So, I know my posting has been wishy-washy this week. Turns out, not only is my mom a great distraction via FaceTime, but also, I wasn’t feeling well! I had been sleeping a lot lately and thinking “ooof, whats wrong with me?” turned out I was fighting a cold cause I woke up two days ago with a sore throat a minor on and off fever. I’m getting better though– nothing to really write home about– was just kind of sleeping and homebound this week. I guess after having back to back friends in town last month and then heading to Asheville directly after that, with no downtime– my body was like, “whoa whoa whoa Drea, you’re still healing in this life game, SLOW DOWN” and knocked me out. Fair enough.

So Asheville was pretty rad! I mean, we had originally planned on flying up there sometime in spring or summer to visit our friends, but like I mentioned Alex was like, “weekend trip?” and I was like, “asheville?” and it all magically came together too easy. I could hardly keep in my excitement the whole week before– I was so excited to surprise Marlowe. We’ve surprised her with Disney and other fun stuff before, but I knew this was going to be the BEST. We dropped M off at school Friday, came home, packed all our bags, bought her winter socks and a winter hat, got some food to go, and picked her right back up with the luggage in the truck.

We pulled up to the airport and the questions started, “what are we doing? are we at the airport? are we going somewhere far?” and I jut had a big stupid smile on my face. Finally we pulled into the garage and popped open the truck and she was like, “what is happening?!” and so I told her, “we’re flying to Asheville!” She almost didn’t believe me, but I assured her, it was for real (“for real real”) and she jumped up and down.

The flight was super easy. An hour and a half. No tv, but no problem. Marlowe and I have this travel thing down now. I packed some coloring stuff and card games. She was super excited to see snow (for the very first time!) over the mountains as we were coming in for landing. We made it to the tiniest airport ever (it may even be smaller than Worcester’s airport) and gave HUGE hugs to miss Lily and Will. Lily and Marlowe have been friends for quite some time now— they play better than any other kids I’ve met. There’s never a problem or an interruption. They could take care of themselves, without adults, for like, a really long time.

I knew Marlowe seeing and playing with snow (even really old snow) would be something she would be really excited for– but it never occurred to me that she would be so excited to run after the first tiny dirty airport clump of snow she saw! I mean, duh, it makes sense, but I just totally overlooked the fact that snow is snow for her and dirty airport snow was still the most exciting thing ever.

Most of the rest of the Asheville exploring looked like this. Two very happy little girls running.

My blurry and grainy Lily.
Alex likes to impersonate her 🙂  She has this very pronounced way to say “DRE-YA” we dig it.


We dropped off our bags, hung out at the house for a while to unwind before heading out for dinner. We tried a few places— an hour wait at one place– that we waited for and then got told another 30-40 minutes. No way man. Two smaller kids + four hungry adults? We waited no more. No one was angry though, cause tacos.

Then they stole my phone and took a selfie.

I should mention this post is just about wandering around Asheville— a picture overload of grainy, blurry, happy photos. I have another post of our happy lazy house moments too.

Alex taught Marlowe to make her first snow ball. Then got one thrown at him. Fair.


It’s become very apparent to me that I somehow think selfies are a good idea only on vacation. I never take them at home– not they aren’t okay at home, but apparently I LOVE them while traveling? Who knows. Either way, you can see Claudia paprazzi-ing us, in her post HERE. On a selfie note, tonight I found a selfie of us together eight years ago— and it made me realize I really need to start taking more selfies (or photos) of us in general! So eight years from now i can look back on more 🙂 I also feel like I should maybe consider investing in a better, real camera. I gave back my brother’s camera because it drove me nuts, so I primarily use my phone now. But maybe a real camera will be in my future.

SNOW!

Well, I didn’t know Claudia was really taking this photo. But it worked out well. Peace and good vibes.

Right before getting back into the car she ran up to me, hugged me tight and said, “I am so happy mama! Thank you SO much for taking me to Asheville to see Lily and snow!” AWWW.

my chickens.

art?


meow.

So we spent the whole saturday exploring. Brunch, shops, crystals, glass blowing, beer (not for me), you know– all the Asheville like things. We ended up going out for noodles for dinner before Claudia and I parked it on her couch for drinks and netflix while the guys headed out on the town. Good day indeed.



The next day we were mostly at home— and happy to be there. Photos to follow. But we did all make it out of the house a few times. We explored a few shops— plants, crystals, you know, more Asheville things.




And lots of fun and bright murals too! I gotta say— I think the whole “winter” thing was a bit whoaaa-feeling for me and Alex. I’ve been in warm and sunny winters for almost ten years now, while Alex grew up in them. So it was a bit of a good reminder how nice it is to have so many trees and growing plants in winter in Florida. We loved seeing our friends and exploring the town— and Marlowe LOVED seeing snow– but I think we’re going to stick to summer and tropical travel— with the expectation of when we finally take Marlowe to Massachusetts one winter. And to be totally honest, I wasn’t even half as cold as I thought I would be— I mean, my hands felt like the would fall off they were so dry, but I wasn’t cold. The house was always super warm and I just threw on ten million layers and was good to go. Marlowe and Alex (the two who normally complain about the cold) were good too! Totally worth the short trip adventure!

And a family photo!!! YAY! Thank you Claudia for taking these 🙂 We love you and Will and Lily (and maybe not the pooch so much anymore) SO MUCH. Can’t wait to see you guys again soon!

ps. if you guys ever wondered what my hair looks like outside of humidity— it’s this. A freaking rats nest. See, I’m just a tropical girl living in a tropical world 🙂 #hairmugshot

I hope you guys all have a great weekend! We have a TON planned so I’m just hoping to rest up tomorrow to get all the way better and get out there again <3<3 Happy friday!

pps. if you got through this and my typos, then you deserve a cookie. I’m fried. <3

6 Comments

  1. I recognize that hair! That's long hair plus touque plus warm coat equals nasty all winter rats nest. Winnipeg winters do that to me every year.

  2. i want you to know that it's been in the twenties since you left. so basically it was spring when you guys were here. that selfie the girls took? LOVE! too much. love you all

  3. I love this, Drea, thanks for sharing! The family photo with the change mural is my favorite! And where are the brown boots from? I think I need them in my life…Dhana

    • They're BC brand from DSW— but the last time I checked (about two weeks ago) they were sold out. I think they had black left though. Check them out– BC has some decent vegan boots!