Happy 3rd Anniversary to Us!

We were able to take a long weekend away to celebrate our anniversary. Since we love him so much, we decided to Micah along. We stayed at a Christian retreat center just outside of Asheville, NC. On Friday, we visited the Biltmore Estate, "America's Castle," the home built for George Vanderbilt and his family. It was beautiful!!

Micah & the Biltmore, in one of Daddy's daredevil photos. I promise that my hand is just to the left of where the photo ends, ready to grab Micah at any second!

Visitors are not permitted to take pictures inside the Biltmore House, but it was amazing! You get to see a good portion of the house, including several rooms on each floor and most of the basement! Micah was so good as we toured the house!

Micah & Daddy posing by one of the Lions that guard the front door.

I liked seeing that big house, but now I just need some time to crawl around and play!

Mommy & Micah resting on the lawn

Just hanging out enjoying the day!

We upgraded our day pass to an annual pass because we didn't get to see the farm, and there are more things to do on the grounds that we could take advantage of in another visit. The Biltmore Estate covers 125,000 acres, and George Vanderbilt's goal was to have a self-sufficient estate. He built a farm and dairy, which we visited on Saturday. Micah got to test out the tractor, which again, made Mommy nervous!


The house and the farm were decorated for Christmas, and it was absolutely beautiful! We posed together on the wagon for this picture, and then it was time for a (not so quick) costume change for Micah! Micah has such a wonderful Daddy. He often volunteers to change Micah when we are out. And Micah thanks him for this by giving him messy surprises! Thanks for taking it in stride, Daddy!! With clean duds, it was time for Micah's first visit with St. Nicholas!

Micah & St. Nick, checking each other out!

Saint Nicholas was very surprised at how well behaved and even tempered Micah was! From his experience, most children Micah's age last about 4 seconds before they start crying. Micah lasted long enough to tell St. Nick everything that he wanted for Christmas! We also took in a lesson on how to make a leaf at the Blacksmith shop. The Blacksmith was so impressed with Micah's behavior and attentiveness that he gave us his business card in case Micah wanted to learn to be a blacksmith someday!

Before we left the farm, we checked out the barnyard where there were quite a few animals to pet. The stars of the show were two little kid goats. Micah had fun watching them run around the barnyard, and finally got courageous enough to touch them. It was a blast!


The rest of the day we walked around the Biltmore Village and took in the shops. We also visited the famous Biltmore McDonalds, complete with fireplace, player piano, leather booths, and flowers on each table! The food is still typical McDonalds, though! We found a cool ice cream place for desert. We enjoyed it even though they were supposed to have gelato, but they had run out. We had a great, relaxing weekend as a family, celebrating our marriage!