So Excited! Mrs. Claus Boutique is Almost Here....

This years event is going to be pretty awesome we have been compiling SNEAK PEEKS of the goods available and I secretly not so secretly want them all.

Home Away from Home

  We have arrived.... In North Carolina that is.  It took about a week to adjust to the time change/recover from the drive out here.  It is beautiful, and very green!  We live right off the golf course- I know it's rough.  We actually got moved from another complex to this complex at the last minute and no complaints at this end.  The pool is AMAZING... the kids are in love and it is so relaxing, soothing, and ambient. Yeah, right who are you kidding we have three kids- trips to the pool are all about laughing, splashing, and "look at me's" and it couldn't be better.  

    At least the pool looks like it could be relaxing.

Sluggers

  The Slugger Museum- Louisville, Kentucky.  
  I don't think you can miss it there is a size massive bat outside.  It was on our hit list for the drive out.  We took a tour of the factory as they were working on making bats for the big leaguers.  They kick out one bat crazy fast, a matter of seconds.  There were racks and racks of bats in different stages of the process, sorry no pics they don't allow them inside the factory.  .

  

 However you can get your picture with the creepy real looking waxies of Ken Griffey, Babe Ruth (or as Gage calls him the Great Bambino-thanks to the Sandlot), and Derek Jeter.  

I think one of my personal fav's was the lego display they had some pretty intense Lego action going on.  

Opey and Gage's favorite part would have to be the batting cages where they could test out the bat styles each player prefers.  Taven even wanted a bat when we left, of course she wanted it to be pink.  It figures.

 

 How unreal are these they are all made out of Lego's

A Walk in the Park

  St. Louis was next on our list of stopping points...Busch Stadium here we come. Opey and I wanted to hit up a major league game on the way out, but our timing has been a little off.  I am not going to lie, the stadium is pretty cool and the second we saw it Gage started saying baseball game. He wanted to go.  Gage loves baseball, almost as much as daddy.  We were debating because we would miss opening pitch and Opey likes to be there ridiculous early.  I am more of an 8th inning type of gal.  Explains a lot.  We even stopped and talked a scalper down from $70 to $20 a ticket and then decided not to go.

What??  I know right.  

  Instead we stopped at this size massive structure of steel.  The Gateway Arch- Who knew?  No idea this thing even existed.  I must have missed that day in history class.  It is really amazing one of those you have to see to believe things.  There is a park area at the base and we spent about an hour there which was a nice break from the car.  A little walk in the park for Mother's Day, I'll take it.  You can also take a tram to the top and look out the windows- Yikes! We missed out on that we didn't realize that you could until it was time to hit the road again.  
 

Kansas was a sleeper...Then They Took the Wheels

  We are not in Kansas anymore- but while we were Opey got a ticket.  I guess we needed something to remember it by.  There are a lot of size massive windmills, and only three days after we left a rash of tornados one F4.  No thank you to that!  We ended the day in Kansas City, MO and woke up to... 

  The police.. taking reports in the parking lot at the hotel we stayed in.  Not the type of wake up call we were looking for. Smashed windows, cars up on blocks, ghetto fabulous.  The hotel we stayed in was actually nice, but there was a graduation at a college there and it looked like with all the visitors from out of town a lot of cars were hit that night.  However, ours remained untouched, thank goodness: still trying to name the deterrent Utah plates, three car seats, the yet un-repaired bumper Gage lovingly refers to as "the cars owie", or the fact it was mother's day, who knows? Whatever it was thank you for skipping over our car thieves of the night.  

   Funny Story: No this look is not because he got a ticket.  Even better, Opey being the awesome dad he is created a playlist of songs Taven loves on the radio- this look is the one I got when I tried to video him singing at the top of his lungs to This Girl is on Fire, loved it!

And We Are Off...

First Stop: Denver, Colorado home of the Rockies if you know our family you know I am referring to the baseball team not the mountains.  We didn't make it to the game but we did witness snow in May (only 10 minutes).  We were a lively bunch, I think the preparation caught up with us....Poor Opey. Everyone perked right up for swim night at the hotel, and of course didn't want to sleep because as Taven put it she had been sleeping all of her life.

Hum Now...

  A good question:  Where do you start when packing for a cross country trip for 12 weeks?  A better question:  When do you stop.... the answer unfortunately is when the car is full and with three car seats, that point comes rather quickly.  The game plan drive across the country 5 days four nights.  All the stops Denver, Kansas City, Louisville, and Cary which will ultimately prove to be our home away from home for the next 12 weeks.  Excitement, nerves, a little crazy going through it all right now.  Taven, Gage, and Greyson have been awesome this is a huge change for all of us.  You can see Opey's strategic pack job of our trunk- no suitcases they take up to much space.  Yes, it shuts, barely!