Weekend Adventures- Little Vacation

This was the best weekend in ages. We went out of town, just a couple of hours up into North Carolina, and spent the night in a hotel. The kids have never stayed in a hotel before so it was very exciting. They also had no idea the fun we had planned so it was all secreted and adventurous! Alice kept saying 'we are having an adventure!'.

Friday we spent all day chilling out in the hotel, which we chose for the pool. We had the whole thing to ourselves for about an hour which was just the best time. It was so fun and the kids had a blast.

 

We swam, went out for frozen yogurt (or Alice calls it 'Elsa yogurt', can you tell she's Frozen obsessed???), watched movies in bed and slept very very very little. 

On Saturday we went to the North Carolina Zoo which is HUGE and mountainous and beautiful.

 There was a polar bear and seals!

And cuteness between me and my main squeeze.

Ollie really loved the underground viewing areas for the polar bear and seals. The polar bear wasn't doing much but the seals were hams. They were so fat! Like fierce sausage squeezed very tightly into a seal sweater. Watching them swim right by us was so cool. Ollie and I hung out down there for ages. I think they are my spirit animal. Except for the eating penguins part.

We spent about 4 hours here, walking and watching and oohing and ahhing. Ten out of ten, would definitely go again. Especially in the summer. Apparently November through April a lot of their exhibits are closed and the animals put away somewhere warm and their food vendors are closed, which was lame and we didn't know about this until we got there. But I hate to think of trekking those hills in the heat. Ugh. The weather was really quite perfect for this adventure. It was nippy but not too cold. With all the walking you started to feel toasty very quick.

Lions!

My favorite parts were the rhinos (husband claims them as his own personal spirit animal) and the chimpanzees. OH MY GOD. The chimps were amazing. The enclosure was huge and you were in a glass house so you could see all around it everywhere. It was beautiful. I could have stayed all day.

A lovely adventure with my littles! I adored it, they adored it, enjoyment was had by everyone!

After a HUGE lunch (we walked for 4 hours with no food vendors, after all) we visited the Pisgah covered bridge. It's definitely worth the stop if you ever go through Asheboro. The bridge is cool, there's an adorable creek running beneath it that also runs off into the woods and there is a trail through the woods that was really fun and beautiful to walk through. The kids got a lot of energy out. We found trees that had been used for name carving for years and years and were so gorgeous you could cry. So much history. So many loves proclaimed and etched forever.

It was the most excellent weekend. We're back home and in our groove now. I think another weekend like that is due soon though. Before it gets too hot. Maybe we can go the other way next time. Georgia sounds nice.

I'll just leave with this photo because it is the most precious moment caught by Husband on camera and my heart can't even take how beautiful it is.