As part of the itinerary for our fall road trip from Nashville to Asheville, while we reviewed the 4G capabilities of the 2015 Buick LaCrosse, we felt would it be a shame if we didn’t make an effort to drive to the top of the mountain where Sky Top Orchard is located.
The extremely foggy driving conditions provided not only a cool mysterious vibe, but also an opportunity to really take advantage of the LaCrosse’s back-up camera after we accidentally turn down the wrong road; which turned out to be a dead end, with little room to turn around.
Not only does Sky Top Orchard let you pick your own apples from the orchard, but they also have pumpkins. We bought one, which is currently sitting on our kitchen table as an appropriate decoration for our house as random people are coming in to see it, since it is currently on the market.
Admission is free to Sky Top Orchard, but we ended up buying a bag of their apples. I must say, my wife made an apple pie from those apples, and it was one of the best apple pies I’ve ever eaten (too much of)!
They have a really cool play area there for kids. My son and I loved the giant pumpkins; they reminded me of Smurf houses.
And of course, what fall-themed family activity place would be complete without those great stand-up cut-outs where you get to take your pictures as a scarecrow, pumpkin, or flower?
If you don’t mind walking and getting your shoes a bit wet with dew, there is also a place to see some farm birds up close and personal; the Animal Barn.
Our family had a great time at Sky Top Orchards in Asheville, North Carolina. If you get the chance to take your family there, I am confident you will not be disappointed.
Thanks for reading Family Friendly Daddy Blog today!
Well, about a month later, it’s time to update those photos. But first, a quick video I made…
Yesterday we had made the journey to Sprill Hill to check in on the status on the building process. I expected very little progress, if any.
In fact, I was quite surprised when Mommy pointed at our house. At first I thought we were on the wrong street somehow.
Seeing this progress was a great encouragement to me. It’s easy for the process of selling our current townhome, plus the thought of the move itself, to overshadow the fun parts of this.
But just look- this is our house “being born.”
I particulary enjoyed the view out the windows from upstairs. I was able to get a good view of the farmland behind our lot, as well as a view of our next door neighboor’s background; to get an idea of what ours will look like as well.
There’s no doubt this is a scary process, though. I admit that at any given second, I am sort of expecting this to somehow fall through.
However, we’ve went through the budget more times than we can count and we know we can truly afford this new home and still have a decent amount of cash going into our savings. It’s very important to us we don’t become “house poor”; meaning all our paychecks just go into paying the mortgage every month.
Of course, we drive 10 year-old used Hondas, we don’t eat out at restaurants, we don’t have cable TV or smart phones, and the electronics we do own are laughably (!) outdated. So to say the least, we are an extremely frugal family.
So having lived through that blessed/cursed learning curve that so many couples in their late 20s (at the time) have to encounter when it comes to the budget, or the lack thereof, we are now (in our early 30s) able to start catching glimpses of what Dave Ramsey has always preached on:
“Live like no one else now so that later, you can live like no one else.”
Based on my financial mistakes in the past, I guess there’s part of me that feels I don’t deserve this house.
Even now, I personally feel… hesitant… about showing info and pictures about our family’s new house.
But it’s important to me that I not only show you this “footage” for future nostaglic and historic purposes, and that I teach you to be as annoyingly frugal as I am… but also because you have many family members on both sides of the our family that want to see the updates on our house.
As for you, you’re still trying to understand that the model home is not actually our new home.
Love,
Daddy
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So last weekend I broke my Grandma out of the nursing home without anyone knowing it, then I pushed her in her wheelchair a mile down the road while she wore a “seatbelt” we made from a rolled up blanket…
Wait, actually, that’s probably not the best way to start this story. Let me try again.
The last time my Grandma had seen her younger brother Bob was back in the summer of 1987, back when I was six years old, when we took a family vacation road trip to Buffalo, New York where my Grandma and my mom are from.
That was 27 years ago…
But then randomly this year, my great-Uncle Bob decided that he wanted to visit my Grandma (his sister) by train with his girlfriend (he’s never been in a plane and he’s only left the state of New York once).
So I decided it would definitely be worth the 2 and a half hour drive from Nashville where we live, to my hometown in Alabama; taking my own family (my wife Jill and my son Jack) to witness this great reunion- 27 years in the making!
And to make things even more fun, we were able to review the 2014 Lexus GX 460 in the process. Which, for the record, was my personal favorite out of all the many Lexus vehicles I have reviewed within the past year.
The way it drove reminded me of the Toyota Tacoma, my favorite Toyota vehicle, which I reviewed on my 33rd birthday back in April.
My wife Jill appreciated was how spacious the 2014 Lexus GX 460 is. We had to transport some of our son’s toys to my parents’ house; as we are in the process of building a new house (as I recently wrote about when I reviewed the 2014 Lexus GS 450h) and needed a place to store some things.
Meanwhile, my son Jack loved the stadium seating in the back because he could see everything that I could from the driver’s seat. Also, it has a 3rdrow seat from can fold up from the very back.
He convinced us to let him sit in the very back for the entire round trip! Not to mention, to and from school a few days as well.
I was surprised at how easy it was to hear Jack and Jill all the way back there. (I’m sure many educated people at Lexus have labored countless hours over making sure the sound carries that well!)
The visibility from the driver’s seat also greatly impressed me as well. I can’t remember the last time I drove a vehicle with better visibility than the 2014 Lexus GX 460.
So we arrived at my Grandma’s nursing home and along with my dad’s help, were able to lift my Grandma from her wheelchair to the car.
In the process, I also “re-met” my great-Uncle Bob while there, who of course didn’t recognize me as a grown adult. As we talked, I learned from him that it was nearly 100 years ago, in 1923, that his own parents moved to New York from Michoacán, in southern Mexico; though he nor my Grandma ever really spoke Spanish.
The whole family met as a whole back at my sister’s house, just a mile away from the nursing home.
First, we celebrated by brother-in-law (who apparently happens to look a lot like me) turning 30 years old.
Then we headed outside to the “jumpy castle” as Jack and his cousin Calla burned off extra energy they mysteriously gained from not having to take a nap that day.
And of course, we checked out the storm shelter, which has sort of become the routine when we visit.
Next we had a plant-based (vegan) lunch, prepared by my sister…
Followed by an instantly made-up game of “bean bag bumper cars”…
That’s about the time we got a call from the nursing home. Turns out, none of us even thought to actually sign my grandma out. And coincidentally, no one working there noticed us wheeling her out the front door!
The workers were so glad to hear that we had Grandma with us instead of, I guess, her somehow escaping (?) on her own.
However, by that time she was ready to get back to her home. The thing was, she was afraid to be lifted back up into a vehicle for the 0.925 miles back.
We did what every all-American family would have done in the same situation:
My sister and her husband rolled up a large blanket, then I MacGyvered it into a home-made seatbelt. And now this particular photo collage begins to make more sense…
After all, despite it only being about a mile away, the journey was all hills.
Fortunately, my daily routine of mountain biking during my lunch break had conditioned my body to be able to get my Grandma to her destination in less than 15 minutes. She even got to catch a glimpse of the County Fair a few blocks away.
Before we left the next morning, we made sure to snap a few pictures of our family.
Since my brother-in-law/look-alike turned 30 recently, and until Jack turns 4 next month, it means that we are living in a time when my wife and I are both 33, my sister and her husband are both 30, and their daughter Calla and our son Jack are both 3.
So we figured we should take an official picture of this cool “3-30-33” moment.
And that just goes to show that anytime my family gets together, it’s never “normal.”
But it is fun.
If you were entertained by this story, then be on the look-out what happened after we drove back to Nashville to see a Dierks Bentley concert that my wife won tickets for!
Car Review Stats:
2014 Lexus 9700A GX 460 5-DR SUV
4.6 liter V8, 301 horsepower
17 mpg average, 15 city, 20 highway
as shown: $55,505.00
See all 4 posts on the 2014 Lexus 9700A GX 460 5-DR SUV:
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I’ll go ahead and point out that it might seem a tad bit ironic that I would do a “family friendly review” on a winery.
But as you hopefully will discover, this particular winery is different.
The way I see it, Arrington Vineyards makes for a perfect hang-out spot for both parents and children.
It is located about 30 minutes south of Nashville, on a giant hill. The view is beautiful, the atmosphere is classy, and that enormous (and extremely steep) hill provides the ideal playground for kids.
When my sister and I were kids back in the 80s, we were always excited to play on the hill in our Italian grandfather’s yard. In more recent years, we realized that “hill” was only about 3 feet high.
However, the hill at Arrington Vineyards is the largest and widest I have ever seen for what could constitute for an unofficial play area.
Parking is free- and a plethora of picnic tables are provided as well. Therefore, Arrington Vineyards is naturally a wonderful location to host a picnic.
The only cost would be if you choose to try or buy wine. There is no fee for just “hanging out.”
Obviously though, I’ve noticed most people who go to Arrington Vineyards end up buying a bottle of wine, which explains why the vineyard can afford to keep from charging any kind of entrance free or table fee.
So, let’s talk more about that monstrous hill: Kids love it!
I had my son Jack pack up a book bag full of balls before we left the house; as well as monster trucks. (It helped serve as a lesson in sharing since we met his friend Jake’s family there.)
He and I had a blast playing a game we made up where he kicked the soccer ball down the hill to me and I kicked it back up to him.
His goal was to get the ball all the way down to the bottom of the hill; my goal was to get it to the top.
Arrington Vineyards is also naturally a good place to take pictures. I’ve noticed that the abnormal horizon line (because of the hill) and the easy expose to sunlight make for good photography.
So there you have it. I say this is a great place to take your family to hang-out. And if you, the parent, appreciate good wine, it’s all that much more of a reason to go.
FYI: Arrington Vineyards was unaware I was writing a “family friendly review” on them. I was simply a paying customer who happened to be taking a lot of pictures of my son. In other words, I did not “work for free wine.” I simply have always enjoyed going to Arrington Vineyards and thought they deserve a shout-out.
Last Thursday as I was picking you up from KinderCare and walking you to our car, your friend Lucy saw us walking by and proclaimed to her own Daddy, “That’s Jack’s Daddy. He’s a nice Daddy!”
I had really never considered my reputation among the 3 year-olds of your school.
Maybe I really am a “nice Daddy.”
Hey, I’ll take a compliment anytime I can; even from a 3 year-old.
When I walk in each day to pick you up from school, your friends always begin talking to me; like they’re supposed to or something. It’s been that way for months, actually…
Your friend Avery always tells me, “My Mommy picks me up today.”
Jaedyn always describes what she’s drawing and shows it to me.
Ethan immediately hugs my leg, like I’m his actually Daddy.
And when I see you, you always run to me and I lift you up to the air like you’re a rocket.
So looking back, I guess you and I do make a scene each day when I pick you up.
Ultimately, I guess that makes me a “nice Daddy.”
(Coincidently, I happened to meet Lucy’s Mommy, Autumn, this week for the first time; I took some pictures of you and Lucy playing together.)
I can honestly say I’ve never considered my reputation as a “nice Daddy” among your peers. I guess I’ve just always subconsciously assumed that their dads act the same way when they pick them up each day.
And that’s still what I assume. I assume all your friends’ fathers treat them the same way as I treat you.
How could they not?
Being a good father (and husband) are the roles in life I take the most seriously.
My understanding is that fatherhood is the one of the main forms of identity and self-realization for the modern American man.
Doesn’t every man think the same way as I do? The dads I know all do, at least.
My guy friends are all “nice Daddies.”
In fact, I bet a lot of them are actually nicer than I am.
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