The Best Two Weeks!!

After about a week of trying to leave Afghanistan with cancelled and bumped flights, Cory finally made it to North Carolina for R&R...after being gone for 9 1/2 months!!  I don't think I've ever been so happy to see him.  I was beaming and could not stop hugging him and smiling!  We spent the night in a hotel while one of my good friends watched Jaden for us, and the next morning we came home to surprise Jaden.  We were both nervous and excited...who knows what a 3 year old's reaction is going to be to this?  We caught the reaction on tape, and it was better than we could have hoped for (bear with me with the video...I wasn't sure how to use the camera on video mode and it's pretty blurry at one point...I focused it instead of zoomed...just have your volume up really loud and you'll be able to get what's going on when the door is opened :))

Well, that's annoying.  I tried for 3 days to upload the video but each time it wouldn't do it and said there was an error when uploading...I even compressed the video size and nothing.  But believe me, Jaden was surprised, speechless, and then got the giggles while hugging and looking at Cory.  Very cute!  From that point on, it was all about Daddy for the next 2 weeks.

Cory brought Jaden some authentic things from Afghanistan that the little boys over there wear.  It's pretty cool to have.  The scarf is used to protect the face during sand storms, which is why it's up around his face :).  Jaden thought it was fun!

So, Cory got home on a Saturday night, and Monday we drove 6 hours into the Smokey Mountains in the north western part of NC.  It was beautiful and turned out to be a perfect trip!  We rented a cabin for a week, and we have told each other that we will do this as often as we can because it is just absolutely worth it!  And who doesn't need to get away from the real world sometimes and just enjoy being a family with no "have-to's"?

Mountains in sight...wa hoo!!

The town that the cabin was "connected" to was really worn down, as you could probably tell from the previous pictures.  Cory and I kept talking about how we could feel the recession so strongly here, which was really sad.  It was a cute little town when we drove through it, nothing much, but it was people's home.

Finally at the cabin:

We decided to take a hike around Smokey Mountain National Park, and we were able to hit a couple of waterfalls.  We had a picnic lunch in the back of the truck in between each little hike.  We all had so much fun, especially Jaden.  Any place that has sticks and water and a river to throw them in is paradise to him!

Jaden has proven to be a little photographer with a love for taking pictures!  Some have actually turned out to be really good (You'll see later on)...and then there is this one :).  Everytime we took a picture, he had to have a turn.  I just love him.  Good thing we have a neck strap for it!

Just some pictures of around in the inside of the cabin... Cory took this picture one morning, and our camera is so awesome!  He was playing around with it while I was getting ready, and he actually edited the picture right on the camera and it did this!  Pretty cool huh?

 BBQ!  Yum...steaks.

A little utensil fighting..

As I was doing research for things to do while up at the cabin, I came acrossed the Biltmore.  It is the nation's largest home, a mansion...how could I NOT go and see my future home? ;)  It was so much fun and I wanted it all when we got there (yes, I still have my little girl dreams!).  We toured the house, and Jaden was actually enjoying it and was amazing throughout it.  It took us an hour and half to walk through most of the house (there were areas marked off, and the entire top floor was off limits), and then we got to explore the grounds.  We ended up spending 6 hours there, and none of us felt that it was that long or got bored.  Jaden didn't even want to leave!...and neither did I!

Another picture Jaden took.  Cory was taking one with my phone, and then Jaden snapped a shot with the camera that we didn't know about until we were looking through the pictures.  Sneaky little guy. :)

Jaden completely posed himself, hand in the pocket and all...little stud.

Cory being a photographer...

Jaden copying Daddy and trying to take a picture of a little flower in the grass with my phone.

Jaden posed himself here again...he saw the camera up to Cory's eye and that's all it took for him to grab the flower, smell it, and hold the pose.

I LOVE this picture with all of my heart!

Again, Jaden posed himself with the leg and leaning against Cory...funny little guy.

 Ta-Da!  Welcome to my home! :)

I don't think Jaden's ever seen such a big tree..

A few miles on the Biltmore property was where the farm and little village was.  So after touring the main grounds, we got into the truck and drove to see that part of the estate.  It was so much fun and there was a lot of hands on things to do, too!  Like this game!  It was in the middle of a little courtyard.  I have no idea what it's called but there were directions written on the chalk board,  and Cory said he would make us a set when he gets home-home.  Jaden loved it and we were playing it for a good half hour!

Look at that focus and form..

Carpenter..

Blacksmith..

To finish our day at the Biltmore, we had an ice cream break at the creamery in the little village.  Delicious!  Perfect company. Perfect day.

We looked up some other things to do around the cabin, and we found an old Cherokee Indian town.  It seemed like there would be several things to do there, but when we were driving through, there wasn't much and it was pretty dead.  There were several Cherokees standing on the sidewalk in traditional clothing waving at cars and trying to entice them to stop.  We did find a little "zoo" with some bears, a couple of monkeys, a lemur, and goats--so we went in and it was really neat.  We could feed the bears, pet a baby bear, and that was about it, but Jaden really liked it and it was pretty cool!

"You want a s'more?"..."S'more of what?"..."You're killin' me Smalls."

A little pool with Daddy.

...One last picture before hopping in the truck and saying goodbye.  NONE of us wanted to leave, but we will definitely be doing this again!

The next day was Church.  Yet again, here's a Jaden pose!

We decided, very last minute, to head down to the beach and go to an aquarium one day last week.  The weather wasn't the best, so we didn't pack any swimsuits, but how could we not make a beach run when we were so close to the ocean?  Such a fun day!

Chasing birds, one of Jaden's favorite things to do!

Can you imagine what I was thinking as this seagull flew right over me with about 3 feet between us?...I'm sure you can :)

Kicking sand and wind can hurt..

Luckily we have Daddy!

After that, Jaden stuck to digging with his hands...

...and Daddy drew a bird.

We were happy to be able to go to Church with Cory one more time before we took him to the airport on Monday morning.

Thank you for the best 2 weeks ever, Cory!!  We love you with all of our hearts and miss you already.  Only a couple of more months...almost there :)