June 22, 2009

We're back! Vacation was lots of fun. It was an interesting experience having the five of us in one hotel room. It wasn't bad at all in Charlotte, where we had a suite, but a little bit cramped in Asheville, where we had a regular room.

All the kids had a great time. We ended up going to Carowinds Tuesday afternoon, all day Wednesday and all day Thursday. Caleb rode everything he was tall enough to ride. He was so excited. I think his favorite ride was the jet planes in the nickelodeon area. He liked to make his plane go up as high as it would go. Jamie liked the ride, too, but kept her plane close to the ground. Caleb's favorite part of Carowinds wasn't the rides, though. It was the water park. I have never seen him so happy as when he was playing in the kiddie sprinkler play area. He was dancing and jumping and smiling the whole time.

Jamie's favorite ride was the carousel. By the second day, she even got brave enough to get on a horse that moved!

Carson was into the roller coasters this year. He rode all the coasters he was tall enough for and loved it. He even rode the brand new "Cobra" that goes through loops forwards then backwards. He is braver than I am. He did talk me into riding the Cyclone with him this year, though, and it was fun!

Friday we headed to Asheville and visited the Western North Carolina Nature Center. It was great except that it was so hot that day. It was so hot that the animals weren't out in the petting area. They were inside the barn. The kids had been looking forward to petting the goats and sheep, so that was disappointing, but it was still fun.

Saturday we got to go to Fun Depot with Grandpa and Gran. The kids love that place! They all enjoyed the games, plus Carson rode Go Karts and played Laser Tag, and Jamie and Caleb played in the indoor play area. They got some lovely prizes with their tickets, including one of those fake candy containers that a squeaky snake pops out of when you open it (thankfully this one broke fast), and some really nasty slime that Jamie managed to drop into the garbage disposal at Grandpa and Gran's house. I managed to fish it out, but it was ready for the trash after that experience.

Sunday morning, we met Grandpa and Gran for breakfast and then hit the road towards Savannah. It was such a fun vacation, and for the most part we had great weather. Tuesday and Wednesday especially were overcast and very pleasant, plus cloudy skies meant not much of a crowd at the park. We were able to ride everything with no waiting!

I didn't get too many pictures, but I will post them when I can. The printer with the card slot in it broke, so I can't get the pictures onto the computer right now. Vic has something at his office that I can use, so when we get that here and hooked up, I'll post some pictures!

As for today, we spent the day mostly at home. I did laundry and got everything unpacked except for the big suitcase and the toiletry bag. Aside from that, I broke up fights and tried to keep the kids from destroying things and hurting each other. It's going to be a long 11 weeks.

Tonight Carson and Jamie went to VBS at Grammy and Grampy's church. While they were there, Caleb, Vic and I went out to dinner with Grammy and Grampy and our new sister in law. That was nice. It's so much easier to go out to dinner with just one child!

Carson and Jamie had fun at VBS. Carson has a girl from his Sunday school class in his VBS class, so I was glad that he knew someone there. Jamie has one of our neighbors and her new step-cousin in her class, so she has friends there, too. Jamie and her friend both agreed that it was the best class ever! :)