World's Largest Pocketknife

 We've seen the spoon in Minneapolis, the fork in Springfield, so of course, I had to find the knife.  Technically speaking it's a pocketknife, but I'm 100% counting it toward my cutlery set.  One can argue that it's not fitting in anyone's pocket, but we'll leave that philosophical discussion for another day.  My husband thinks I'm ridiculous for adding 45 more minutes on our already 15 hour drive home to see it, but he's a good sport, so we went anyway.

In the Mountains

After the reunion we headed northeast to West Jefferson, North Carolina to see a dear friend from our time in Ohio.  It is very remote.  The GPS stopped working for a while right until we got to her home.  It is absolutely gorgeous and so serene where she lives.  It's a little slice of quiet heaven.  We went into the most adorable, small town for ice cream.  

It started raining as we drove up to the high point on Mount Jefferson.  It's pretty cool how you can see the weather sweep in through the valley.

We had a wonderful time with Ines & Yaneth.  We watched the World Cup, roasted S-mores, picked wild blackberries along their lane, and had a wonderful time being together.  

The time went by way too quickly!

Stuetz Reunion

 We had a great time exploring the Smokies and watching the World Cup together!  Grandma shared her experiences of her mission in Chile with the grand-kids. We got to celebrate Baby Kent and Grandma's birthday as well. 

All the grand-kids by age.  We're just missing the oldest.  Mel is on a mission in Puerto Rico.

Another reunion in the books!

Asheville

 I've wanted to go inside the Biltmore for a long time, but I confess it was almost too much.  I couldn't imagine spending that much money and living so ostentatiously.  It was almost off-putting by the end of the tour.  It was still fun, and the gardens were beautiful.  

Apple loves her older boy cousins.  

Little Lady wants the library.

Afterward we went with Grandma to downtown Asheville.  It has such adorable shops.  The little boys went with their dad to the Pinball Museum and the rest of us went shopping.  They absolutely loved the pinball games.  

Of course, we ended up in a bookshop and a chocolate store.  The frozen hot chocolate was amazing!

We also went to a blown glass studio.  I think it's incredible the talent in this world.  We watched them make a glass plate, and it was so cool.

We really liked Asheville, North Carolina.