Road Trip 2012: NC to TX

It's that time of year again!  The part I spend all year planning for and we all eagerly anticipate.  Road trip time!  Hooray!

Changes this year:  The kids help me plan out our stops this year.  They rocked.

Also, this is the most days that I will spend as the only adult with these munchkins.  Usually, I have someone come home with me or go out with me.  This time, we'll have Grandma Cuca with us for a few days, but she's staying in Utah.  The kids are old enough that I'm not stressed out about it.  (Famous last words? I hope not.)

In case you had ever wondered,

this is how many shoes we use in a month.  Whoa.

First stop:  Asheville, to visit with Ryan and Destinee.

These kids have so much fun together!

Gas was under $3/gallon in TN.  Yes!

It was also VERY hot in TN.

With the kids being car crazy right now, we've had fun spotting 

Mustangs, Camaros, Porsches, 

and this line of four Corvettes back to back.

Our first science center of the trip:

Adventure Science Center in Nashville.

The kids give it 6 out of 6 thumbs up.

 Favorite parts:

 The five story playground with a great view of the city

from the top.

They had a space exhibit.

Whit got to see how it felt to walk on the moon.

 And B-train got to practice working on a space station.

Or something like that.

Played at the coolest playground in Texarkana, TX.

Kidtopia.

Whit found it for us online before we left.

We had it all to ourselves.

 I guess no one else wanted to play in 95 degree heat.

Spent lots of time on the phone with Daddio.

Had a fun (but short) visit with Misty,

one of my BFF's since 4th grade.

One of the highlights of our trip so far:

Getting to bottle feed baby goats!

They were ADORABLE!

And voracious eaters.

We felt bad when our bottles were empty because they wanted more!

Now the kids REALLY wish we had a pet.

A baby goat would do.

Or a show goat.

Or a horse.

Or a donkey.

Thanks to Ruthie and Ron, we got up close and personal
with all of them.  (And had a YUMMY dinner!)

Brandon has not only admired vehicles from afar,

but his Aunt Irene took him for a ride

in her convertible!  Woo hoo!

And Ruthie's neighbor boy let him have a turn

driving his four wheeler.

Life does not get much better than this for an 11-yr-old boy.