Wanna Go For A TrainRide?

Well, that's just what we did a few weeks ago. Actually more like a month ago if I'm being truthful. And if I'm being truthful than that reflects just how bad of a blogger I've been recently!

It all started when we decided to break away from the heat and humidity here in the piedmont (so they say), and made the trek to Asheville to see my brother and sister in law in their new home. They just moved from Greenville, SC and are still about 2 hours from us, but we love that we can get away and they live in such a cool town!

 

However, the odds were not in our favor and the heat and humidity actually followed us to the Apple Festival. It was even hotter than when we left! We spent the night with them in Asheville and got up the next day to go to Hendersonville (another mountain town closeby), and thought that the mountain air would be cool and refreshing. Nope!

The crowds. And hot pavement. And the slews of food booths vying for our affection. In the end they did get mine when I broke down and bought a cheesesteak and a side of funnel cake! Not to mention the half order of bloomin' onion I snagged from my brother. Oh fried fair food at it's finest. The best moment may have come from the time I walked in the Irish pub and thought we could all manage to get a seat at the bar. Strollers and sippy cups and all. Ha! Joke was on me. It was so crowded and hot that everyone else had the same idea, and Scot left fuming that I peeked my head in, and told him that "yea we can all fit inside". But all was right with the world again after my sister in law came to the rescue and bought a round of drinks to cool off, which we chugged and then called it a day!

I sure hope this post is making sense. It's 4 in the morning and I'm coming off a few days of the 24 hr flu and then some. But anyways, we had a much more relaxing day once we got back to my brothers house and hung out on his patio. The mountain air was finally cooling off and giving us a break from the heat and humidity we had so been looking forward to getting away from.

Ryder was just as happy as a clam sitting out on the deck with a cold beverage to cool down with!

And afterwards it was time for my brother and Ryder to "jam" in the basement. My brother tends to pick on Ryder as he did when I was a kid, seeing as how he and Tori don't have any kids of their own yet, I tried explaining to him that you can't really tease him since he doesn't get joking and being serious yet. But all was right with the two of them after their jam session.

My sister in law called her sister to tell them our plans of going to Tweetsie Railroad the next day, and she and her two boys met us. Ryder looks up to these two sweet boys so so much! They are always so good with him, and since neither has any cousins yet, they are pretty much like cousins to one another. I think these pictures go without saying how much fun they had.

Yes, the three amigos. Or cowboys!

Here comes Tweetsie!

All aboard! Ryder didn't look up the entire time during the train ride because he was so enthralled with the whole thing. My boy is so in love with "trains with no faces" that I don't think we could've bribed him with anything at this point to even look up.

 I made a bunch of picture collages on here because there were just too many fun moment I wanted to remember and the expressions on all of our faces were priceless!

 I stayed back on most of the rides with Brynley, but the Go Karts were top ride that everyone loved! Ha just look at the faces. Well.. maybe the kids had more fun, but I can't wait for the day to take Brynley along for the fun too. For now we'll just sit back and cheer everyone on.

 Ryder loved searching for gems and gold at the gem mine. With the pretty gems he mined me, I ended up using them in the concrete garden tile that I finally made. It was my Mothers Day present that I just somehow managed to always forget to get around to.

 

(I will post an after photo once it is painted)

I love the look on Scot and my brother's face here! My brother urged Scot to ride this one, even though his stomach was already churning after the 3 tilt a whirl rides he'd been on, and so he obliged like a good brother in law that he is. But later told me that he felt like he was gonna lose it any minute haha! Love it!

 

All in all we had the best time and are already planning a followup visit this Fall!