Charlotte Trip...

This past weekend John and I made our annual Memorial Weekend trip down to Charlotte with John’s parents. Thursday morning our nanny came as usual, we said “good-bye” to the kids, and we headed out.

You would think this trip would get easier for me, but in fact, the more kids I have, it gets harder. This year it was harder for three reasons: 1.) This was my first time away from Ryan, so of course that was hard; 2.) Kylie has been extra clingy lately and has a hard time when I leave for work every morning; and 3.) My parents now have three kids to watch, and I know that’s not an easy task at all.

So with conflicting emotions, John and I headed down to Athens to pick his parents up. We got there around 9:30, loaded up their stuff, and then headed out. We drove for a couple hours and then stopped to eat. It was a nice drive in that there was no fighting, no worrying about diaper changes or bathroom breaks (except for Jody :) ), and we could eat whenever we felt like it. I even got to take a little nap on the way down there.

We got to Charlotte around dinner time and checked into the hotel. I had to pump, which began my weekend of pumping every so many hours, which really was the downside of the trip (I have no idea how women exclusively pump…there’s no way I would have the patience for that!).

After that we headed in to downtown Charlotte, which we’ve never done before. It was neat because they close off some streets and there are all kinds of booths and free stuff. We ate dinner down there and then got to see Jason Aldean perform…he was giving a free concert!

The next morning we woke up and headed to Hendrick – they have a showroom with memorabilia as well as a store. We got Joshie a little 88 car, and then headed to the track. This year they were having a free cook-out! See the brown ring around the grass below? That whole thing is a grill! And some of the drivers were out there cooking food. It was all free, and you could eat as much as you wanted! Hamburgers, hot dogs, pasta salad and brownies, along with all the coke, diet coke and water you could drink. It was really neat!

After that we headed back to the hotel to watch Mall Cop. That was the dumbest movie I have ever seen! But we still had fun lying around and relaxing. The rest of the weekend the only thing on the TV was Jon and Kate Plus 8…I have always despised that show, but with all the recent hype surrounding them, I couldn’t get enough!

Friday night we went over to the mall. This was the reason I came to Charlotte :) See, I always try to buy the kids clothes at outlets, and since we’re here each May, it’s a great time to do that. And since I have lost a ton of weight (I know, I still owe you a post on how that happened), I have been waiting to buy new clothes until I was at the outlets because I knew that I would be spending a TON of money. Also, I NEVER get to shop here at home…even though I love to shop, I would rather be spending time with the kids, and we all know kids don’t like to shop…not one bit! So I was really looking forward to this! I went to one store Friday night and got a ton of clothes. Then we headed to our favorite Mexican restaurant down there, sat on the patio, and ate great food and drank a gigantic margarita!

Saturday we got up, had our normal morning breakfast (this hotel has the most fantastic breakfast buffet, including made to order omelets and waffles). Then John and I headed over to the mall. We got the kids their clothes, and then we had an awesome 2-hour lunch with an old high school friend that lives down there. After lunch John and I went back to the hotel (so I could pump) and then I headed back to the mall. I stayed there a few hours, bought more clothes, and then came back to get John’s mom and take John and his dad up to the track for the Nationwide race. Jody and I headed back to the mall, shopped for a few hours, and then went to Olive Garden for dinner (where I discovered my new favorite wine).

Sunday we had breakfast, and then I headed to the mall for some last minute things (including ponchos because rain was in the forecast). When I got back to the hotel, we packed up some things and headed up to the track. We got to our seats, heard the National Anthem (we called the kids during this because they love to hear it and have the whole song memorized!), and the drivers were getting ready to get into the cars, when John checked the radar and said “let’s go down by the concessions…it’s going to pour!” Sure enough, we were down there just a few minutes and it started raining. I happened to be wearing one of my OU shirts, and a guy walked by and said “cheers, OU” and he also happened to be wearing an OU shirt. We talked for a few seconds, and realized that the guy he was with went to our high school! So we actually hung out and talked to them the whole time the race was rain delayed (and ultimately cancelled for the day).

Monday we woke up, packed, and checked out and headed up to the track for the 12:00 race. We actually got to watch 70 or so laps and then it started raining again. We hung around for a little bit and then we all decided to leave. John and I had an 8 hour trip ahead of us, and I felt bad that my parents had been with the kids for so long (even though they say it was fine, they enjoyed it, and that I shouldn’t have thought twice about it).

We drove home, listened to the race, and finally pulled into Columbus at 10:30 PM. Kylie and Josh were still up, so we gave them their presents (Joshie got Fun Slides, a hockey horn and 2 88 cars while Kylie got a notebook and some Hello Kitty stuff). Then we went to bed and got up just a few hours later to go to work :)

It was a great trip, and while the weather wasn’t as perfect as it normally was, we still had a fantastic time!