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!!

Our New Jersey visit!

We spent close to two weeks visiting family and friends in New Jersey. The boys met their cousin Sophia and celebrated an "unbirthday" party. My cousin came up with that idea since none of the kids have ever celebrated a birthday together. They had a play date with Auntie Laura's boys, Ryan and John. Since the boys are really interested in wildlife, we took them to the Popcorn Zoo where we were attacked by Canada geese. They saw an old River Boat at the Toms River marina. The little guy lost his 2nd tooth and was visited by the Tooth Fairy!

We also plugged along with our homeschooling journey. In addition to the basics, Jersey Grandma gave them piano lessons and Pop Pop talked to them about transformers.

The boys enjoyed dipping their feet in the chilly Atlantic Ocean for the first time at Island Beach State Park and collecting shells. Click here to learn more: Island Beach State Park. We concluded our visit with a field trip and took a ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Learning the history of the Statue of Liberty was very interesting. Click here to read more: Statue of Liberty history.