My Little Cabin ~Family Adventure Weekend~

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Family Adventure Days began when my husband and I realized that while we were all together at home on the weekends, we weren’t actually tuning into each other as a family. With the temptations of video games, tv, and the internet at home, we decided to set aside one day each weekend that we are able to leave the house and get out and have some inexpensive fun together as a family. This began in September of 2009 and has been the best thing that ever happened to the Jordans!

Today I’m bringing you a fun family adventure day post from this past weekend. We actually returned to the place we had our first ever official family adventure day, only instead of staying just the day this time, we spent the night in an on site log cabin that is over 100 years old!

So join me as I revisit Belvidere, Tennessee, one of my favorite places in the world…

Contact Information on each place mentioned is in bold at the end of this post. 

 Oh, and we’ll bring my family along, too!

I’m gonna take you back to Fall’s Mill and show you the beautiful little log cabin that we stayed in along with gorgeous photos from our walks…

But first, I really should start at the beginning…

Anytime were near Belvidere, we just have to go to The Swiss Pantry. I love this place. Mama and I used to stop off here on our way to Quilt Retreats in Sewanee, Tennessee back in the old days when I had time to quilt and Mama and I both had time to go away on extravagant things like quilt retreats 🙂

Swiss Pantry is a Mennonite owned bakery and grocery store of sorts. They have all sorts of little handy items for your pantry but my favorite part is their huge selection of cheeses, homemade breads, fresh baked goods, jams, and honey. I also love how nice everyone is 🙂

This is just a small corner of their store. Check out the loaves of bread and canned goods!

We picked up a small pan of their cinnamon bites, which were still warm.

I really, really, really love their cheeses…

This is a glimpse into their kitchen. I asked if I could take photos and they said “Sure! We don’t mind at all!”

Notice that it is a family friendly kitchen :).

*Teeny tiny rant ahead*

Isn’t it crazy how many things aren’t family friendly nowadays? What kills me are the folks who are entirely anti-kid when it comes to anything their business does. It’s like they’ve forgotten that they were once a baby themselves – or perhaps they just popped into this world fully grown. That actually makes sense and would explain the sourness in them 🙂 Please note: I’m talking about staunchly anti kid friendly even towards well behaved kids or just families in general.

*Rant complete – see? That really was a tiny one, wasn’t it?*

Okay, so I bought some homemade cinnamon bites, the kids got some candy, and we headed on to my beautiful little cabin.

Notice how I’m calling it “my” cabin. Well, it isn’t, of course, but I did rent it for the night so it was mine for a short time at least.

Here is my little cabin.

See that picnic table  kind of in the center of the photo? That is where we ate our supper as the sun was beginning to set.

You wanted to see another view, didn’t ya?

I knew it ~grins~

It was built in 1845 and moved to this site about twenty or so years ago. They deconstructed it to move and numbered each log so that they could be put back together as it originally was.

It is beautiful inside, very simple and with all you need.

This is the view from my little kitchen area.

~sighs~ It was like living on Walton’s Mountain for two beautiful days.

This is the little stove I made us spaghetti on. Although, on our next trip, I won’t be bringing any groceries from home.

The cabin comes fully stocked with eggs, milk, orange juice, butter, sugar, coffee, cheese, a huge ham steak (in the fridge), whole grain pancake mix and grits directly from the mill, honey, and maple syrup. To top it off, Mrs. Lovett even made a loaf of homemade bread, homemade blueberry muffins, and huge homemade apple strudel and had them all sitting covered on the counter for us! Talk about having the gift of hospitality!

Note: They do this for everyone. She had no idea I had a blog, much less a cookbook, or that I would be writing about this. 

This is the front of the old Mill. There is a lot of neat stuff to do in here alone.

If you are within driving distance of Fall’s Mill and have never gone there, it is an excellent day trip.

This is the inside of the mill, well just part of it.

You can walk all around and really see how it works as it is fully operational.

This is a very educational experience for the kids.

You can learn how they make all sorts of things in the mill and you can also buy products still made at Fall’s on site.

I dearly love my grits but I will only eat the ones from Fall’s Mill because they are the absolute best.  You just can’t get good grits in a grocery store these days.

This is part of the upstairs of the mill where they have a little gift shop. I’d love for my kitchen to look just like this 🙂

Drop a quarter in the slot and the piano starts playing rag time music!

The kids always love that part. Here is Karo dancing and her brother looking on.

Karo especially liked it Mrs. Lovett demonstrated how to spin wool.

You can go out back and actually look down onto the big old wheel.

It’s an incredible view no matter where you are, though.

This is the hubs explaining to the kids how the wheel works.

Engineers just like to explain things.

Meanwhile…

More beautiful views await!

We spent most of our time sitting on the porch of the cabin and walking the grounds.

I lost count of how many times we walked down to the water.

Isn’t this just breathtaking?

And to think, this is only 45 minutes from where we live.

All of these photos were taken just a two or three minute walk from the cabin we stayed in.

You never have to go far to find beauty, you just have to open your eyes and know where to look.

~sighs~

This is what happens when hubs says “Oh! Give me the camera, quick!”.

~arches an eyebrow and smirks~

I bet I have twenty different photos of this praying mantis…

The kids loved feeding the little fish so after every meal we took whatever bread was left and went to donate the crumbs to their little aquatic bellies.

We sat on the rocks Saturday evening after supper and just talked about all of the beauty around us.

We mostly listened and the kids mostly talked, lol. But it was a great time to just sit back and connect with each other.

A family weekend wouldn’t be complete without a family photo!

What a wonderful weekend we had.

I hope you have some time to get away with your family soon, even if it is just for an inexpensive day out. By leaving the house and getting away from email, computers, tv, and all of the other distractions that seem to be constantly pulling us in all different directions, you help your kids to discover that the best part of life doesn’t require batteries or an internet connection.

For more information on Fall’s Mill and how to rent this cabin,

you can visit their website by clicking here. 

You can find out more about the Swiss Pantry by visiting their Facebook page (click here)

Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life!

~Albert Einstein