Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC

Our visit to the Biltmore

Friday afternoon we made the 3 and a half hour drive to Asheville, NC.
We booked tickets to visit the Biltmore Estate early Saturday morning.
Our tour of the house began at 9:15.

Biltmore was built by George Washington Vanderbilt.
It is an AMAZING estate.
The part that impressed us most was not
the size of the house or estate,
but the feeling of hospitality and warmth
from the staff and the estate itself.
George and his wife Edith were very generous people.

We were not allowed to take pictures inside the mansion.
It took us 2 hours and 15 minutes to tour it.
Four floors and the basement,touring a total of 55 rooms plus.
AMAZING, beautiful, huge (yes), but very well thought out.

The home is FILLED with historical treasures.
To name a few favorites:
Rembraint paintings, before he was "known",
Napolean's chess set,
a replica of the banner carried by Christopher Columbus on his travels.

Some of our favorite rooms in the house:
*The Louis XV Room - bedroom with big windows at the front of the house.
*The gymnasium in the basement - dressing rooms were provided to change clothes,
it was not proper to walk through the house in your "work-out clothes".
*The billards room with two pool tables.
*The BEAUTIFUL library - showcasing George's favorite passion - books.
There were more than 10,000 volumes in 8 languages.
*The indoor pool.


LUNCH!
We ate at the Stable Cafe.
You guessed it, this is the estate's old stable with original walls, floors and stalls.
You can see behind our table the old cage
for holding hay and the watering tub (with flowers now).

The tables and benches are in between the various stalls.
GREAT food!! FUN atmosphere.


The Gardens

The South Terrace

The walls of the gardens.
This is a FUNNY picture of the kids pretending to hang off the
edge of the wall going down the steps .
The NOT funny part is, Ammon kept jumping up on top of the walls
to see and the other side of most of the walls was a
drop off of at least 30 feet!

The Walled Garden with a carpet of tulips.

It was a BEAUTIFUL and extremely enlightening visit.
We would highly recommend it to anyone.

Spring Break in Our Own Backyard!

We have lived some pretty amazing places and have found that when it comes to trip taking we tend to leave our own stomping grounds for what we think are "greener pastures".
We live in Cumming, a city 30 minutes north of Atlanta.
We decided to play tourist in our own back yard and spend a night in Atlanta.
(This is the view from our rooms on the 15th floor)

We stayed in the Omni Hotel at CNN Center.
What a view!!!
It was a beautiful hotel.
It was fun to be able to walk to Centennial Park - built for the Summer Olympics
held in Atlanta- and to the Georgia Aquarium.
We ate dinner at McKormick and Schmicks below the hotel.
It was nice not to have to leave the hotel, considering it was a blistering 38 degrees outside.
We had snow flurries on Tuesday morning!!


The GEOGIA AQUARIUM!

Haleigh, Caleb and Ammon in front of the huge tropical fish tank.
It makes it's own waves on the surface of the water
to create a true ocean atmosphere for the fish.

It was so soothing to sit and watch the thousands of fish swim in the
Ocean Voyager exhibit. There are 4 huge whale sharks in the exhibit, swimming with a variety of sharks, giant rays and other fish.

Ammon LOVED the Beluga Whales.
I can count the number of times Ammon has held still for more than
30 seconds on one hand.
This is one of those times.

*The Cyclorama*
We visited the Cyclorama located next to the Atlanta, Zoo
about 3 miles from where we were staying.
This was amazing!!
It is a 4 story oil painting and diorama depicting the
Civil War in Atlanta.
You sit in an auditorium with seats that slowly turn in a circle so you can view the entire painting.
The history behind the painting amused us.
During hard times the painting was sold to a traveling circus.
During the circus' visit to Atlanta they went bankrupt.
The owner of the Coca Cola factory purchased the HUGE painting and
the circus animals for a very small amount of money.
The cyclorama was built to hold the painting
and
they built a zoo next door to care for the circus animals,
thus the Atlanta Zoo was established.

The Civil War - brother against brother?

It was a GREAT trip. We plan to finish our week of Spring Break
in Asheville, NC visiting the Biltmore Mansion and gardens.

April Mantel

Do not condemn me for my inability to backspace and delete the missing n in condemn. I have felt the need, since I wrote it two years ago, to sand the board, repaint and rewrite the final two lines. However, I find the lesson in this ... just as the Amish, when making a quilt, purposely turn one of their quilt blocks upside down to represent their humility and being mortal, ... I look at my missing n as the same lesson for me. It reminds me of humility and that I am mortal. I need to use the atonement to overcome my mistakes and repent.
I should not condemn myself because of my shortcomings.

The final week of our Savior shown in the pictures below.
The nests of eggs in the hurricanes represent the
true meaning of Easter - new life!
A gift, given by a loving Father in Heaven
through His Son Jesus Christ,
who made the ultimate sacrifice for EACH of us.

I live for the Savior, alive who was dead.
By His loving favor our guilt can be shed.
Oh, please believe with me,
Believe His sweet plan.
Our Savior, more than man.

-Allen Smythe

Ammon's First Pinewood Derby

Ammon loves being a Cub Scout. He has been looking forward to making his pinewood derby car and racing it. He and Fred designed a pick up truck, painted it green and lovingly named it Pepay (Ammon insisted it be spelled that way) after our own beloved red Ford Ranger Pepe. (More on the history of the real Pepe later).
He won one race but the greatest thing for Ammon was...

"I had so much FUN!!"

Way to go Ammon!!!

Haleigh and Steph in NYC!

WOW!! What a weekend. Last year Fred took a trip with each of the kids and suggested I do the same this year. SO ... Haleigh and I spent Thursday night, Friday and Saturday in New York, New York. We flew home Sunday morning. It was FUN to have some one on one with my FAVORITE daughter.
Here are a few of the things we did.The view from our hotel room on the 38th floor!


Times Square as we exited our hotel, the Marriot Marqis, and look to the right.

The view from the top of the Empire State Building.

The sculpture that stood in front of the World Trade Center and survived with a few "wounds".

Haleigh and I in front of the Statue of Liberty.


We took a tour of NBC studios and saw the studio for NBC news and Saturday Night Live.
We ate breakfast overlooking Rockerfeller Center.


Haleigh with Matt Lauer('s lifesize cut out)!!!




We ended our trip with the musical "The Little Mermaid". It was AMAZING!!!

Happy St Patrick's Day!

So often we catch ourselves saying
"I'm so lucky my car didn't get hit by that mac truck." OR
"I'm so lucky to have great kids." "I'm so lucky to be alive."
I have come to know, it's not about LUCK , it's about being BLESSED.
I have changed my thinking to "I was blessed not to be hit by that mac truck." "What a blessing to have great kids." and "I am BLESSED to be alive."

Our moral for this fun green day: "When you think you're LUCKY count your BLESSINGS."



I loved these white porcelain balls with varying green patterns.

School is In

School was NOT cancelled today and after a morning of black ice, white knuckle driving I kind of wish it would have been. During the night the standing water on the roads froze and created frightening driving conditions this morning. I am glad I am home safe and sound. Happy MONDAY y'all!