Asheville

We do get out of Durham sometimes. Every once in a while. The most recent was yesterday - Chapel Hill. Haha, okay so going to church hardly counts. We went to Asheville! As always, we had a blast and I hardly took any pictures. So most (all) of these are courtesy of Ranita (she and Shiwen came with us!).

On Saturday we went to downtown Asheville (say it like Downton Abbey - it's a lot more fun!).

In that cool place with lots of art...
I forgot the name - anyone know it?

Some street performers

Lunch at a Mediterranean place. The food was delicious
 but this picture sums  up our experience there with Benjamin: hectic, frenzied...

We couldn't leave without Doug playing some chess!

A pistachio turtle. Oh that was delicious.

Fortunately Ben fell asleep after lunch for the remaining
 2-3 hours of our pedestrian-ing.

On Sunday we went to church and then to a park in Granny's neighborhood. Not to mention the delicious chocolate cake Granny made or the yummy Chinese food Aunt Heather made for us that night!

Doug and Shiwen are playing the Chinese version of Jacks.
Neither of them were very good at it haha.

Thank you, Ranita for taking such lovely pictures :).

And that was how we spent spring break.

Asheville

This weekend Doug and I made the 3.5hr drive to Asheville. The drive was beautiful, I thoroughly enjoyed the mountains covered in colorful trees - but I forgot to take pictures en route! While there, we celebrated Jenny's (Doug's cousin) marriage.

The lovely bride and her father - look at her bouquet!!

 The reception was in a barn, reminiscent of the Schoharie pumpkin patch, beautifully decorated with lights. I just wish it had been 10 degrees warmer!

Afterward, they served a nice dinner - my favorite part was the settings! Each person had a unique goblet, and personalized place settings. So classy.

While in Asheville we stayed with Doug's Grandma Christie and spent a lot of time with her, Uncle John, Aunt Heather & Uncle Grant & family, cousin Natalie & family, and cousin Susannah & family. (We don't call them "cousin Natalie", or "Uncle John", those are just there so you can figure our the relations haha.) Heather fed everyone snacks, lunch (zuppa toscana from olive garden!!) and dessert (apple and pumpkin pies!!). We also went to a nearby park where the boys men, couldn't help showing off:

Grant

Doug - he really did get all the way up, haha,  I just had bad timing.

Grant

Doug

David, Natalie's boy.

Needless to say, we had a delightful time. Thanks especially to Heather for the food, and Grandma Christie for housing and feeding us! We really look forward to Thanksgiving :).