A Mid-Winter Day Out

When temperatures in January reach into the 60s it is time to escape outside! One day after piano lessons, the boys and I headed to the Biltmore Estate for a picnic and some sunshine. They played on the playground-- which they love and have barely been able to do for the last year-- and we walked around the Antler Hill area. Then we grabbed some ice cream after looking at the model train exhibit. It was a lovely two-hour outing before we headed home to finish up our school day.

    

The picnic area where Carver was hunting Pokemon and apparently taking pictures of them "in the wild." I have at least a dozen pictures like this one on my phone now.

Great Wolf Lodge!

There is a MagiQuest game that covers most of the hotel-- a magic themed scavenger hunt of sorts where the boys have tasks and such to complete. This was a BIG hit and we spent a lot of time racing around the floors completing quests!

We spent a small amount of time in the arcade and Carson won this!

Family laser tag. I hate laser tag...

 Toward the end of January we took a semi-spontaneous trip to the Great Wolf Lodge in Charlotte, NC. We really love it there. We have been about 4 times now and I think it is firmly cemented in the boys minds and will be something they remember well on into adulthood. I like making return trips to places because I think that those memories become so much stronger and GWL will probably have a nostalgic feel for them later in life. I really love that. 

We have been wanting to return for a long time, but Covid messed up plans over the last year of course. Then Daniel made reservations for us to go mid-week in January, hoping for lower crowds. Great Wolf Lodge was already operating at a much lower capacity and they have  strict mask policy and rigorous cleaning protocols. All in all, I felt like it was a safe way to do something fun as a family.

The only time I felt uncomfortable was once in a line waiting to do a water slide. Masks aren't worn in the water park (while in the actual water-- they are supposed to be worn if sitting at tables, etc). There were clear instructions for social distancing in lines but people weren't following them well and I had intense anxiety. For some reason it didn't really happen again at other slides or other times, but it was stressful.

We had a really perfect quick getaway. I love making these sorts of memories with the boys. The Great Wolf Lodge is something we have always done as a family unit and I love that too. We are really hoping to get to go sometime with my side of the family (my parents, siblings, and all the kids of the family) and I am committed to making that happen one day. 

Homeschooling has its perks for sure, and getting to go out of town for a quick mid-week mini-vacation is definitely one of them 😊

January Phone Dump

 

I look forward to cooking lunch on New Year's Day every year! It is one of my most anticipated traditions and I have no idea why. I am essentially the only person in my family that likes most of these things. Traditionally I have ham, but my kids like Canadian bacon so...

Office sidekick.

Daniel likes to act like he hates the cat but I think he secretly loves him.

Carson is very interested in cooking these days! He chose the menu and we cooked together. It was so much fun.

Felix found an animal's hidey hole to stalk. I find him at this spot in the backyard all the time.

Move nights are one of my favorite things. We watched The Mandolorien and then moved on to all of the Star Wars movies. Usually it is just me and Carson snuggled up on the couch. I don't understand Star Wars but I do love these nights with the boys.

Snow day!

I got my first fabfitfun box and I loved it. Highly recommend!

Sleeping atop Carver's bunk bed.

Carson is always making something. This time it was an Angry Bird pig out of modeling clay.

Felix is in his lap. A little hard to spot him but Carson was so excited that his lap was picked!

Ice covering the trees.

Working in my office usually includes these two.

"Snowy"-- Carson's beloved snowman. He rebuilds him at every snow and cries when he melts. Every single time.

Felix even played in the snow with us for a bit.

First color street mani in awhile. This is Capitol Hill-- I liked it!

When Carson gets to sleep with me, this is how he wants to sleep all night long.

I think this bath robe from Grandmama really was the favorite Christmas gift this year. It is worn all day, every day.

Meet KoKo!

Carson has been wanting his "own pet" for quite awhile now. Technically, Felix belongs to both boys but Carson is convinced that Felix likes Carver more. So just before Christmas I told Carson that when we got back from traveling that he could pick out a Beta fish as his very own pet.

And now we have a leopard gecko.

I don't even know. A reptile? I do not like reptiles. I am actually rather afraid of all of them. But my friend Courtney has a leopard gecko and we met it while we were in Florida and somehow we now have one too. 

This is Koko. And even though I didn't sleep for the first two days we had her because I was afraid we would do something wrong and she would die and Carson would be heartbroken...I actually really like her. I have spent copious hours watching YouTube videos and reading articles about caring for leopard geckos. I still feel like I have no idea what we are doing as reptile owners when I know absolutely nothing about reptiles. We are not reptile people. No one in my family has ever owned a reptile. 

But here we are. And Carson, bless, is so so in love with KoKo. He adores her and desperately wants her to love him back (we're still working on that part of the relationship). 

Now I am keeping mealworms in my fridge and actually have a cricket habitat I am also maintaining because even if they are fed to our pet gecko, I still want those crickets to have the best possible life in the meantime. It's complicated.

 

The cricket habitat.

 

Supposedly, leopard geckos can live for like 10-20 years. And I actually hope she does. Because Carson has invested his whole heart in this little girl. And he is going to be the best reptile owner ever 😊