Mini Vacation

The wonderful thing about having a one year old, is the flexibility.  This week, Josh had to be in Raleigh for work, and Charlotte and I joined him!  It was a lot of fun.  We drove up late afternoon Monday, checked into the hotel, and walked around the shopping center it is apart of.   

Charlotte stretching her legs after a long car ride. 

Josh got off not long after and we went to Yard House for dinner.  The best part of being on vacation is all the fun places we get to eat at!  We were all exhausted from the drive that day that we all conked out early that night.  Of course, Charlotte was up all night (adjusting to the porta-crib) that she ended up being in our bed.  Luckily, that was the only night like that!     Since we were here on business, we were able to access the Concierge Lounge for a buffet breakfast each morning.  It was the best hotel breakfast and we became friends with the conceirge.  She thought Charlotte was adorable and loved seeing us each day.  Her kids are older and has no grandchildren yet, so it was a treat for her.  I am pretty sure we were the ONLY family staying in the hotel.  I didn't see one other child our whole stay!    Tuesday, I drove around Raleigh to check out the city.  It is really nice.  I could definitely move here.  It's much more suburbia than Charlotte is.  Everywhere is a lot newer and just what I'm used too in Orange County.    

The day started out with a great breakfast!

We swam once, but I'm not a big fan of indoor pools.

Wednesday, was our zoo day.  I decided to go because it was a half hour closer being in Raleigh than when I'm in Charlotte.  It's a long drive...I don't know how often I'll be going.  But it is a really nice zoo!  If I had guests with little kids, it's something to check out.  That night, we met up with our friend Taylor and his wife, Zoey, and their daughter, Lillie.  What a sweet family Taylor has!  We went out to Good Berry's for ice cream.  It was so fun for us all to meet each other and get to know one another.  

Yesterday, I did a little shopping in the morning, took Charlotte out to lunch and then we went over to the Green's house to let Lillie and Charlotte play.  Around 3, we headed downtown to the Marble's Children Museum.  If I lived in Raleigh, I'd be here every week ($2 Thursdays)!  It was the neatest thing I'd been too.  I so wish there was one in Charlotte.  It was really geared towards little kids.  There were several toddler areas and even the areas for all ages, Charlotte fit right in.  There were different themes throughout the museum.  

  Toddler Hollow: specifically for toddlers where they can crawl/walk around, go inside logs and doors, up little stairs, there were forest stuffed animals everywhere (then bigger kids came in that weren't supposed to be there, so we left that room)

  Around Town: teaching the children all the different service occupations

 

  SPLASH: making it seem like you were underwater with a submarine and shipwreck  

Typical picture...she still hates taking them!

 

Moneypalozza: kids play with smart ways to spend and save while having a wealth of fun learning to earn. Moneypalooza brings to life the importance of establishing healthy money habits through innovative and high-energy activities.

This was the coolest place! Charlotte was in heaven running around and exploring everything.

Today was our day of departure.  It's always sad to leave vacation but nice to go back home to your routine and your own bed!!  We didn't waste much time this morning.  Went to breakfast in our pajamas, packed up the room, and left!  With a little stop at the outlets on our way home (Carter's was having a great sale)!    I am so grateful for all the hard work that Josh does that allows Charlotte and I to have a wonderful life.  I really appreciate the chance I have to be a stay-at-home mom and realize how fortunate we are. We have never been able to accompany him on a work trip, so that was fun being able to see him at night and occasionally have breakfast in the mornings, instead of him coming to an empty hotel room, like usual, and being bored all night.  I'm sure this won't be able to happen many more times, but when it's possible, I hope we can join him again!        

Day at the Zoo

Our state zoo is in Asheboro and today I made the drive up there! We met up with our friends, Jess and her two girls. Later on, Jess's cousin-in-law joined us with her two boys. It was a hot day and the whole zoo is built throughout

 the Uwharrie Mountains. I basically felt like I was on a hike. If I go back, I'm wearing workout clothes! We went to the "Africa" part and never quite made it to "North America." We saw giraffes, elephants, gorillas, an ostrich, lions, rhinos, birds of all kinds including flamingos, and maybe some more. Charlotte also took the fall of a lifetime, like seriously, I don't think I've ever fallen that bad! She was running downhill, fell and then rolled. It was definitely a fall that needed some comfort. She got a huge scrape on her knee, which luckily I had band aids and Jess had some healing ointment. It's great going places with other moms, you join forces and everything works out! We even traded kids at one point, I held her 11 month old and Charlotte sat in the double stroller with her other daughter, Serenity! Now I need to go back with Josh, let him push the stroller, and make it to NA ;) 

Finding Fun in the South

Saturday was such a great day.  Many of you know one of my favorite things to do is go out to breakfast!  Well, honestly,  I love eating out period, but breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.  We started our day out at Cracker Barrel, eating breakfast at noon.  Yeah, we all slept in...it was awesome!!  

Afterward, we literally drove across the street to our new amusement park, Carowinds! For my California peeps, it's owned by the same company that runs Great America and Knott's Berry Farm. The weather was a bit gloomy and it was supposed to rain, resulting in a ghost town of a place! There was like nobody there! It was nice being our first time (Josh went when he was like 6!), we could see everything going on. 

I took Charlotte on a kid ride, that she absolutely hated! I think we will be sticking to the water park side most of the summer!

Josh rode a couple of the roller coasters because there were literally NO LINES! According to him, they "knocked his socks off!" 

On our way out, we noticed everyone straddling the state line. I hopped over and took my picture. Then, much to our surprise, Charlotte walks over and straddles the state line! We were laughing so hard! She is one observant little girl! 

We are looking forward to many days at Carowinds, since it's only 4.9 miles from our front door! ;)  

I also put together the play group schedule at church and found a ton of things to do with little kids!  Now that the weather is warming up, we are going to be having a lot of fun here!  When I ask Josh why he fell for me, he says it's because we had fun together. I'm all about having fun...I don't think that will ever change!