Visiting Strong Rock

 The world has been so crazy lately. A lot of the side effects have been pleasant to me. I like being home with the boys, I like the extra free time and lack of any real schedule. Blessings for sure have happened in these last six months.

But there have been some pretty big struggles too. For the boys, one of the biggest disappointments came from camps being cancelled for the summer. The boys love camp-- both camps-- but I think Strong Rock is just a little bit extra special to them. Strong Rock opened for part of the summer, but had to cancel right before the start of the session the boys were signed up for. It was heartbreaking for them.

Daniel wanted to take them to camp for a quick getaway so that they could still be there this summer for at least a short amount of time. In August we headed to Georgia to spend one night at camp and do a couple of things in that area.

Our first stop was an escape room in Helen that is owned by one of Daniel's good friends. I have not ever really had much interest in the concept of an escape room, but we really had the best time. Thomas has done such a good job with his business and all of us enjoyed it so much. 

We also got to visit with Rebecca on Friday night. We have missed her so much since we moved back to NC. The boys love her and loved getting to play with her baby chicks :)

Otherwise we just hung out a bit. We ate at some of our favorite restaurants and played around camp. The boys are already talking about next summer. 

Date night with Carson

 I will always love getting some one-on-one time with each of my kids. They are completely different when they are separated-- easier to handle for sure, but also more talkative, more open, happier even. I try to plan some specific times when I get to spend some alone time with them as often as I can. This was a quick night out to get Carson a desperately needed haircut. We had to negotiate some-- he wanted to shaved completely and I was all hard pass on that one. So his hair is short but he isn't bald. It was the best I could do. 

Part of the negotiation was also to include dinner out, his choice. He picked Buffalo Wild Wings! It felt like a totally random choice but any place with nachos on the menu is fine by me. We grabbed an early dinner in an almost completely empty restaurant and we had a really good time! 

Back to the Lake

In early August we headed back to Lake Norman, about two hours away from Asheville. We first went to Lake Norman two years ago and the boys have not stopped talking about it since :) 

Lake vacations are definitely fun, but also not my ideal vacation destination. I get a bit sick on boats and I will not ever go tubing or even get in the water. So this is definitely me taking one for the team. Daniel and the boys really love going to the lake for a few days of boating and tubing. And I do love this cute VRBO we have stayed at twice now. It is quiet and a convenient location and a comfortable amount of space for us. Plus, Bentley can stay there too :) 

We really did have a very good time. We rented a large boat for two days. Bentley and I took a number of long walks. We ate breakfast and lunch at the house and tried local restaurants for dinner. It was a quick trip but some very good family time. I suppose I could be persuaded to go back again one day 😊

Our favorite restaurant!