Avery (not unlike her mother) is a very silly, animated girl who loves to tell us stories. Here she's telling me about the sculpture garden she checked out with daddy. Enjoy!!!

If you read my MommyB Knows Best blog (and you should if you're not!!), you'll know that this past weekend we visited Asheville, NC for a blog conference. Joel was an amazing husband and brought the girls and me so that I could attend the conference (since Colbie's still not taking the bottle.)

The conference was on Friday, so we decided that Saturday we'd enjoy Asheville as we ventured home. We got to see a lot of great places including a very Biltmore-esque Grove Park Inn. We got a peek inside the resort and it was beautiful. Maybe someday we'll save enough to actually stay there!! While we were there we also visited some of the cool museums and art studios, it was so eclectic and fun, I kind of wished we lived there, but I know the nutty-crunchy inhabitants would probably scoff at my disposable diapers and mini-van *LOL*

Here are some pictures of fun, art, and cars in Grove Park:

 After our adventures in the Grove Park area we drove around and found some local joints for lunch and dessert :) We enjoyed the New York Deli Style feel of Circle in the Square where we ate some yummy sandwiches and Avery enjoyed a Boar's Head hot dog. Then, we HAD to try out this fun ice cream shop, I'd heard all about it on Twitter so we went a couple of doors down to The Hop. The Hop is a very hip ice cream shop, they make their own ice cream, serve non-dairy ice cream and other tasty treats including organic ginger ale! Such a super friendly place and great stop for kiddos if you're visiting or passing by. Check out Joel's homemade Banana Pudding:

Why did I pick the title, "Transport Us?" Well, there were lots of different trips and transportation on our trip home to New York. Several vehicles, rollercoasters and theme park rides, a stroller, hot-air balloons, and of course feet, feet, feet!

Since I was starting work soon I figured it would be the opportune time to go visit my family and maybe even see some friends in New York. We decided that we would make it a longer trip since the drive is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long!

DAY #1

Joel drove for the most part and we got to my mom's house very early in the morning. Joel and Avery slept a little before heading to Darien Lake with the Carl's. This was Avery's very first trip to a theme park, and if you know Joel at all this will not be her last. It was pretty hot out but luckily we bought a great upgraded umbrella stroller for Avery to hang out in.

I didn't ride any rides, unless you count the Merry-Go-Round with Avery. I don't know if she knew what was going on, but I think she liked it. Every time we would go past she'd wave to Joel and Brian. Joel, Seth, Brit and Shawn all rode quite a few rollercoasters. Brian even got on a few rides, no roller coasters though. :)

As it got a little hotter I needed to cool Avery off and figured we'd go in the lagoon area. Della and Seth wanted to cool off too so we all got in the freezing water. Avery didn't like it, I think mainly because it was a little too cold, but she did stick her toes in a few times. Seth was having a blast playing in the bigger kid section. It was definitely nice to just relax and enjoy the water. Joel got the chance to interview one of the ladies in Public Relations and even got a free hat (which he later lost on a ride, sad.)

After a day of rides, food and snacks little Miss was very tired and surprisingly enough took a nap in her stroller. I think we were all pretty tired by then too. I picked up some cotton candy for little Miss Hayley (hoping she'd share with me when I got home,) and we headed out.

Overall it was a fun day but definitely tiring. I think it would have been a little more perfect if we hadn't driven the night/morning before and also if it was a little cooler out. We had a good time hanging out with the Carls and it was nice to get out and also do something different.

DAY #2

Most of this day was spent getting my hair done, 3 whole hours, who would have known??? I also went to Brian and Della's work to show off Avery, Texas Hot lunch and then the best part of the day, we got to see the kids. By "the kids" I mean my brother's kids, Gavin and Jamie. It had been since last Christmas since we had seen them and was very nice to be able to visit.

The kids were so much bigger and more mature than we'd last seen them. Gavin is such a big boy and Jamie is a great talker. Avery had fun playing with her cousins, and I really want her to get to know them. It's funny but Gavin was born in April, Avery was born in May and Jamie was born in June and all three have 5 letter names!! I think Joel had fun playing with them too, especially making art with Jamie.

We had some tasty pizza and wings, even though the new owner ship of unsaid business is very very bad. We also had some fun playing Mario Kart on the Wii that night!!

Day #3

Avery wasn't feeling great this day, she actually ended up taking 3 naps! So we didn't do a whole lot of anything, we did end up making it out to the Annual Side Walk Bizarre, which I was determined to go to, so we could get out of the house and also in hopes to see some old friends and classmates too. I actually did end up seeing quite a few familiar faces and doing mini-catch up sessions with a couple.

We got a few fun things from the Bizarre and Avery got her picture taken in a HUGE cow chair. I'll have to get the picture from mom to post. Joel got to visit the library in search of his Washington Post mention (for thecoastercritic.com), and we all stayed cool for a minute inside our favorite location of the vacation: Walgreens!!

After we relaxed at home while Avery took one of her many naps that day. Joel insisted we order out L'Italia, because he loves that place for some reason, so we did and we played "our family game," says Hayley; Apples to Apples, which always makes us laugh.

Day #4

Today was a day of goodbyes, we had breakfast at The Modern Diner, which I was sooooo skeptical of because it used to be a not-so-great restaurant, but the food was delish, maybe that's because my uncle was the chef that day. We said lot of goodbyes to mom and Hayley and dad and Seth and to Wellsville, until we return again!!!

Overall it was a good, but crazy trip. I think we were trying to fit too many things into too small a time, I guess it's just harder now that we live so much further away to visit as often. We didn't end up seeing any balloons (it was Balloon Rally weekend,) but that's okay, we saw family and a few friends and they're better than any balloon could be :):)