Holidays with Family were amazing!!

Most holidays on Oahu we spent alone because it was simply too far for family to come visit for the major holidays. One of our main reasons for leaving paradise was to be closer to our families on the mainland.

We spent a wonderful week with my parents for Thanksgiving and their 50th Anniversary. We headed to Florida the middle of December to visit our Funke family. We hit a few springs on our way down to New Port Richie. Christmas was awesome! The boys had so much fun meeting their Gilmor relatives.

After New Port Richey, we drove down to Miami to explore Everglades National Park. We went to an alligator farm and had a fun airboat ride. The boys were excited to hold a baby alligator and a snake. Even Mama held the alligator and snake! Faced my fears that day!

Next we drove up and explored Kennedy Space Center. Pretty amazing! Too bad it rained all day. New Year's Eve was pretty low key for us lol! We delayed our departure by a day because of freezing weather in Georgia. We stopped halfway home in South Carolina for the night. There was snow on the ground and the boys had fun playing. I swear they are oblivious to the cold!

The rest of January we spent house hunting, homeschooling the boys and continuing to explore the area. We took another field trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and went on a nice little hike. Aiden and Wyatt were so excited that we crossed into Tennessee and they got to add another state to our map!

Here's the link to the NPS website to learn more about the park and of course more pics:
Great Smoky Mountain National Park

       

Exploring North Carolina

We got to North Carolina mid-October. I know this post is late... but... that's the way I roll sometimes! Adventure Village and Lodging in Brevard is our new "home". Not as nice as the pictures but it will do. There's a playground for the kids and a large pond that is home to over 20 ducks which provide daily amusement.

We met up with our Funke family and it was great to see John's parents and Aunt and Uncle. The boys loved all the extra attention. We explored Pisgah Forest and Looking Glass Falls, Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Brevard. The colors of the leaves were amazing!! So different from Hawaii! Trick or treating in Brevard was so much fun.. they shut down a whole street and just about every house participated! Boys had a blast. :)

Here are a few pics from our first few weeks in NC:
           

Visiting Virginia

I called multiple campgrounds in the Asheville area. All were full because it was prime "leaf season." I finally found one in Brevard, NC that was available on October 15th. We found a storage facility that would allow our storage cubes to be delivered there until we could unload them. Such a hassle!!

We left my parents' house and drove down to Virginia. We stayed the night at Endless Caverns RV park. It was a nice park and we were treated to a personal tour of the caverns the next morning. This was probably one of the most interesting caverns I have been to. It was discovered in 1879 by two young boys who happened upon it accidentally. It is 6 miles long at the foot of the Massanutten Mountain range with "endless" tunnels and chambers. Here is their website if you are in the area, check it out! Endless Caverns The boys enjoyed this much more than the caverns in South Dakota. The tour guide was impressed with all of the questions they asked! And of course they both wanted gems at the gift shop when we were done. Which of course they got!

After our tour, we headed to our friend's house on Smith Mountain Lake in Moneta, VA. Donna and I have been friends for over 20 years and it was awesome to see our kids play together. We spent a few days here enjoying boat rides on the lake, fishing and catching up. At least this "RV spot" didn't charge us for laundry lol! 

   

   

Thankfully they have a big driveway and space in front of their house!

And then we FINALLY made it to North Carolina!!