A Whirlwind Weekend.....literally!

This past Friday night we camped out on Big Pine where Brandon grew up. We had been planning this trip for a couple of months and everyone was excited, including us. Ethan and I had been battling a cold all week but we were optimistic that everything would be fine. The wind had been blowing REALLY hard all day but was supposed to die down, so off we went.

We had a wonderful time cooking out, making smores and just visiting around the campfire. Ethan clearly was not 100% but he was having a good time and I was pushing the cold medicine. Around 9:30 he fell asleep on his Papaw Ronnie and went to bed in the tent, Ellie and I followed shortly after and Brandon sat up to visit and came to bed later.

Sometime shortly after, the wind hit us with a vengeance. Our tent was blowing so hard that at times it felt like we were going to take flight. You could hear it coming across the mountain and we would all hunker down and wait for it to hit. The kids were up changing beds every few minutes. (Maybe a little too much Wizard of Oz?) Brandon's aunt stayed in the tent with us and ended up sleeping with all of us before the night was over. Brandon's brother's tent fell partially over at one point but it was so late and windy they opted just to leave it. Here's what it looked like the next morning:

The next day was beautiful and we enjoyed a yummy hot breakfast around the campfire.

Brandon's Aunt's Connie and  Kaye brought pumpkins for the kids to decorate which Ellie in particular really enjoyed. You'll notice Ethan is not in any of these pictures, by this time he was already at his Mamaw's sleeping off his wind induced hangover.

Then we went to Brandon's Mamaw's for a DELICIOUS lunch. By this point Ethan was feeling pretty bad and it was time to take him home. (Ellie was so disappointed to miss the ride to the top of the mountain on the back of Papaw's truck.)

It's so neat to see the influence each of these people have had on Brandon's life. I'm so thankful for all of them and their HUGE hearts to make this weekend so much fun. What a wonderful, whirlwind weekend!

We're NOT in Kansas Anymore

This post really started last May and the ending is hilarious so enjoy.

Last May our family went to see Brandon's brother's family in Walhalla, SC and as we usually do we rented a movie to watch on the way down from Redbox. The movie was quite disappointing so before we started back home we rented The Wizard of Oz from another Redbox and an Oz fan was born in Ellie.

So since that time her love of all things Wizard has only grown when I fully expected it to wane at any time. For her fifth birthday she even wanted a Wizard of Oz cake. One day I was talking to my Papaw Wyatt about it and he was telling me that years ago he took my mother up to a place near Boone that was a replica of The Land of Oz. It sounded kind of interesting so what do we all do when we want to know anything? I googled it and found:  Autumn at Oz Festival Tickets didn't go on sale until July so I wrote it in my planner and waited. On July 13th I ordered us all tickets to Autumn at Oz and then we waited some more.

Early in September I asked Ellie what she wanted to be for Halloween and of course she said Dorothy which worked out great for me since they encourage you to wear a costume to Autumn at Oz. So with the costume bought and the red slippers in hand we waited on this day to arrive. All week long we checked the weather and knew that the weather was going to be questionable but we were excited to finally find the Yellow Brick Road.

Finally, today was our day, I had layers laid out for all of us and at one point Brandon even said, "What if we get up there and it's not too bad and we have all of these clothes on?" Remember this it will be funny later.

Ellie had on several layers and then her Dorothy dress. She really does make a cute Dorothy.

So we leave home and drive to Beech Mountain all the time convincing ourselves that the weather was not going to be that bad. So as we are heading up Beech Mountain, with the snow blowing mind you, and the fuel light comes on. Our fuel light comes on when we have less than 35 miles to go so we knew we were okay to make it and get back out. After sitting in traffic for about 30 minutes we were finally allowed to park in a large field. Brandon, fortunately had the foresight to park on a hill just in case of the gas situation. By this time it's 32 degrees and the snow is more than blowing, it's laying on the ground and the limbs.

We head on it to "Oz" which really is quite neat and went through Dorothy's house and down to the cellar for the tornado, when you come out you are walking through Dorothy's post tornado house where everything is topsy-turvy. Then of course you follow the Yellow Brick Road and meet all of the characters.

At this point we were all frozen and after a quick visit to the museum we decided it was time to head home. The kids were starving and the choices were limited so Ellie and I made a quick stop and picked up two cupcakes and met Brandon and Ethan at the car. Now the fun begins!

Remember the whole gas thing? Well the car WOULD NOT start so since Brandon had the forethought to park on an incline we rolled the car backwards, still it would not start. So he looks over at me and says, "Give me a little push." I jump out of the car and realize I have dropped his wallet that he had given me out of my pocket to buy cupcakes on the ground. I throw the wallet back in the floorboard, give us a push and we start coasting down the hill all the time praying that the car will start. The Lord heard us and the next time we stopped the car started right up and we were on our way to a gas station. About 2 miles down the mountain I look over at Brandon and relay the fact that I cannot find my cellphone and that I must have dropped it the same time I dropped his wallet. With no other option we drive about 5 more miles down the mountain and get gas, all the while I'm using his phone to call my phone hoping that someone will hear it and answer it.

We get gas and head back up and run in to the same traffic waiting to get in to Oz. (Did I mention that 7000 people go to this thing every year?!?!) I tell Brandon that I'm just going to walk the rest of the way back to the parking lot, an important note here is that I'm wearing the boots I bought pre-children and are at least a half a size too small. I start out on my trek and realize that we made no plans on what was going to happen if I did not find my phone, which we realized was a long shot, but I just kept going. I walked by at least 100 cars and several of them asked me all sorts of questions, many of them feeling very sorry for me in my strange situation. (People KNOW the value of a cellphone.) Finally after about 20 minutes and about  1 1/2 miles I make it back to the muddy parking lot and I'm looking everywhere for my phone. I said a quick prayer asking the Lord to please help me that there was no way I could find this on my own. I asked one parking attendant if anyone had turned in a phone and he quickly told me no. I kept going, looking everywhere. I found another parking attendant and asked if he had a cellphone I could borrow, he said he didn't have one, I said, "Well, I lost my phone somewhere right in here and I was thinking maybe if I could just call it I would hear it and find it." And this is the HONEST TRUTH, the boy standing with him pulled MY PHONE out of his pocket and said, "Is this it?" I could have passed out. About that time Brandon called my phone thinking it would help me find it if it were still on the ground, he almost stuttered when I answered it. I started my 1 1/2 mile trek back down the mountain all the while praising the Lord for caring about my little phone. Out of the 100 cars I passed on the way up at least 50 of them stopped me on the way down asking me all sorts of questions and the ones who had spoken to me on the way up were cheering for me on the way down for finding my phone. (People understand the value of a cellphone, let me tell you)

I was so relieved to FINALLY make it back to the car. When I got in the car Brandon said, "See some people do still care." Somebody turned my phone in and all those people I spoke to in the cars were so kind. We're so quick to focus on how bad the world is getting, and it is, but today I realized there are a few good people left and apparently....they're all Wizard of Oz fans.