Mitchell and Jesmyn

If you talk to Mitchell, or anyone else who knows me well, they would be able to tell you that I absolutely LOVE waterfalls. When I visit a waterfall I like to try and focus on one little water drop and watch its journey to the bottom. Waterfalls are beautiful, calming, and breath taking to me.

This past Thursday we planned a little family trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains which I also LOVE to visit. We drove to Gorges State Park where we hiked 3 miles to go see this breathtaking waterfall.

Leila and Naudia did absolutely great. Leila walked every single mile, and Naudia was only held for a short while, but only to speed things up a bit. The trail difficulty rating is moderate, not impressive for us, but for the girls it's great that they were able to do it. There were times when I was holding Naudia and I couldn't help but think about the pioneers. How were the mothers able to carry their children for miles and miles? I know, I am weak sauce.

I really enjoyed our little trip, and you know what the best part about it was, other than spending quality time???

It was FREE!!!!

Couple of facts about Rainbow Falls:

Highest single-drop waterfall in the Smokies
150-foot tall waterfall
Horsepasture River

Rainbow Falls

Mitchell with Naudia and Charlie

Me not so adventurous

Mitchell was adventurous enough to take the trail leading to the bottom of the falls

Closer look at Rainbow Falls

A little of what the trail looked like

Family Picture

Naudia, SO CUTE!

Miss Leila

I have finally found some time to sit down and blog!

It's mostly the fact that my legs are so sore from walking around all day long.

So, the trip was so much fun. We loved New York! Everyone just looked so BUSY. So busy that I guess the law of jaywalking does not apply to the city.

Let me start with how our trip started.

Our plane started boarding at 5:30 am, this of course meant we had to be at the airport by 4:00 am to make sure we had plenty of time to check in and get trough security.
I am of course going to NYC, I have to look good while walking around the fashion city of the United States. This means I have to get up and fix my hair at around 2:40 so we can leave the house by 3am.
So the night before I pick out my outfit and notice my favorite maternity jeans are dirty. (I don't know why I decided to garden while wearing them!!!) I of course start a load before we go to sleep with Mitchell's jeans as well. I figure since we will be up early we will have plenty of time to dry them in the morning.
Mitchell sets 4 alarms to make sure we are awake on time. All five minutes apart. I fall asleep immediately. Mitchell on the other hand doesn't, he ends up going to sleep on the couch.
So while I am sleeping I start tossing and turning becuase of this watermelon in front of me and I realize I feel like I am sleeping too long. I decided to check the cell phone and to my surprise the time reads 4:50am!!!
I shoot up out of bed yelling, "Mitchell, why are we not awake!!! What happened to the alarm." All while running out of the room to put the clothes in the dryer.
Oh my goodness I wish I had recorded Mitchell's reaction to this. He sits up from the couch and says, "What time is it?" I say, "4:50am!" his face is just shocked he starts running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Not knowing what he was doing, and not achieving anything. For some reason he keeps slapping his chest lol! ( I am laughing so hard right now) He keeps saying oh no, crap, and many other words.
I am actually very calm, I realize my jeans are not going to be dry, so I grab some non-maternity jeans put them on with my top grab our toothbruses, my hair brush, hair product, earings, necklace, phone, stick them all in my purse run put some socks on and my shoes, and I am ready to go!!! This is the fastest I have EVER gotten ready. Mitchell is still running around like a chicken! I kept telling him to calm down because I thought he was going to have a heart attack, seriously! Well all of this takes about less than 10 minutes. We are out of the door and on our way to the airport. Mitchell keeps saying, " We're not going to make it!" Generally it takes 45 mintues to get to the airport. Well, we obviously made it to the airport all in 30 minutes. No line at check in, and no line at the security check. We get to our gate and there is still a line boarding the plane. WHEW! We made it on time.
Once on the airplane I am surprised at myself for making all this effort to get here on time. Afterall this is my first time flying and I had been nervous for a week now about all that could go wrong. Not only that, remember I put on non-maternity jeans? Thankfully they are the ones I wear right after I give birth, so they are still bigger than my regualar jeans but still, not as big as my nice comfy maternity pants. Very uncomfortable. I was a nervous wreck, I thought I would have an attack. It's a good thing that everything happened so fast, I didn't really have time to think about anything. Before I knew it, we are on the runway taking off. So, now that I am home safe and sound I can say that I really enjoyed my first flight. I loved looking out the window and I felt like I was parked in a car somewhere, there was no movement. The only movement I felt was when we started to descend. I am glad we made it on time to the airport. As you know, the trip started out great with lots of emotion. Well, hopefully you enjoy the pictures just as much as we enjoyed the trip.

This in Times Square, where the New Years Eve event takes place. It is my dream to one day be able to be amongnst the crowd.

Police department in the middle of times square

New Yorks finest. I have never seen so many cops in my life. Funny thing is they were just standing there chatting doing nothing. Wow, can I be NY police officer?

Mitchell

The sign says it all

We would have seen it, but they had no shows on Tuesdays :(

In Bryant park. I loved all the little details on this fountain. And yes, I am HUGE!

Finally made it to Rockefeller Center.

We didn't make it to the taping of the Today show, and I didn't get to see Kathie and Hoda :(

Around the rockefeller center

One of a few Cathedrals in the middle of the city. Very beautiful, and the inside was as well. They were having mass when we went inside. I didn't know that they just let anyone go in. There were lots of tourist inside just taking pictures, I figured the Priest would want a little more reverence during his mass. Guess not.

Busy life of the city. Here pedestrians don't have the right of way ha ha!

We visited Donald Trump and gave him the bad news that he's FIRED!

Mitchell next to this airplane made out of wood. I asked him if he would fly it, and he said heck no.

Here are some pictures of Central Park. It is huge, and gorgeous! We only walked trough the lower part of the park. I can't believe how many huge rocks were in the park, and I can't believe how this amazing park can just be there in the middle of the city!

This brdge was in Home Alone2 and a couple of other movies

Recognize the bridge? Spiderman???

Next are some pictures of Ground Zero, It was so sad being here. Just walking around this area your heart starts to feel very heavy. I had to really hold back the tears while in the museum. Reading all the notes left on the statue of liberty was really hard. It was very special being here. I don't have words to explain what I felt like being here.

Rebuilding. One World Trade Center

This one written to a Daddy, broke my heart.

I don't know how to post videos on here yet, but there is this place we went to for dinner called Ellen's Stardust Diner. It was really fun, the waiters sing at this place. They are aspiring broadway performers. It's really fun. They can all sing really well too. Some are very entertaining. I would just get a shake or a drink. The food was really expensive, and it was all normal everyday food, and the taste was not worth the money.

This is where the trip ended. We got to the airport with more than enough time. We were super tired and ready to go home and be with our girls!

Happy Birthday Mitchell (Daddy)

Rainbow Falls

New York City