The Smoky Mountains Part 1

Last week, we headed out to the Smoky Mountains in North Carolina.   Our friends Dave and Jenn invited us  out to their family's cabin to hang out with the babies and catch a last glimpse of the colorful fall leaves. Dave and Jenn live in Florida, and will hopefully soon be making their way out to California.   Their little girl Olivia, is exactly one month younger than Ella.  They had so much fun playing together, and it was such a joy to watch them interact and to show such an awareness of each other.  Olivia is absolutely adorable and looks like a mini Dave!

We spend most mornings relaxing in the cabin, or on the porch, watching the babies play together.  Afternoons, were spent driving to lunch destinations, and touring the local towns. 


I have so many pics of the trip that I will have to divide up the posts into sections.  So, for the first post, I will talk about Ella's time on the planes and how she adjusted to the time change.   

Ella's first plane ride was a huge success.  She maybe cried for 2 minutes during the entire 7 hour journey.  Passengers commended and complimented her upon departing the plane!  She truly enjoyed looking out at the clouds and watching the plane land on the ground.

Once we got to North Carolina, things changed a bit.  She was exhausted, and cried for a good chunk of the car ride from the airport to the cabin.  The time change was hard on her, and she did have a bit of crankiness on and off, during the trip.  I think she was tired most of the time, as she didn't sleep well.   

 On Monday,our day of departure, our flight on Delta, was delayed.  To make a long story short, we sat in the Asheville airport from 11:00 am to 6 p.m. waiting for "the delayed plane", which they ended up canceling due to "mechanical problems"!  We started the whole departure journey over the next day and made it home Tuesday evening.  Ella's patience had been worn thin, and she cried for about 2 hours of the flight.  I can easily say we made a few enemies on the flight home.

With the exception of the return flight home, we had a great trip and had so much fun hanging out with Dave, Jenn, and little Olivia!

Here is Ella on her first plane trip.