Camping near Asheville

The first weekend in April 2016 was spent with my parents! They decided to go camping with us (their first time ever). It was so much fun planning and then going with them. We spent two nights at Lake Powhatan Campground in the Pisgah National Forest (about 20 minutes from Asheville, NC).

We spent a few hours in Asheville before going to our campsite. It was our first time there. It's a really cool city! We grabbed lunch and explored the streets for a few hours.

This picture still makes me laugh. Hudson didn't want to be in the picture so he was hiding from the camera, but he didn't realize that we still got him in the picture. So funny. 

At the campground, we spent some time hiking and fishing and looking for critters. I remember the second night was really windy and Amelia was ready to go home (she's not our camper....yet).

This was when we decided to go for a walk and ended up walking over 2 miles because we got lost. 

We didn't realize until we got there that Hudson had packed his reptile/amphibian pocket guide in his backpack. It's a good thing he did because he found so many different critters - here's a red salamander. He was in boy heaven! 

Down to the lake to go fishing

 

This is my all-time favorite picture of Hud and Mia. It captures the two of them perfectly - happy, adventurous, and partners in crime. I love these two! 

31 weeks pregnant right here. 

Charleston/Folly Beach

Logan had a long weekend off from work (MLK weekend). We decided a week before that we should take a fun trip with the kids. We ended up heading down to Charleston/Folly Beach which is 3 hours away. It was so fun! We felt like real grown-ups because we got a hotel room for the night with the kids. It was the first time we had ever done a family trip (besides camping).

We love family trips that involve extended family too, but there's just something about going with just our family. It's pretty special and memory building. I hope this is something we can do many times throughout the years. We love the Charleston/Folly Beach area. Logan and I went once before while interning in South Carolina a few summers ago. This time around, we took the kids and showed them around.

Details of the trip: We didn't do any of the museums. We figured the kids would do better outside running around than inside. Plus, the weather was perfect -- mid-60's and sunny! We ended up walking around to see some popular sites, and then happened upon a little neighborhood park for the kids to play at.

We got lunch at Folly Beach. We were looking forward to some delicious fish tacos, but the restaurant we love was closed for renovations. We ended up going to Rita's for a quick (overpriced) lunch of burgers and fries. It was decent, and they served the kid entrees on a frisbee which was a nice touch. After lunch, we headed across the street to the beach/pier. It was a bit windy at this point being so close to the water, but we played on the sand for a bit looking for sea shells (Hudson found a sea star which was the highlight of the trip). We also walked on the pier where we saw a fisherman catch two baby sharks. That was pretty cool. We headed home after that and the kids napped most of the way home.

We can't wait to get back to this area again, but I think it will be more enjoyable in the spring/summer time when the weather is warmer for swimming. :)

Waterfront Park

 Walking through the city

 Rainbow Row

 Hudson took the picture of us below.

Battery Park

(Hudson loved pretending to launch the canyons. He kept saying, "aim....FIRE!!") 

Folly Beach

(about 20 minutes from Charleston)

Fun to Do

Living in Raleigh is fun to do, fun to do, fun to do....think of the LDS Primary song.

It's amazing how much stuff there is to do in the Raleigh area. I am so glad we live here. It is a fun city with plenty to do. I know our families (mainly mine) want us to move back to Virginia, but honestly I am in love with Raleigh - no traffic, beautiful scenery, affordable housing, best parks, awesome museums, amazing church family, etc.

Just this week, we went to the Museum of Life and Science. It was our first time going in the 1 1/2 years that we have lived here, mainly because admission is $14 a person which is a little pricey for a museum if you ask me.

Well, we decided to just go and it did not disappoint - so much so that we ended up buying a membership - with the membership we also get into a lot of other museums and science centers throughout the country (including Sci-Works in Winston-Salem, museums in Richmond, VA and Pittsburgh, PA). Logan heard that we get free admission into the Carnegie Science Center with our passes (he's been talking about this place since we got married), and he was sold. Looks like a trip to Pittsburgh needs to happen within the year!

Anyway, back to this museum about 20 minutes away from us. It is AWESOME. There is a kiddie area, a mini-zoo, butterfly conservatory, train ride, Dinosaur trail, and Into the Mist in the summer. This place is so cool. We can't wait to go back, preferably when it isn't raining. Also, the best thing about the membership is that only one adult from the family has to be there. That means, I can bring a friend and he/she can get in for free! Best deal ever. Who wants to visit us in Raleigh?  

 the kiddie area

 cutest wooden slide ever

 Upstairs where all the science stuff was - this was a rotating magnet thing

It was fun until Logan set Hudson down on it and well...I'm sure you know the rest...

Hudson went spinning and rolling! Dads are so silly. 

Petting Max the cow. 

Hudson has a fun time mooing at him (yep, he knows what sound a cow makes - smart kid). 

 Outside after seeing the farm animals.

Building a tower with dad's help, of course!

Camping

We did it. We took a toddler camping. We decided to stay close to home (you know, in case our kid decided to cry all night), so we went about 20 minutes away to Jordan Lake. It was a great trip!

Hudson loved camping. Such a Corbett at heart! 

We picked a great day/night to go. It was in the low 70s during the day, and at night it dropped to the mid-50s, so it wasn't too bad. We just put on a bunch of layers, took an air mattress and sleeping bags, and had a few extra blankets. It was a successful camping trip, thank goodness! We only did one night, but we definitely want to do it again - now that we know how well Hudson did with it all. 

Hudson loved being outside - in case you couldn't tell from his expression. 

He loved running around, finding rocks, and eating all the yummy snacks. 

Here's Logan starting the fire for our tinfoil dinner. He lives for this kind of stuff.

 Glow sticks were definitely a big hit. 

Here we are in the morning, we survived through the night! 

H only got up once for milk, and then cuddled up to us on the air mattress. 

 Before we left, we walked down to the lake. Isn't this view just gorgeous?

The water wasn't too cold, so we let H get his hands wet.

This would be the perfect camping site for the summer. 

Can't wait to go back!