One Amazing Vegas Trip

We stayed here at the Cosmopolitian

For Dave's 40th Birthday . . and because he already had to go for work . . . we decided to take a mini vacation to Las Vegas.  I have to say that I honestly thought it'd be one of those places that I was glad I went to, but could check if off the list and not worry about going back.  But was I ever wrong!  Maybe it was the non stop sunny weather (since it's rained all summer in Charlotte) or being so far away from any sense of responsibility . . or maybe it was just the pure craziness of the city life that amazed me, but it was SO much fun. 

I arrived on Thursday after navigating the airport for the first time ever on my own.  I sat beside a guy on the plane who was headed to Vegas for a bachelor party which made the long flight a bit interesting, especially since his buddies in the back of the plane kept buying him drinks. :)  After finally getting to the hotel sometime after dinner I met Dave and we headed to the New York hotel to have a quick bit to eat before calling it a night.  Oh and of course we had ice cream too.  That's the beauty of not having kids along, we ate what we wanted, when we wanted, and didn't have to please them or share.

Friday morning I slept in while Dave got up to go to his meeting.  After a quick workout and a low key morning I headed to the pool and spent a long time people watching and reading magazines in the shade and in this super fun lounge chair that was partially in the water.  Dave texted me pretty early to say that he was finished with work and I just replied that I was at the pool and he could join me if he wanted, but I wasn't leaving. :)  We spent some time at the pool and then got ready to head out on our adventure.  We walked and walked and walked and walked some more trying to see as much as we could.  There is just so much to see and do.  I honestly feel like we barely scraped the surface of the Vegas fun.  We saw Beatles Cirque de Soile show and it was incredible.  We ate lots of great food and walked at least 45 miles that we counted.  We enjoyed watching crazy people in the casinos and even turned in the $700+ that we found on the ground.  It was a sad day when we boarded the 10:54pm red eye flight back to Charlotte on Saturday night.  But it all worked out and we went straight to church just in time to see Savannah sining with Carmel Kidz. 

This was one of the two crazy shoes in our hotel.

Vegas . . . I'll be back!

An Early Birthday Celebration

After getting home from Greenville, I was surprised to find the dishwasher empty and all of the dishes clean!  Along with that nice surprise, Dave picked up a TCBY peanut butter cup cake to celebrate my birthday early.  He has to fly out on my actual birthday Tuesday and we have dinner plans already tomorrow, so tonight we celebrated my birthday as a family.  The cake was delicious and topped off my weekend of unhealthy eating (we finished off Papa Johns for dinner).  I guess I can restart the diet tomorrow . .  or maybe after Vegas! 

A Girl's Retreat and A Boy's Weekend

This weekend Savannah and I headed to Greenville, SC to have a girls' weekend with Dave's sister, Susan, and her girls.  It was such a fun getaway and a chance to really relax on Saturday at the lake.  After getting in late Friday night we headed to Lake Hartwell early Saturday morning to meet some family members, The Nobles, for a fun-filled day.  We enjoyed riding on the boat, tubing, and the most unique part was starting a campfire on the beach of the lake and roasting our hot dogs for lunch.  I took no part in the water activities, other than getting on and off of the boat, but Susan and the girls had a blast in the water.

Tubing round one

Roasting hot dogs for lunch

Cute girls on the boat

Tubing round two . . or twelve . . .

 
Today we visited Susan's church New Spring and enjoyed a yummy lunch at Jason's Deli before heading back to Charlotte. Thanks Susan for a great weekend!

And while the girls were away, the boys had a fun weekend of their own.  Dave got tickets for the Panthers game Friday night so when we left for Greenville he and Preston headed uptown via the "submarine" as Preston called the train.  They enjoyed about an hour of the game and then headed home.


Riding the train uptown

Preston at his first Panthers Game

On Saturday the boys cleaned up Daddy's car, had pizza for dinner and then went out for ice cream.

Washing daddy's car

Enjoying his ice cream treat!

I think we all had a great weekend, but it was nice to be back together around the dinner table as a family tonight. 

Summer is winding down fast!

Well, swim lessons are finally finished and my birthday is almost here so that means summer is almost over and school will start in just a few weeks! :(  Unfortunately I didnt' take any pictures of swim lessons this year, but at least I got a few videos.  The kids made great progress and Savannah even mastered the butterfly stroke! 

After a busy beginning to the week we decided to take advantage of kids eat free at McAlister's yesterday and use my birthday coupon too.  The kids were super excited as they know it's the one time they are allowed to eat Cheetos!!  Check out their orange faces and hands in the picture below.

Then today we had a special treat as we were able to meet up with my sweet friend Lisa at Chuck E Cheese in Concord.  Of course the kids again enjoyed a delicious non-nutritious meal of pizza and lemonade.  We all had a blast catching up and playing skee ball too. 

With only a few days of summer left we have to make it a priority to get back to the pool a few times!!! 

It's Official . . .I'm Heading Back

Into the classroom!!!!  I can't believe that I said yes, but the Lord made the decision super clear as this part time position just fell into my lap at Carmel Christian School.  I will be teaching an Algebra 1 class on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings while Preston is in WEE school downstairs.  I'm a bit nervous of the commitment, but I'm excited to see what He has planned this year too!

"Carmel"winds!!

We headed back from the beach a day early so that we could be home for the first ever Carmel worship service at Carowinds!  Needless to say our kids were a bit tired from travelling so late Saturday night, but once the church service was over they perked right up in time to play all afternoon with their friends at Carowinds!

 

These two quickly found each other in the Snoopy world area and were inseparable all afternoon!

 

 

Here is a big group picture of a lot of our friends' children.  They all had such a great day playing and riding rides together.

 



What a neat way to experience a day at Carowinds and a worship experience that we won't soon forget. :)

 

 

Edisto 2013

The cousins had a blast all weekend!

These two always do their own thing.  They opted out of mini golf and this is where we found them.

Loving their boogie boards!

We had a blast on our annual trip to Edisto!  Our family left after Dave got off from work on Wednesday and made it to the beach around 9:30 pm to join everyone else.  Unfortunately, I woke up Thursday morning with pink eye, but other than that, our trip was wonderful.  The kids all played hard on the beach, enjoyed feeding the turtles, looked forward to their nightly ice cream treats, and especially enjoyed spending time with each other.  Our days were filled with beach time . . . from digging in the sand to riding boogie boards and using their sumo boppers, they played hard all day.  Poor Preston's eczema was so bad that he opted for the sand all week, but still had a great time.  I personally enjoyed a lot of relaxing time in the shade of the canopy with the ocean breeze on my face, but our kids (and Dave) played non stop.  Thanks Grammy and Papa for a great long weekend!!