Biltmore

These past two days have been very enlightening for me. I have come to two realizations:
1. Driving 7-8 hours ONE way with three little kids and my mom only to stay in a hotel for one night, tour a house the next day, and drive back home for 7-8 hours is definitely NOT a smart move. Especially when your mom got to your house the night before you were leaving, you can't leave until 2 in the afternoon, and she is leaving you to deal with the tired, sick kids the next morning because she is flying out.
2. Anyone who REALLY knows me knows I LOVE BBC and masterpiece movies. I believe I was born in the wrong century. I belong with the dresses and broody men from the 1800's. But yesterday I realized that I was also most definitely born into the wrong family.

All of this was discovered on our short, insane trip to The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. After arriving at the hotel around 10 pm, we finally got settled in and into bed. Well, Treyton has bad allergies always and coughs a lot at night. He coughed for over two hours. Griffin has never really slept in the room with us and would NOT let me put him down without screaming bloody murder, but refused to go to sleep while rocking him. Jayci wouldn't stop rolling about in the bed to the point where I went over and sat on her legs because she was driving me crazy. So, about an hour later, I took Treyton and Griffin out to the car to drive in circles around the mall to get them to fall asleep. After about a half an hour I got them both asleep. I was exhausted. After a short stint of trying to sleep in the car myself, I decided to risk moving them inside. Treyton fell right back asleep and griff slept for about 3 or 4 hours in his carseat...the little bugger. Anyways, it was horrible. I was SO tired. But it was all forgotten (kinda) when we pulled up and saw this:
My mom suggested that I do the tour first while she took the kids and then we would switch. Perfect! It was amazing. The Biltmore is the largest single-resident home in the country. It was built in the early 1900's by the Vanderbilts. I think it was George. He built it while he was a bachelor. Seriously? How is it that, when I am so obviously meant to live here, I was born in the wrong family and wrong century? This house just called my name. There were 43 bathrooms in a time when a home was lucky to have 1 indoor bathroom. It has a bowling alley, a pool insde, 250 rooms, about four different kinds of kitchens, so the smells and grease didn't mix, a dining room with a ceiling 7 floors high, and the list goes on and on.






After I toured the house and it was my mom's turn, I took the kids in for a bit to show them a couple of things on the main floor. The nice thing about the tour is it is self-guided. You can take as long as you would like or go as fast as you want. You can go out, come back in, and just wander around. Treyton and Jayci both loved seeing it decorated for Christmas. But their favorite part was the HUGE lawn and fountain out front.





Thanks, Mom, for taking us. Sure, it was insane and tiring and frustrating, but when are we ever going to get down there again?!