Lake Lure 2010

Here is the beautiful fall foliage surrounding the Broad River which we had the privilege of seeing while on our vacation with Steven's family at Lake Lure, NC this past week. What a beautiful week to be in the mountains of North Carolina and what a memorable time we all shared with Grandma Penny (Pen-Pen), Aunt Lisa, Aunt Brenda & Uncle Billy, Mima & Papa, Matthew & Haley, and Heather.



One of the highlights of our trip was a boat tour of Lake Lure. This was the first boat ride for Meredith and Berkley. Berkley was mesmerized by being on the water and just appeared to be in awe of the water the entire time. Meredith enjoyed being on the water while the boat was really moving, but got antsy when things slowed down. The scenery was beautiful and we realized that we couldn't have chosen a more ideal time to see the colorful fall leaves.

Did you know that the water lift scene from the movie Dirty Dancing was taped at Lake Lure? It was and we had the opportunity to see the exact spot while on the tour- so cool!



Another HUGE highlight of our vacation was having Steven's cousin play the banjo for us all. Berkley and Meredith had never heard a banjo before and I had a feeling they'd love it...and boy did they!!! You see above Heather teaching Meredith how to strum and below that a picture of Berkley's sweet face, adoring Heather as she plays. I wish you all could have seen the whole family clapping and dancing to the banjo music, what fun!


We also visited Chimney Rock State Park while in the area. We were able to take the babies to the bottom of the Rock, but not all the way up to the top. Here is the four of us inside the tunnel leading to the elevator to go up to Chimney Rock, it's a 26 floor ride to the base of the rock and then you have to climb stairs to actually stand on Chimney Rock.


Overall, it was simply a wonderful time. Other highlights included seeing a pack of wild turkeys crossing the street, there were probably a dozen of them - some ran across and others flew. We drove up to the site of a car accident while driving to Asheville. All we could see from a distance was a car on the side of the road that appeared to be close to toppling over the edge. We didn't realize until we were finally able to pass the site that it was only a few inches from toppling into a creek bed below and that the victims of the accident were a young family who appeared to be about our age with an infant in a car seat. Boy did that put things in perspective and help us more appreciate being together and safe.

Other fun things that the twins did while on our trip - Meredith started saying "Come On" and tapping her hands on her legs to tell you to come. Meredith also started saying "alright" and "good girl." Berkley started saying "what's that." They are both saying "door" consistently and will say "open" when they want you to open it. A funny thing that Meredith did during the whole trip was crowing like a rooster whenever she was upset, it was hilarious. The four of us shared a room the whole time and Meredith woke up one night in the middle of the night. Now if we had been at home we would've let her cry a bit to see if she'd settle back down, so we tried this method of handling things first. Meredith knew we were in the room and cried and cried and then all of a sudden she crowed like a rooster. Imagine Steven and I lying in bed praying that Meredith would calm down and then out of the blue she crows. We were laughing so hard and of course, had to respond to her. I guess she figured out that people would respond to the crow because she did it several other times during the trip. Berkley and Meredith loved playing with all of the fall leaves, I think they were their favorite toys the entire trip.

I can't reiterate enough how much Steven and I appreciate our families. It was such a blessing to spend quality time with the Gurkin bunch and make some happy memories.