NC: Day 2

Off to Myrtle Beach!

First stop: Alligator Adventure. We visited Alligator adventure the last time we came to NC with just Molly, and even though she was in the stroller and probably didn't care, it was my favorite place we visited.

And it was WAY BETTER with kids. Or maybe they made it better since our last visit? Or I just don't remember.

But there were alligators everywhere. And they had lots of other animals too!

We got to see two animal shows, one where MiniM.E. and Meamaw and Grandpa got to touch and alligator, and another where she got to hold a tortoise.

After Alligator Adventure we went to the SkyWheel (per request of MiniM.E. who loves ferris wheels). It was eons better than we expected. And also four times as expensive. But worth it.

The girls took a walk on the beach with Meamaw and Grandpa while Bob and I took a break with BabySlimJim.

The grand finale of the day was the Pirate's Voyage dinner. They didn't allow photography (not that I could have taken many photos while trying to feed BabySlimJim a bottle and get him to sleep and feed LittleL.G. and I chicken on the bone!) so I just have this one photo of MiniM.E. in the gift shop. But it was so fun and totally worth it if you are near one.

NC: Day 1

I have big plans for our week here. I didn't realize how much cool stuff there was to do around Southport, and even though we drove so we packed some toys, and Meamaw and Grandpa got some toys for the kids, I knew (especially with curious crawling baby) that we couldn't spend lazy days relaxing at home.

So today we started with breakfast at Taylor's for their favorite purple pancakes. Which I thought were great. Even if the kids didn't agree.

It wasn't very nice, so we headed to the Southport Maritime museum. It was small but had a good number of entertaining things for the kids to play with. MiniM.E. especially liked the real sail rigging.

We decided to head to Wilmington about a half hour away to visit their well-reviewed Children's Museum since most of the Southport activities were outdoors.

Meamaw and Grandpa stayed home to prepare for the big day we have planned at Myrtle Beach tomorrow.

The Children's Museum was definitely worth the trip. The girls LOVED it, until they decided to have a fire drill.

Fortunately the weather cleared so we had a snack at a restaurant by the water and watched the boats.

Back home for dinner and early to bed!

Road Trip: Day 3

We made it! I have to add FINALLY! Because it was a loooong day of driving.

We stayed a while to swim again in the morning before we left the hotel so that (maybe) the kids would rest in the car and we could take a break to stop for lunch.

It was a pretty yucky day out but we did have one stop scheduled at the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park, courtesy of RoadTrippers. It was early in the drive and was probably the stop farthest off our path, but I really thought we needed something to break up the day and it sounded really neat.

Here is what we saw when we arrived at the destination, courtesy of Waze.

We had just driven through a part of town where I was glad our doors auto-lock and we had to pull into an unused parking lot to see this across the street. The kids wanted to get out and walk around but I insisted we just look out the window and proceeded to curse RoadTrippers as I tried to change a baby in the passenger seat of the car.

It was humorously frustrating, but I guess that's the risk you take planning a roadtrip through an app. And we headed on our way.

And as we were driving, we passed... 

The ACTUAL whirligig park. 

Which REALLY WAS neat and exciting. Turns out RoadTrippers is awesome after all!

Of course, the trip took much longer than we planned. The weather was yucky and we were all tired, but at least we made it!

We unloaded the half-house we brought and the girls opened Easter baskets and made a giant mess. It was a fantastic welcome.

Road Trip: Day 2

For today, we planned much less driving. We would leave more leisurely, stop in Alexandria to have lunch with Bob's Uncle and Aunt, and then drive just into North Carolina, giving us a little over three hours for day three, arriving at Meamaw and Grandpa's in the early afternoon.

Mid-morning we stopped at this cute little playground.

Had lunch with Chris and Ruth, and then all the kids took an great car nap late in the afternoon.

This ended up being very fortunate, as the two hotels in Roanoke Rapids with indoor pools had both closed their pools for health reasons. And when you are a kid on a road trip, the only reason you don't scream and cry all day is because you are looking forward to swimming in a pool when the driving is done.

So we got back in the car. And drove some more. To a hotel 35 minutes South. With a pool. Albeit a green pool, but a pool nonetheless. And the kids didn't know the difference.

The plus side, tomorrow we have a shorter drive. Which is fantastic, because there are zero fun places to stop in North Carolina.

Road Trip: Day 1

Today we left on our trip to North Carolina and Virgina. It's a hefty drive of about thirteen hours. Bob wanted to try to make it in two days, but I drive back and forth to New Hampshire a lot with the kids, and knowing that if we drive during the day, the three and a half hour drive can take almost six, I was set on planning for three.

Traveling with kids does take longer, but I also spent a lot of time on the Roadtrippers app researching fun places we could stop on the way to break up the trip.

With today being the longest leg, I added in the most stops. 

Stop one: waterfall hike. Thank goodness for Roadtrippers and Waze because when we turned into the entrance for a Dominican Nunnery, I was sure I'd chosen poorly. But sure enough, we found a short hike to a waterfall! I did not plan on the weather still being so cold so early in the morning, but it was nice to get out and stretch, and we saw our first signs of spring: crocuses!!

Our next stop was supposed to be at a dinosaur field with many life-sized dinosaur replicas. We were going to hang out with them and have lunch. Here, our RoadTrippers App had a little hiccup because we ended up at a playground with dinosaur playground equipment instead. Fortunately, the girls didn't know the difference. It was so cold we could barely stay out to play before eating in the van, so I'm sure we would have been disappointed to pay to see dinosaurs in the freezing windy weather.

We had another playground stop scheduled for the afternoon. And though I really hoped the weather would improve since we were driving south, it was STILL cold and windy.

The last stop of the day before calling it a night and swimming in the hotel pool (highlight of the day for the girls) was the giant doctor's bag. Worth stopping? Eh, it was 5 minutes off our path and pretty funny. Only because we were close to being done driving for the day.

Krazy Kids

Today we went to Krazy Kids. Last time we went it was school vacation week and it was mobbed. This time, there was hardly anyone there and the kids had a blast running and jumping and crawling around. Even BabySlimJim got to play!