Road Trip: North Carolina Edition

It's been brutally hot here (record highs every day for too many days) but that didn't stop our planned trip to Biltmore Estate on Sunday. We met up with some good friends of ours, The S Family, early Sunday morning and set off with two moms and five kids. All I can say is thank goodness for minivans with DVD players and wireless headphones. Mrs. S and I were able to talk the entire trip with very minimal interference from the backseat.

We arrive at Biltmore mid-morning and leaped out of the shuttle bus with the enthusiasm of childhood on our side.

We had barely been on the front lawn any time at all before the kids located a small frog in the fountain on the front lawn. They had a great time taking turns holding the little guy.

After pausing for some pictures we grabbed a snack and then headed for the house.

Sadly, you can't take pictures inside the home, so we settled for using our mind's eye to record the images there. Doing Biltmore with five kids under the age of 10 is like doing Biltmore on speed. We practically dashed from room to room. Mrs. S and I had both been to the estate several times so we were content to let the kids be in charge of our destiny. We had a tasty lunch in the Stable Cafe, did some shopping and then braved the heat to check out the gardens on the property.

It was a scorcher, and despite some complaints, we survived.

We enjoyed copious amounts of ice cream and bought our souvenirs before heading for home.

It was a wonderful day with five very wonderful kids. They didn't bicker, they didn't complain (other than the heat...which is to be expected!) and were just in general, lovely to be around. Mrs. S and I consider ourselves quite lucky to have such a terrific brood of kids!

Note: I will blog more pictures from the trip tomorrow!