadside stand with a creek behind it.  The kiddos enjoyed watching the little fish swimming along . 

Some of my favorite memories of the weekend were from sitting on the cabin porch.  It had a great swing that i could nest right into while watching my children run around and play.  I could have spent forever right there.  We found that it was easier for our family to just pick up food in town and then bring it back to the cabin to reheat and eat later so that we weren't wasting perfect afternoon play weather driving around and waiting in restaurant lines.  It was the best decision we could have made on the entire trip.

just look at those happy faces 

Happy Birthday Daddy

Mike turned 34 a few weeks ago.  We didn't have big plans or anything, it was a busy weekend with lots of homework for Mike and the kids first soccer game.  His only request was to go back to Chef and the Farmer in Kinston to eat dinner.  Mike was originally not supposed to be in town for his birthday, but his school got cancelled last minute.  As soon as I found out I called the restaurant to see if we could get a reservation.  Thankfully there was one left that weekend...at 8:45, which normally wouldn't be too late if you weren't preggo and starving my 6 most days and if the restaurant wasn't 2 hours away.  Still for Chef and the Farmer, the sacrifices were worth it!  

This time our friends Matt and Rachel came along too.  Food is so much more fun with friends, especially ones who love good food too! 

After eating there on my birthday, i had a plan for this visit.  Last time there was so much on the menu to try and not nearly enough room in the belly. So I thought i would skip the large entrees and just focus on the appetizers, small plates and desserts.   I'm not sure this is the best plan either, because this time around there were some fabulous things offered on the large plates menu and out of everything we tried, Matt's pork chop plate was by far the best thing on our table.

Here's some of the great things we ate that night! 

(if you could care less about the food, you can scroll down to see the family pics at the end!) 

Fried Okra with Ranch Ice Cream  

Yep, you read that right.  And it was really good!

Fried Collards

Oh Man, these were delish.  We all loved them.  Similar to the popular Kale Chips floating around all the food blogs, but much better in my opinion. 

Curried Peach Pork Belly Skewers with pickled jalapeño, cilantro 

We had the Pork Belly Skewers over my birthday too, they were just a different flavor.  These things are melt in your mouth amazing.  This time with the curry flavor...i couldn't pass them up.  Curry isn't a fave for my hubby.  But Matt and I definitely enjoyed them!

Salad: Mixed Lettuces, apple, celery, granola, pickled red onion, Maytag Blue 

This was so so good.  I may venture out to say it was the best salad i've ever had.  The pickled red onion really made this plate. 

Benne Fried Green Tomatoes, goat cheese coulis, blueberry chutney 

This was all for Mike...Tomatoes aren't really my thing, but surely a must-try for a tomato/blueberry lover.  He said they were great- i'll take his word for it!

Grits with Balsamic Braised Beef and Fried Onions

This was a last minute add on order by Matt that turned out to be seriously wonderful.  I should have ordered this as my meal and I don't even like grits!

 on to main courses: 

Matt and his Pork Chop

Mike with Shrimp Andouille Grits 

Rachel and Me with our wood fired pizza's...They were good, and we were thinking a good way to get a smaller portion cause it was on the appetizer menu because we were already so full...but they were huge!  Don't worry though, the hubby's helped us out!

A regret last time was not leaving enough room to try all the desserts.  You can order all 4 on the menu for a special price, but saving room for them is the hard part.  This time with 4 people, we had it under control! 

Hot, Salty & Sweet, peanuts, cinnamon/chipotle ice cream 

Tres Leches Cake with vanilla peaches, caramel, and pecan tuille

This was fabulous and the birthday boy's fave.  So he got the most of it.  

Mocha Éclair Parfait, Italian meringue, brûléed bananas

This was also amazing and Rachel and Matt's favorite dessert.  

we also got one more dessert, that i don't have a pic of.  it was a muscadine cobbler with sugar cookie crust.  we wanted to love it, but no one did.  Oh well...one flop in all of that food...i'd say we did great!

The next morning, was Mike's actual birthday.  We had a yummy pancake breakfast and he opened some cards and gifts before getting started on a long day of homework (and unforeseen 2yr old puking episodes later that night :/ )

The kiddos picked out Batman Movies for Daddy.  One for Daddy only and one that everyone could watch together (Lego Batman) 

I also opted to pick up our favorite red velvet/cream cheese icing cake from a local bakery around here instead of baking something.  Totally a good decision for this season of our life!

It was a really nice weekend celebrating the man who does so much for our family.  Can't imagine doing this life with anyone else.  We're so thankful for this man in our lives.  

TKD

Since Mike first got back home we have been talking with Holden about what he would like to get involved in.  Nora has been in Dance for over a year now and we wanted to find something for him as well.  It's hard to find something for 4 yr olds to get involved in besides dance and gymnastics.  Also because of time restraints, i needed it to be something close to the house.  Thankfully there is a Tae Kwon Do school close by so the boys went to visit and see if it was something that Holden would be interested in doing.  Holden liked it and calls it "ninja school".  

Mike took him to an initial private meeting where you talk with the instructor about what TKD is all about and they have a mini lesson.  Afterwards, when my two boys (meaning Daddy and Holden) they had huge smiles on their faces and Holden was carrying a white outfit, called a gi.  So it was safe to assume all went well and we were now signed up for TKD :)

Holden is the youngest by about 2 years in most of his classes and as you can tell in the pictures, there are adults in his classes too.  There is a younger class available but the teacher seems to think that Holden is mature enough to be in the older class.  I do think he seems lost sometimes... as we are still trying to decipher our left from right... but we can also see that he has made some huge strides in just his first month.  He walked into the class quiet and scared but now he is much more confident, speaking confidently and loudly and the moves he has picked up he does with great precision.   The Teacher noticed immediately that Holden is very technical and precise.  Whereas some of the other boys just go at it with abandon and don't really care if what they are doing is perfect, Holden does a LOT of watching and studying (and standing still) until he has it figured out.  

Mike and I are really proud of him.  

getting his belt after his first class 

Here's a few videos of his first few classes 

Back to School

School started back at the beginning of the month for these 2.  They are now the big kids at school and they know it! 

i just had to add these two pics from the past 2 years of first days...lotsa growing over here!

this year Daddy was able to come to first day drop off too.  

 and although Mike and I had no problems dropping our littles off for school, Davis was not too happy about leaving his best buddies behind.  The teacher gave us a sweet little gift when we were leaving to help "cope" with any emotions.  The Hershey's kiss was needed immediately to help our littlest calm down! 

Reveal

in case you missed it on one of the other social media networks, we finally had our anatomy ultrasound.... 

yep.  another Burns Boy will be here soon.  

and he says "Hi!" to you all :)

Davis Days

D's been super busy growing and playing this past month...

He is always reading books...even if no one is listening!

 He tried on his brother's undies to see how he likes them

 He's always right beside me no matter what i'm doing...."helping! helping!"

 He remembers his "murse" before going to the store.  So responsible!

 He's learning to drive...

 Designing his own accessory line...

and changing all of his friends diapers too. 

 

He really is getting to be a big boy...but please don't dump ice water on your head.  His sweet little heart just can't take it!

August Happenings

We like to give Daddy a hard time when he's going to work...  Daddy will never be able to leave with this big girl blocking the door ;)

and then sometimes we wait on the porch when he's on his way home.  On this day i was cooking dinner and couldn't wait, but Nora held down the fort steps, waiting for Daddy. 

 They sure do love him

 and these brothers really love each other

 The twins started soccer a few weeks ago.  They were very excited for all their new soccer gear.  They seem to be having fun so far.  My honest opinion is the base soccer program is pretty unorganized...but they are having fun so that's good enough for now. 

 

 we also celebrated this little one's 2nd birthday.  Emma is just 2 weeks older than D....so that means we're next!  Where are our babies? 

a fun group of kiddos!

  and i hit the halfway mark.... toes still visible!