North Carolina, ER and LOTS of pictures

Last weekend we all drove up to North Carolina to our cabin including my sister and her family as well as my parents. Jon and Billy went home on Sunday night while my sister and I stayed there for the week. It was so much fun and the kids had an absolute blast! It is so wonderful to visit there and be reminded what life is really about--to step back and realize that it's okay to not have all the finest things in the world, no competition on who's car is more expensive or who has the biggest house, a lot of the responsibilities and troubles in life seem to disappear. It's actually a house, but we call it the cabin because when I was younger we actually did stay in a log cabin that was 3 rooms--kitchen, a bedroom, and a living room where the woodstove sat. No lights, just enough electric to run the refrigerator, and I can't remember if there was a gas stove or not, but I know there was no running water. Man, those were the pioneering days. Of course it is condemened now, unsafe and not to mention home to many, many critters. But I have great memories of the place and I am so glad that my children are going to have great memories up there as well. Of course, we have upgraded to electricity, 3 small bedrooms, a kitchen with a gas stove/microwave/refrigerator, a pantry area, the living area, and a bathroom with running water! It's small and quaint but it's perfect. I've been going there since I was about 10 I think. Before we got this house and we were at the old cabin (just down the street), I remember waking up in the middle of the night to go potty and having to use the outhouse! No fun. Not to mention taking baths in a bucket with ice cold spring water. Again, no fun. In the winter, we'd heat the water of course.

Anyway, back to our adventures. Just about every day we went on a walk that ranged between 1 1.2-3 miles, exploring some part of the woods. The kids were able to see a wild turkey, deer tracks, hear coyotes, and see/hear a beautiful creek that eventually turned into a small waterfall. Needless to say they crashed every night without a fight from exhaustion. Here, I won't let Keilana go outside by herself for obvious reasons of being taken, ran over by a dumb driver, etc. Up there, they went in and out of the house as they pleased, exploring the big world around them and I never worried. We never let them wander off out of sight but I knew I didn't have watch them like a hawk either. Kayden himself learned to love the great out doors and when he had the chance would escape out the door to check it all out. But of course the fun had to come to an end and reality sets back in. It's wonderful, though, to have a place to retreat when the weight of the world becomes too much to bear. Unfortunately, 2 days into our trip, Kayden began to run fevers, have a really deep cough, and began to lose his apetite. Saturday night Kayden woke up with a high fever, shaking and appeared to have labored breathing. Jon and I decided to take him to the ER up there just to make sure he didn't have pnuemonia, which, of course turned out to be a virus. It's ALWAYS a virus. At least it wasn't worse than what it was. But I have lots of pictures to add it's just too late to do it tonight. Check back tomorrow night and hopefully I will have had the time to add them.

North Carolina Adventures