An Update of sorts

May 30th, My Benjamin's birthday....that was my last post?!?!?!  I suppose that makes total sense because the kids got out of school June 12th so it's summer time and who wants to be sitting in front of a computer writing non-sense when you can be out having fun with the kids!

So far this summer we have been several different places.  I do think we are doing great for a summer supposed to be spent at home.

Our first trip was to Great Falls, Va.  My husband's Grandma moved from DC to Louisiana and we had to go up there to say goodbye before she left.  Her house up there, or "The Farm" was amazing!  I think my favorite part was it was in the middle of these million dollar mansions, down in it's own little valley.  You'd never know it was there unless you had been there before.  I'm definitely going to miss it!  The kids also got to search for buried treasure in the yard :)

While we were there we got to see a lot of his side of the family.  Nieces and Nephews and ex-sister-in-laws that are still family.

We found a cute little place called Dinosaur Park.  It's not like any Dinosaur place I had been to so it was really kind of neat to walk around in among the dinosaurs.

We did the skyline drive and we couldn't see a thing the entire time.  So we cut it short and decided to go see more family instead.

We went to Great Falls Park where these amazing falls are located.  Scariest part of the trip, when this raft full of pre-teen girls went in the water, headed towards the swift parts, and half of them fell out!  I was terrified for them but they made it back into the raft just fine.

Our last day there I wanted to take the kids swimming so I searched online for a place and found Volcano Island.  It was only about 10 minutes from Granny's house.  Funny thing, she never knew it was there!  Trinity loved swinging her hair back and fourth and since my camera is amazing I got these pictures of her...

My crazies!

After that week long vacation we were lucky enough to get to go on another mini vacation/family retreat to the Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, NC.  I love this place.  Always have.  I wish it wasn't so dang expensive but that's the price you pay for nice rooms, good food, and an indoor and outdoor water park!

A Family Retreat, in case you don't know, is put on by a military unit Chaplin (priest type).  You have to go to meetings/classes and learn about family stuff.  We learned how to listen, speak and work together.  There are prayer sessions in the mornings too.  It was a blast.  They also do couples retreats which are amazing.  I will be trying to get my hubby and I on one when he gets home.

We also went to the mall and spent some fun time at Dave and Busters.  It's a really cool adult arcade place.  Again, a must for anyone in the Concord area.

The kids also rode on the carousel while we were at the mall.  I had taken a long shutter picture and tried to convince them the carousel was moving super fast LOL  It didn't work.

Charlotte Motor Speedway is right there within 2 miles so I decided we would go check it out too.  We got there after all the tours had gone out for the day but the wonderful gentleman behind the counter took us on our own little private tour of the speedway!  We went inside and sat in the member's only chairs.  We even got to go to the VIP lounge!  It's so amazing in there!!!  If you are ever in Charlotte, you have to stop in to the speedway.

 And there you have it, our summer so far.  We have had one family come stay with us for just a night.  All we did was played hand and foot and caught up on some much needed adult conversation for me.  Coming up yet we still have a few parks to hike, my sister Cheri and her family are coming out and 18 trips already paid for the swimming pool!  The kids go back to school in just 29 days so we had best get all our fun out while we can!

~Till next time~