Over the weekend we decided to take a trip to Biltmore. I’ve never been and always wanted to visit. We left around 8 and got there around lunch time. No one slept on the way there. I couldn’t believe it. They were pretty good anyway. The battery in the remote control for the DVD player is dead, so I couldn’t switch DVDs. We watched the same episode of Signing Time about 100 times on the way there. We ate at the fanciest McDonald’s I’ve ever seen. It had a grand piano, a fireplace and lots of Christmas decorations. We went into the estate, changed diapers, collected cups and snack traps, put on coats, grabbed buddies, got out the strollers and the camera. That alone took forever. We met Gran and Granddad at the entrance.
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/We played on the lawn a little before we went in. The kids had been strapped in forever and they needed to run it off. The house was spectacular. It is just amazing to me that they built that house over 100 years ago without the technology we have today. It was very interesting to see everything. Caisen charmed his way out of the stroller and into Granddad’s arms. He’s good at that. We took turns walking with and holding the other three. Since there were 6 adults and 4 kids, our odds were pretty good. They really did well. It wasn’t too crowded.
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/Unfortunately, the disk with our pictures was damaged, so we don’t have any pictures.
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/After we toured the house we sat in the courtyard and ate some delicious pastries and drank hot chocolate. Granddad said, “That was really good hot chocolate.” I said, “It was Swiss Miss and not very good.” To which he replied, “But it was hot, and that’s all we wanted.” He had a point.
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/We walked around with the kids outside a little longer before saying goodbye to Gran and Granddad. Sunset was approaching, and we’d heard there were Christmas lights up to admire. We decided to drive around the estate to wait for the sun to go down so we could show the kids the lights. It’s something like 10 miles from the parking lot to the exit, and we were driving 20 mph. It was dusk when we made it to the entrance/exit, and the lights were on at the entrance, so we decided to make the drive again to see the lights. As we passed the parking lot attendant we told her where we were going, and she told us, “Oh the kids will love it, the lights are spectacular!” So we drive. And we see no lights. So we continue to drive (because we have no choice), and still no lights. We drive in front of the house and there is one 50-foot tree with lights and about 4 small trees in front of it. And that is all. There are trees that line the driveway up to the house. No lights. Ten miles of tree-lined road, and no lights. We drove that stupid road for AN HOUR to see lights, and saw 5 trees with lights. Lame.
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/We took the kids back to the hotel, got everything put together and put them to bed. They did not sleep at all that day, and they just crashed. Liz and her cousin Whitney stayed at hotel while Adam and I went back to Biltmore to do the candlelight tour. There was live music, ballet dancers, and fires in the downstairs fireplaces. We got to tour the house again, which was nice to do sans children. We were able to take our time and notice more details and ask questions. It was a nice, romantic date. After the tour we had the opportunity to drive the forever long road that had no Christmas lights.
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/The next morning, we met the Guinns at Biltmore. We took the kids to the barn to pet the animals. They pointed out the different animals they know. We saw the chickens, and said, “Look! there are the baby chicks!” To which Sawyer replied, “Chickens. Yummy.” Sawyer declares everything to be yummy. “Look at the goats!” “Goats. Yummy.” “I’ve never had a goat, I don’t know if it’s yummy.” Daddy pointed out the sheeps pooping and Sawyer was kind enough to chime, “Sheep pooping, yummy.” It started to rain, so we went to the main building and watched Kim work the stilts. She’s pretty good.
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/We asked the guest relations lady at the barn where she recommended we take the kids to eat. There are several restaurants on the property. We went to the restaurant she recommended to get lunch, and we realized it may not have been the best choice for 6 2-year-olds and a baby. The food was really good, but the atmosphere was a little fancier than what we were looking for. Or maybe we were less fancy than what they were looking for. We got stares and comments galore. Everywhere we went, the Biltmore employees would go crazy over seeing triplets, then seeing triplets times 2 would nearly give them a stroke. Many of them said they’d never seen triplets. I would think that at a huge tourist destination like that they would see all kinds of things, including triplets.
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/At this point the kids were very tired, but I wanted a Christmas ornament. So we had to do the Biltmore lap AGAIN. I ran in, picked out my ornament, ran back to the parking lot, and we had to do the Biltmore lap one more time. By the time we got on the road, we had missed the sleep window, and the kids were awake the whole way home. Even Caisen. Caisen went the entire day with no nap. They were relatively well behaved, but were still crabby. We got home at 7:45. Overall it was a very nice trip. The kids did remarkably well, given the lack of sleep and being run all over. I’m really glad we went.
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