Ella's Biltmore Birthday

As I wrote in a previous post, Ella and I took a 2 night getaway to Asheville, NC during her birthday week. We stayed at the Biltmore Inn on the Biltmore Estate. I had been to the Biltmore Mansion a few times before, but had never stayed at the Inn. Ella had been to the mansion once before, but was really excited to go back. She was particularly excited about the prospect of a horseback trail ride...

Ella in our room overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountians on the day we arrived

Ella in front of the Biltmore mansion

Ella and Mama on the veranda of the Inn

We had afternoon tea...

Tea service...

...included some of these goodies...

"dressed" with some of these goodies...

Ella was excited to eat at this restaurant, in a former horse stable...

Speaking of which, she (we) thoroughly enjoyed the trail ride

Ella did such a great job riding. Her horse, Joker, kept stopping or veering off to the side. I would have thought Ella might freak out at this, but she kept her cool, knew just what to do, and easily got Joker to do what he was supposed to. So proud of this kid!

Rose and Lucy, of course, were not super thrilled that Ella got to go on a trip by herself (read:

without them!). When Ella and I dropped them off at school that morning before we left, they both cried. I took Ella on a "road trip" when she was 6, to Minnesota to see my friend Iggy and then down to Chicago to visit my friend Kathleen. The trip was not for her birthday, but I decided that we'd still use the age of 6 as a benchmark. We've decided that Rose and Lucy get to go on their own special trip with Mama for their 6th birthday.