Biltmore Easter

What's better than getting the entire family together and heading to the mountains of North Carolina for Easter weekend? Not much, other than getting the whole family together for a whole week on the beach somewhere ;) On Friday morning, mom, dad, and Abbie drove to Indy and met up with the four of us for a drive to Asheville, NC. We met up with Matt, Taryn and Gabe, and Joe and Mel and their kids. The weather was beeeeautiful, the Biltmore was amazing, and it was a great weekend to get everyone together. On Friday we all arrived, unpacked, swam in the indoor pool, and just hung out at the hotel. Saturday morning we got up bright and early and headed over to the Biltmore...which was right next door to our hotel. We were there all morning touring the house and gardens. The kids were so cute - they spent the house tour looking for the dragons that they just assumed lived in the house. The house was built by Cornelious Vanderbilt and was certainly very masculine with all of the gargoyles, etc. Spooked the kiddos just a bit, but they made a game of it. At one point Addy said "we better get out of here, there are dragons and we don't have our swords"! About half the group went back to the hotel for naps after that, but the rest of us went over to the winery and the little petting barn. That night we watched BUTLER beat Michigan State - whoop whoop!

Then Sunday, of course, was Easter. We went back to the Biltmore for an Easter Egg Hunt in the morning. Then we went over to the winery area, for lunch at a nice little outdoor cafe. The weather was amazing - 80 degrees and sunny. I could have stayed at that table with my mimosa forever! Alas, we eventually had to leave that spot and go back to the petting zoo with all of the kids. Gabe was hilarious - he was picking up fully grown chickens and carrying them around!

That night, a scheduling glitch caused us to miss mass - yes, I know...we missed mass on Easter Sunday. Ugh, the Catholic guilt! So we went to downtown Asheville for ice cream. Then we hunt out in the garden area of the hotel until bed.

All in all, a great weekend. The girls just adore their cousins and have so much fun when they are together.