Road Trip 2011 - Charlotte (Hall of Fame Museum...our last day)

You can hardly tell by looking outside the window, but on our last Friday in Charlotte, it came a downpour. My training let out at noon on this day, and we immediately headed downtown to the NASCAR hall of fame. None of us really fans, but little boys and race cars are always a good fit. The rain was so bad tho that we were going like 25 mph on the interstate, and luckily the HOF had a parking garage so we never got wet. We started our tour around the race track seeing a 38 degree slope towards the end. I would never be able to drive fast enough to stick to the road. We got our picture with Richard Petty's car, then the boys said Magan needed hers with her favorite drink. Sam's favorite was the Orange car.

This is the kids trying to stay on the 38 degree embankment. And fun to through the new stuffed animals up the slope and watch them drop back down.

Me and Dave then took a chance to be the pit crew for the 48 car. Dave jacked the car up while I got the tires. Our Gas man (Sam) bailed out on us, so we got some help from ole bobby. We got that tire changed lickety split (that's pit crew talk for you guys that don't know).

I think this was somewhere during Belle's meltdown as Magan was riding the simulator car with Sam. Magan drives really well, we both drove the #2 car, and where I couldn't even follow the pace car without crashing, Magan was in 1st or 2nd pretty much the whole race till she crashed into the wall near the end (blurred picture below). She is definately the better driver of the two of us. Before you could drive these simulators, you had to drive on a practice course by yourself. I looked over at her and she was actually completing laps, where I was constantly being lapped because I could not stop crashing. I think Sam also had a better time in his race with Mom, than Davis with granny-driver Dad (no offense to the granny-blog-readers). But anyway...back to Belle...yeah, she screamed the whole time, and somewhere in this screaming, she bit a hole in the pacifier. This was to be her last week with "passi". Maybe the last picture. :(

The cars below Davis were the simulators we were driving in. #2 Miller Lite...That's what both of the boys decided was their car. We then found the M&Ms which were signing autographs. :)

Sam was excited to get a Lego Racecar for his souviner, and Davis got a real Richard Petty racecar. Here he is with the king. To not be a NASCAR fan, I don't want to think of the money we spent at this place. But it was one of the few things Dad got to do with everyone in Charlotte, and Dad loves smiling faces, and Dad doesn't like when vacations come to an end. As for the blogging, Dad is happy that he will now take a break for awhile. The pictures below show everyone on our last morning, time to get back to Chelsea.

Road Trip 2011 - Charlotte (IKEA and DiscoveryPlace Kids)

IKEA...IKEA...IKEA!!!! Did I mention I did not have to go? Yeah! This was the day Magan had been waiting for the whole trip. Our hotel was 2 miles from IKEA. So off she went with the kids, with only a minor warning from me that we had very little room available in our van for anything we buy. It looks like from the picture above, that the boys just treated IKEA like another museum and grabbed some toys and started playing in one of the already set up rooms.

After IKEA, they had a couple of hours to go visit the North Charlotte DiscoveryPlace Museum for kids. I think that by this time, Magan was about fed up with the museums. But this place was fun for the kids I am told, but did not have good boundaries to keep Belle from stair areas. Magan said that she had walked over to see what Davis was building at one time, and then saw Belle heading towards the stairs, so she jumped up and ran...then tripped and fell right on her face. She said everyone was nice and at least smiled at her as she picked herself up and finally hobbled over to Belle.

Davis just joined me as I was writing these blogs, so I asked him what he was doing in the doctor picture. He said he was listening for her heart beat, but she didn't have one. She didn't make it. But at the grocery store later in the day, he was able to pay for all of his groceries.

Belle loves the cows, she calls out to them every Sunday on our way to church as we pass a...cow field.

For supper, we went to a Japanese steakhouse. The kids did well even with the big fire. The volcano was a good trick, and as usual, the chopsticks were the best toys ever.

Back at home and ready for bed. This reminds me of how Sam and Davis constantly asking me to pause a show they were watching when we were leaving. And they were mad when I would not fast forward through the commercials. Wow, the DVR generation...forced to watch live tv.

And Davis thought it was neat that all of these hotel rooms kept surfing boards in the closets. Hahaha...or you might also call it an ironing board.

And a missed Sam story from Pittsburgh...Magan was carrying Sam as we were going to the Fort in Pittsburgh, and as he bumped against Magan it apparently was different than when Dad held him. Magan said he started going "Bouncy, Bouncy, Bouncy" and laughed at her when she grinned at him.

Road Trip 2011 - Charlotte (DiscoveryPlace)

Yes, they are at another kid's museum. On this day, Magan took them to DiscoveryPlace in downtown Charlotte. Magan is getting pretty used to driving around in the big cities.

This was Belle's bridge, magan told me that another kid wanted to pass over the bridge, and Belle just looked at her and growled, then gave her a raspberry to ensure that she realized this was not the other kid's bridge.

Magan said Sam kept working on this car until it was super dooper fast.

Polar Bear!

I don't know if you can see the bags the boys made below, but this was definately the highlight of the museum, at least what they couldn't wait to show me. They got to make some bags out of fabric and duct tape that really held up pretty well. I think Polar Bear ended up riding in Sams bag, and Tiger rode in Davis' bag for the remainder of the trip.

After dinner that night...yes, once again at maccaroni Grill. we took the kids to the swimming hole. No hot tub here, just a cold tub.

In Charlotte, I told the boys of the Gunslinger Bully Bully and his quest to find the magic tower that holds all of the worlds together. He first traveled across the mighty desert fighting in an abandoned town with the army men from Toy Story, where he finally caught up with the Man in Black...Lotso. I think they enjoyed my modified version of Stephen King's masterpiece.

This last picture also reminds me of some tough times getting these boys to sleep, but also something that happened while these boys got to share a bed for so many nights...they became really close buddies and starting talking and laughing together a lot more. Even at home this summer, I would go into their room hearing laughter well after we put them to bed, and find either Sam in Davis' bed or Davis in Sam's bed. Yes, they still fight enough to drive me crazy, but they are really good friends and have started playing together much better.