home from our "valentine's" weekend

we made it home safely. while baby bear partied with her cousin j, hubby and i spent a relaxing weekend in asheville. we went out to eat and ate too much (well, he ate too much, i ate for two, LOL), picked up some yummy ice cream and kept it in our freezer to snack on whenever we wanted, and visited the biltmore. "america's largest house" is simultaneously mind boggling, fascinating, and disturbing. the fact that a tiny village pretty much revolved around one family disturbs me. the architecture and sprawling gardens (which were obviously not blooming) fascinates me. i'm not quite sure if i'm more fascinated or disturbed my such excessive wall coverings such as 22K gold-plated burlap and pressed leather, but the library was definitely impressive. it was something like i would imagine the library in the beast's castle from a favorite Disney movie. i must admit, i was jealous of the floral design rooms (both of them) in the basement. and the bowling alley and indoor swimming pool. i am thankful that i wasn't raised in a society with so many rules and expectations. we think "keeping up with the jones'" is a problem today... try keeping up with the equivalent of American's royalty. hubby and i declared that we would be content in the servants' quarters (they were bigger than baby bear's bedroom). the audio tour was very informative, and made the 2 hour stroll through the mansion so much more interesting.

the best part of the weekend was spending time with my beloved, just the two of us. of course, we were ready to see our little girl again and checked out an hour before we had to this morning. throughout the weekend we thought of things she would have said if she had been there. the second best part was knowing she was spending quality time with her cousin, aunt and uncle.

anyway, i would like to go back when the gardens are in bloom. that shouldn't surprise anyone.