I remember learning about the Vanderbilt's and their huge, gorgeous house way back in high school. I was completely fascinated by a photo of the house with tons of chimneys poking out all over the roof. Such extravagance and luxury! But I never really lived anywhere close to it, and kind of put it on that list of things that I can hopefully experience on the Holodeck in heaven. But then this reunion happened and Angie was all excited to show the kids' Biltmore. Finally my chance to see this house up close and personal had arrived.
Like all plans involving 25 people, we didn't exactly leave at the time we planned to, nor did we meet up the way we planned to. It ended up that just our family went on the tour through the house by ourselves. That was actually okay, though, because we ran across several different groups who were really struggling to keep everyone together. Plus, we could move at a pace that was comfortable for the kids, rather than making them keep up with a bunch of adults. I was surprised at how interested they all were in the house and its furnishings. Even Noah was following along in the guide book and would excitedly point to a picture in the book and then to the same object in the room. "Look, that chess set is right there!" "Hey, I see the dragon head!" And similiar such comments. Nicholas was most impressed with how nice the servants' rooms were, and the girls both thought the indoor swimming pool was kind of scary. They loved all the "princess beds" though.
All in all we spent almost two hours in the house and had a great time. We met up with the rest of the group at the Deerpark Restaurant where Opa treated us to an absolutely scrumptious lunch buffet. We actually arrived 5 minutes after they closed the restaurant down for new diners, but since the rest of the group was already there, they let us in anyway. I am so glad they did. It ended up being a meal I would have been very sad to have missed. There were plenty of different choices for all the kids and everyone found something they liked. Plus it was fun to eat at such a fancy place. The kids made me proud. Their manners were all rather good, considering how they normally eat at home. It was also nice that Aunt Celina and Uncle Adam helped the kids get their food so Chris and I could just take care of ourselves. Alexandra dined on blueberries handfed to her one at a time by a very doting Oma. She loved them. Of course, the dessert table was the huge hit. Mmmhhhmmmm coconut cake. Unfortunately for Nick, the waitress cleared away his cookies while he was in the restroom before he could get a chance to eat them, and they were the last two on the table. :( Bummer.
The rest of the group went to tour the house while we were finishing up eating, then we slowly made our way back to the car and into Asheville. We met Pamela's parents to pick up a care package for her, and they graciously let them follow us to Michaels so I could do some serious shopping. After that, we stopped at a large department store and got everyone, including me, some new Sunday clothes. It is so fun shopping in America. The aisles are wide, the workers are friendly and helpful, and there is just such a range of choice! Well, there is a range of choice here in Switzerland, too, but you have to pay a lot more for it. Yeah, we were loving the weak dollar this trip.
We again got back too late for the talent show. This was completely our fault and we apologized profusely to the girls for it. We vowed that no matter what, tomorrow we were going to have it. Liz had the great suggestion of picking a time and saying it would start then, no matter what. Rather than the evening, we chose the afternoon. That way, it could go as long as we needed it to without ruining bedtimes, but wouldn't have a bunch of afternoon stuff planned in front of it, causing it to be cancelled again.
To make it up to the kids, we stopped in the town of Chimney Rock and got some delicious ice cream. The kids were freezing due to the air-conditioning and wanted to eat their ice cream outside. This seemed like a great idea until we discovered a bunch of bees that also wanted a taste of our ice cream and wouldn't take no for an answer. We ended up running to the car and jumping in to get away from them. One snuck in with us, so we had everyone pile out again, then Chris chased it out one side of the car, as the kids climbed in the other side, shutting the door behind them. Whoo! No one got stung, and no one dropped their ice cream on the ground amidst all that panic. Who knew getting an ice cream cone would be so dangerous?