Life on the farm

Lately our lives have been a little hectic.  When we realized we didn't have any plans last weekend we decided to jump on VRBO and go to the mountains.  After a few minutes of searching Ryan said "There is a 3 bedroom house on a farm....???"  YES!   I know most people would stay home and enjoy doing nothing on a weekend with no plans, but we wanted to get the heck out of the city (and our muddy construction zone).  The kids enjoyed the new wireless speakers in my new car...and the fact that Ryan and I could still listen to the radio and not a kid movie was a huge bonus!

 We arrived at Cloud 9 Farm Friday afternoon.

 I unpacked us and started dinner, while the kids chased chickens in our front yard!

Then farmer Janet came by to see if we wanted to help her on the farm.  She let Ellie sit up front in the gator and help her drive.  She immediately commented on how she could tell Ellie had practiced this before.  I had to admit Ellie has lots of golf cart driving experience hah!

Farmer Janet introduced us to her cows and showed us how to feed them.

We toured the blueberry and raspberry farm and ate fresh raspberries!  She showed us her bee hives and her beekeeper outfit.

We picked freshly laid eggs.

And got a tour of the farm!

 After helping with all the evening chores we made a fire, roasted marshmellows and ate some smores!

We let the twins sleep in the twin beds, which were so close there was no separating them.  Ellie and Graham have always slept in the same room, but never in the same bed.  I have several videos of the very loud giggles coming from their room!  But seriously how sweet is this?

The next morning we watched the sun come up over the mountains and listened to the rooster crowing.  After Ellie heard him a few times she yelled back "Good morning Rooster, we are already awake!"

 Bobo and Ellie could not wait to cook their own eggs they had collected the night before!

 Ryan patiently walked them through every step of making eggs and let them do it all!

Then we got dressed and started our full day on the farm.  The farmer was gone at a conference on Saturday so we had the entire 200 acre farm to ourselves.  She had showed us around enough so we just explored and had the picture perfect farm day!

 We ran through the rows of blueberries!

 Picked fresh raspberries.

Bobo kept picking the purple blooms on the raspberry bushes and giving them to Ellie since purple is her favorite color.  She has him wrapped around her little twin finger.

 We tended the garden.

 And ate juicy tomatoes as if they were apples.  This boy loves fruits and veggies!

 Fed the cows.

 Fed the chickens.

 Drove through the farm.

 Took paddle boat rides.

Played lawn games.

The twins took long naps, while we took showers and watched NC State lose a football game(grrrr) before we headed into town.  We stopped by Sierra Nevada Brewery and played corn hole, took a tour and had a beer before the kids were hot and cranky.

They may have been little rascals at the brewery, but man are they cute!

We were hungry and didn't have dinner planned at the farm so we ate at my (bonus) Uncle Mikes BBQ restaurant in Etowah nearby.  Then back to the farm to do our nightly chores:)

Sunday morning the kids slept in way past their normal time and we were all ready for fresh eggs again for breakfast by the time they woke up.  This time we made personalized omelets. 

We didn't have to checkout until early afternoon so we had plenty of time to do our morning farm chores.  Feed the chickens our food scraps.

Feed them their "chick food" as Bobo would say.

Collect the eggs and toured the farm.

We picked some fresh veggies, bought some of their honey, and said goodbye to the animals before heading to town for shopping and lunch.

We all had the most amazing time, but these two were in absolute heaven on the farm!

The kids ended the trip with some organic muffins, street meat at a local fair and candy from the Mast General Store.  We could not have picked a better ending to a great weekend away!

I love living in such an amazing city, but sometimes you just have to get away!