Big, big house

B would be very happy if life could be lived without calendars, clocks, or tape measures. And vacation planning? Why she'd rather read books on the Black Plague than some travel book with hundreds and hundreds of options (yawn).

I on the other hand, would be THRILLED coming up with a plan to squeeze every minute of shopping, eating and tourist trap experiencing out of our vacation time (thereby driving my family into sheer exhaustion).

How good of God (though I'm sure He gets a chuckle out of it sometimes) to pair the two of us together to plan what we and the skibums do for family trips. I, for one, still have SO MUCH to learn in terms of patiently, sacrificially and lovingly leading my wife and kids.

I say all this because, for the most part, when we take a day trip we usually end up having a very enjoyable time. Sometimes even a FANTASTIC time!

Recently, B found out about a discount for Leap Year (Feb. 29th only) at the Biltmore Estate and Winery. We're talking DEEP discount here. (And we didn't even need to sit through a timeshare presentation! eeew) Admission for all eight of us to the mansion, farm and winery was $33....TOTAL! I was thrilled with the fact that B had come up with the idea and made a quick call to my kind boss to schedule the vacation day.

The next morning, we piled into the van and headed to the mountains. The staff at Biltmore, from the ticket sales counter, to the guides, to the store clerks, could not have been nicer and more appreciative of our "well behaved children" (read: SPIRITUAL/CHARACTER FRUIT). We even got a few "perks" along the way as further blessing.

While you're not allowed to take pictures inside the mansion, I WAS able to snap some photos outside of the house, winery, and adjacent hotel. Maybe someday we'll stay there for a special occasion.

We had a BLAST!!! B loved the library and identifying art by Renoir, Durer, and others in each room. My favorites were Mrs. Vanderbilt's gold and purple decorated bedroom, the bowling alley, and indoor pool. The stone basement was very cool too. The self guided walking tour takes you all over the house and was very fun for all of us to explore. You could play some SERIOUS hide n' seek in there!