Grassy Butts and Giant Houses

On Monday, we ventured down Blue Ridge Parkway (one of my favorite drives) and went to Flat Top Manor (aka Cone Manor) and downtown Blowing Rock.

via

Brief history lesson about Cone Manor:

Moses H. Cone was a mountain man who owned a textile factory that letter became the main supplier for Levi Strauss denim. He built this giant house in 1899 which has twenty-three rooms and 13,000 square feet on the way to Blowing Rock, NC near Flat Top Mountain (hence the name).


Wellllll, while we were at Cone Manor, I forgot to get the diaper bag out of the car so Joshua someone had to walk back up to the car and get it. On the way back down he that person thought he'd they'd take a shortcut instead of walking down the path like normal people  down the side of a very steep hill. This "shortcut" resulted in that person taking a little tumble and getting covered in grass stains. Needless to say, Josh that person didn't enjoy Cone Manor and let that tumble set the tone for the rest of the day.

sissy in front of the beautiful view from Cone Manor

us on the porch since someone was ill and didn't want to walk around any  more - and I am NOT talking about Sawyer

After stopping at Cone Manor, we continued to downtown Blowing Rock where Sawyer had his first swing experience. He loved it.

posing at the park

he was NOT happy to get out of the swing

I call this his Papa Dude face because he looks like my grandaddy  (who we call papa dude)

After a quick lunch at Blowing Rock Cafe, Joshua took Sawyer home since he was getting incredibly fussy. I then went on a mission that I failed to disclose to my husband, see below for a hint.

Then we all returned to the cabin for a little bonfire and s'more action.

Here are just some fantastic pictures of my sweet boy.

notice the bumps on his noggin? yeah his crawling gets a little crazy and he likes to ram into things.

you can only see two here, but Sawbug has a ton of teeth already.