Summer Gardens

With the school year fast approaching we decided to make the most of the beautiful summer days and head to the gardens at Biltmore.  While the house is massive and remarkable the grounds are no less impressive.   A nice stroll through the rose garden and the koi ponds with my favorite people in the world, a memory that can't be beat!




Elijah enjoying some time to run in the rose garden. 

Me and my boys

Daddy and his girls

Every year the kids make me incredibly nervous at the koi ponds.  With the fish so close and the ledge so small, I am waiting for the year one of them falls in.  But this marks another amazing trip where everyone stayed dry!

 

  

 

Jeff even pointed out a HUGE bullfrog in the lily pads! 

  

After a quick rain shower, we stopped in the food court for a cookie snack.

  

The girls found some beautiful sunflowers while the boys found...corn.
 

A beautiful view to say goodbye...until fall that is!

Dinner Reservations: 4 Adults, 12 Children

This past Saturday was Jeff's 35th birthday and we had the honor of sharing it with some great friends, the Walfords at the Biltmore Estate. For those of you waiting until your children are older, calmer, less destructive to visit, I say "embrace the challenge:)".

And because we thought this wasn't crazy enough, Jeff enjoyed his birthday dinner at one of the beautifully appointed restaurants on the Biltmore property. Linen tablecloths and napkins, soft classical music and a very attentive and professional staff. I was expecting a few stares gazes as we walked to our tables (which we got, along with whispers and some pointing), but all in all the kids behaved marvelously and even received a few commendations from guests and a few sighs of relief from the servers!

Finally we went outdoors to walk off some of our delicious meal.

Breathtaking!

Boys will be boys!

Elizabeth and Calla being cute:)

Micah wandering aimlessly.

A wonderful day making memories and spending time with friends. I would have called it a success right then, but Ginger couldn't stand to let Jeff's birthday pass without a cake. Once we got back to the Walford's home, Ginger prepared a fantastic buffet as well as decorated an ice cream cake, all in 30 minutes!

YUM!!!

I am not sure there is a better way to spend a birthday, great friends, great food, great memories!

Biltmore Bliss/Gemstone Joy!

If you have been following along, you will know we had a super fun Biltmore trip planned for the previous Friday to which all kinds of craziness popped up delaying our Asheville trip until Tuesday. But alas, we were finally on our way to Biltmore, even with a chance of rain. Fortunately, our time there was beautiful and dry and very, very hot but the kids enjoyed running in the gardens and posing for pictures. Although, since this was the first time Jeff really got to let loose with the new camera, I think he may have had even more fun than the kids!

Sweetness

Peacefulness

Silliness

Some artistic shots with the new camera.

With tons of beautiful green space the kids could really run and play and work up an appetite.

A quick break for lunch (Here is a Davis family tip, we packed a lunch and drinks for the kids in a small cooler, in this case a lunchable and juice box each. Then Jeff and I purchase our meal at the food court, a $7.00 hot dog which, incedentally was the same price as a box of juice boxes and 5 lunchables!).

Back to the gardens to investigate.

Elijah enjoying his scenic surroundings!

The fish ponds with their GIANT goldfish were a huge hit.

After a wonderful afternoon at the estate, we decided to go to a gem mine afterward, ironically named Elijah Mountain. With rain on the horizon we loaded up quickly and raced to the mine just in time for the sky to open up on us! We ran into the store but the sluices themselves to mine the gems were only partially covered and boy did we get WET! But tons of fun was had by all and that was the goal.

Bella showing off her gems. I helped out a little but really the kids could easily do it themselves. Even Nehemiah wanted to get into the action. We all shared one 3 1/2 gallon bucket of "gemstone dirt" and that allowed for about 25 minutes of mining for 5 children. If you adjust that for the average family you could easily mine for close to an hour:)At home the kids really got to examine their treasures.After all of that fun we ended our trip with dinner at McDonalds, one with a huge playplace of course.