Brandon's First Cabin Trip

For those of you who don't know, my grandmother built a little log cabin in the 1930's in the mountains of western North Carolina near Highlands. This was before she got married. She had to bring supplies down into the valley by horse drawn wagon. The cabin originally didn't have running water or electricity. The outhouse was still out back until 15 years ago or so. Here is a picture of it:

And here's a picture of the view from the porch. This is Whiteside Mountain.
The cabin doesn't have a/c, but it doesn't get too terribly hot there in the summer. It doesn't have heat either, so it gets shut down for the winter. Going in the fall and early spring is really fun and cozy because you have to have a fire going in the living room and in the wood burning stove in the kitchen in order to stay warm.

A couple weeks ago, KZ, Brandon, and I took off for Indiana (7 hours) where Brandon and I entertained ourselves as best as we could at the hotel while KZ worked for a couple days. From there we drove to the cabin (9 hours), where we stayed for 9 nights! I haven't been there for even close to a week since I was little, so it was a real treat being there for so long, especially since the drive was so long. All I can say about the drive is thank goodness for portable DVD players and Baby Einstein. Overall Brandon did really well for how long the drives were, but it was not a relaxing ride for any of us.

When we first got to the cabin, my sister Christie's family was there. We spent the weekend with Christie, Andy, Drew (rising high school senior), and several of Drew's friends. On Sunday, my parents arrived and stayed 3 nights, and then KZ's parents came up for our last weekend.

The week we were there coincided with Brandon's first birthday, which we celebrated there. If you didn't see the blog post about his birthday, go here.

There is also a blog posting about the creek, which is one of the best parts about going to the cabin. To see that post, go here.

We did a few other fun things during the week other than celebrate Brandon's birthday, go to the creek and eat way too much. Here are the highlights:

This is at Granite City, a really cool hiking spot where you climb around these huge granite rocks that form neat passages and formations.

Just KZ, Dad, and I went. Mom stayed at the cabin with Brandon.

This is Sliding Rock, a popular spot to go in the summer that is a few minutes drive from the cabin. Here is KZ going down.

Brandon had fun playing in the water and sand. Maybe he can slide with one of us next year.

On the way back from the creek, we drove through this beautiful new development which has yet to hold any houses, probably due to the economy. This deck was built for residents to enjoy, and it is a really beautiful, peaceful place to sit. Brandon loved climbing up and down the stairs.

Here is Brandon with his Mimi on the swing in the yard.

Dad has a picture of himself when he was little wearing this hat, so he wanted to get one of Brandon wearing it. He thought the wheelbarrow would add a nice touch. He told me not to worry about putting pants on Brandon because his legs wouldn't show. I guess it adds to the hillbillyness of the picture!

We went to Dry Falls with KZ's parents. It is called Dry Falls because you can walk behind the waterfall and stay (mostly) dry.

Also with KZ's parents we hiked Whiteside Mountain, the mountain facing the cabin. Thankfully there is a moderate hike starting half way up the backside of the mountain. It's a great hike with amazing views at the top. My dad has climbed the front side, but no one else in our family has braved that yet.

Here we are at one of the many overlooks. KZ carried Brandon up the mountain, and I carried him down.

Our little happy hiker (also known as the Little Prince because he loves to get carried around) got exhausted watching us do all the work, so he took a nap on the way down.

After leaving the cabin, we went back to Indiana for a few days and finally went home after being gone 2 weeks. We had a great trip, but it is good to be home!

Creek baby

Let me tell you about the creek at the cabin!

This is how I got to the creek. I first went with Mommy, Daddy, Aunt Kiki, my cousin Drew, and some of Drew's friends.

Cold water! You didn't tell me anything about it being cold! I like the warm water at the beach better!

Get me out of this cold water!

Actually, It's not so bad once you get used to it! I loved playing in the sand and with the rocks!

I love the creek!

Fist pumps for the creek!

Further up the creek is this foot log, which is how you get across if you don't want to get wet. There are several houses on the other side of the creek, and the owners actually have to drive through the creek next to this bridge to get home!

Here is my Mommy's family on the foot log. From the left it's Uncle Andy, cousin Drew, Aunt Kiki, Papa, Mimi, Mommy, me, and Daddy!

This is the second time I got to play in the creek! This time I went with Mimi and Papa.

Here is the infamous pothole! It is about 5 feet deep and only about as wide as this picture. It's really cold in case you didn't pick up on that from my Daddy's expression.

In the summer, some people like to bathe in the pothole. We actually keep soap and shampoo down there for that purpose. They say it's really refreshing. Thankfully they didn't try to bathe me in there!

Kisses from my two favorite people! They dunked me after this picture, which I did not like one bit!

Ahhh! Nice and warm and cozy!

One Candle on my Cake

Guess what?

I'm ONE!

Here are the pictures of me eating my very first birtday cake (made by my Aunt Kiki) at the cabin in NC. The people who were there were my Mommy, Daddy, Mimi, Papa, Aunt Kiki, and Uncle Andy. My cousin Drew was there, but he had to leave earlier with his friends.

Now listen here: I like my cake chocolate and with lots of icing. And I don't like to share! I want it all to myself. Oh, and I do NOT like this hat. I will be taking it off in about 2 seconds.

Below is a video of when they brought my cake to me. Be sure to watch my hand.

I was trying to tell them all "bye bye," meaning: "Y'all really cannot sing, so you either need to stop or just leave right now. I'll be fine here alone with my cake."

mmmmm....

Wow! My hand is brown! How cool!

I don't know about this...everyone is staring at me, my hands are sticky, and someone put icing on my nose! Take that cake away!

hmmm....maybe this isn't so bad.

Ok, I'm ready to try it again!

Whoa...where's my hand? Wait! I think it's stuck!

Oh well! At least I still have this other hand.

Thanks for sharing my birthday party with me!